Crazy Crack Cookie Dough Cheesecake...the Sequel

I'm posting about the cookie dough cheesecake again for two reasons. One, I love it that much. And two, I didn't post the recipe last time! Silly me. So, without further ado/rambling, here it is:

Crazy Crack Cookie Dough Cheesecake

For the dough:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon coarse-grained sea salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

For the cheesecake:

1 (10 oz.) box graham cookies (I like Teddy Grahams), crushed

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 (8 oz.) blocks cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

To make the dough: (1) Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt, then chocolate chips. (2) Refrigerate dough at least 1/2 hour; then form into tiny balls and refrigerate another 1/2 hour or so.

To make the cheesecake: (1) Heat oven to 350. (2) Combine cookie crumbs and butter, and press into bottom of mini cheesecake pans (greased) or 8-inch square pan (lined with parchment paper). Bake 10 minutes; then move to wire rack to cool. (3) Reduce oven heat to 300. (4) Beat cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Add vanilla and cream, then eggs, one at a time, mixing just until incorporated after each. (Don't overmix!) (5) Gently fold in half of cookie dough balls (return rest to fridge) and 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips. (6) Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Tap gently on counter to remove air bubbles. (7) Bake 20-30 minutes, until edges are set but center still wobbles a little. (8) Turn off oven but leave pan inside for about another hour. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

To assemble/decorate: (1) Remove pan from refrigerator. Remove mini cheesecakes from springforms, or gently lift the parchment/cheesecake from the square pan and cut it into small bars. (When I use the square pan, I like to use a pizza cutter to cut the cheesecake into little squares.) (2) Stack a small mound of the leftover cookie dough balls on top of each cheesecake/bar. (3) Melt 1-2 ounces semisweet chocolate in the microwave. Spoon it into a Ziploc bag, snip the edge, and drizzle the chocolate over the cheesecakes/bars. (4) Refrigerate another 1/2 hour at least before serving.

Crazy Crack Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Hi, my name is Amber, and I'm a cookie-dough-aholic. (And, um...no, I don't have any desire to recover.)

My former roommates will attest to the fact that I'm seriously stinkin' addicted to the stuff. Not the baked version, mind you. I can take or leave those. But the DOUGH...the glorious, glorious dough. Hm. I'd probably be scared to know how many pounds of it I've put down in the last few years.

Now, before you give me the gasp/shocked look/"What about salmonella!?" reprimand check this out: I've learned how to make egg-less cookie dough! I admit, this never would have happened except for the fact that I decided recently that I needed to come up with a cookie dough cheesecake. I'm all about eating the raw-egg-laden stuff myself, but feeding it to other people is quite a different store. (Can't have people getting sick.)

As a (related) side note, I just received from UPS a wonderful little package containing the (NON-heart shaped) miniature cheesecake pans I recently ordered. Can I tell you how much I love them?

Here was the outcome. I call these my "Crazy Crack Cookie Dough Cheesecakes." Seriously addicting. Dangerously addicting. (But eat all the dough you want; it's safe!)

How To Eat a Reese's Cup

Today, I'd like to talk about the following:

Yes, that's right. Reese's cups. We're going to talk about them. Actually, I'm going to tell you a story about them, and about Junior High Me.

When I was in seventh grade, Reese's cups were a standard item of fare at lunch time. The school cafeteria sold candy, and every day I or one of my friends would fork out the 50 cents to buy a pack. Then the purchaser would painstakingly unwrap and divide the candy into halves or even quarters (which is really a skill/art) and then dole them out--meaning that a pack of two peanut butter cups served as dessert for up to eight preteen girls. (No wonder we were skinny.)

Now, every once in a blue moon I'd get an entire Reese's cup to myself. And let me tell you, I savored the experience. Here was my standard MO and "how to" guide for getting the most out of a Reese's cup: (1) working in a circular motion, carefully push down along the inside rim of the cup, about 1/8 inch from the edge, being careful not to push in the center; (2) continue working in this manner until the "core" of the cup comes out in one disk-shaped piece (being VERY careful not to break the core and ruin the whole thing); (3) separate the two parts--the coveted peanut-butter core, and the hollowed-out rim; (4) set the core aside; (5) nibble on the rim for an inordinate amount of time (no kidding; I bet I'd work for five minutes on it); and (5) finally, as the piece de resistance (and the point of the whole endeavor, to be quite honest), revel in the gooey, peanut-buttery center.

There you have it. If that's not golden advice (and potentially frightening insight into my childhood), I don't know what is.

It's been quite some time since junior high, and my appreciation for this candy has expanded into some new territory. And so, without further ado, I give you my NEW "how to maximize the Reese's Cup": the Reese's Cup Peanut Butter Cheesecake.

Oh, yeah, and I had extra batter, so I made a "mini me" version for Adam. Yes, yes; that IS the heart-shaped mini springform making another appearance. What can I say? I embrace the cutesy-ness of it.

A Tale of Two Springforms

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."

It was time...to make cheesecake?

Okay, so it's sort of hard to make a cream cheese/French Revolution parallel. But, man, I love that novel. And, hey, I bet Chuck Dickens liked cheesecake. I bet he would've liked these cheesecakes.

I mean, there is simply something to be said for cute li'l heart-shaped cheesecakes. (They're even PINK, for crying out loud.) And this is one of my favorite recipes: Neapolitan Cheesecake. (Hmm...maybe we could shuffle a few letters and re-dub it "Napoleonic Cheesecake" to make it more Tale of Two Cities-ish?)

I posted a pic of a large one of these guys a while back. These are the same thing, but mini versions. Mom and Dad asked me to make up something special for one of our neighbors. He's been kind enough to keep our lawn mowed since our lawnmower gave up the ghost a few weeks ago, and they wanted to give him a little thank-you. Nothing says thanks like cheesecake, right?

Here are the pics.

First, the aforementioned, oh-so-cute mini springforms. (Everyone, now: Awww...)

Here they are wrapped in their foil swimming trunks, getting ready for a water bath/spa experience.

Chocolate cookie crumbs + melted butter = really yummy crust.

Here they are going into the oven, luxuriating in that steaming hot water bath I was talking about.

Out of the oven, cooling...and cooling...and cooling. (They take forever.)

Closeup, minus the foil "trunks."

Finally, after cooling completely, they get released from their springforms.

After chilling several hours, they get topped with chocolate and drizzled in white chocolate, then chilled some more. Then they're boxed and ready to go!

A Week in Photos

Me, not including at least four paragraphs in a post? It's shockingly non-standard, I know. But, well...they say a picture's worth...you know. And the fact is that I currently have limited time. So I'll just post a few pictures from the last week of baking and let 'em speak for themselves.

Neopolitan Cheesecake with chocolate-covered strawberries:

And a butterfly cake for Emily's graduation open house. (Congrats, Em!)