Chocolate Cheesecake

For my ex-roommate/friend/co-workers birthday, I decided to bake her a cheesecake. Since she's a chocolate fiend, I decided to make a chocolate cheesecake. The only cheesecake I have ever made was back when I used to live with her, before we owned a hand-mixer. I don't recommend mixing cream cheese by hand...it's a good workout, but you don't want to end up with Popeye arms, would you? The cheesecake we made before was actually mini-cheesecakes. So the cooking time was all different. And of course, when you use a mixer, the texture is much smoother and creamier.

When baking this, I was concerned about the middle not being cooked enough. This is not the kind of dessert you can check with a toothpick since a cheesecake is almost like a custard. I looked for advice online and said that the best time to take out a cheesecake is when the sides look set but the middle part still jiggles a little bit. Cheesecakes will continue cooking itself even after you take it out. My friend, judyfoodie, told me that since it's not meat, even if it's undercook, nobody would really notice since it's a rich and creamy textured dessert. One of the tell-tale signs that my cheesecake was cooked was when the top started cracking...apparently something that happens a lot with cheesecake.

The verdict for this was great! Everyone loved it. You know when people really like it when they start swearing. I received phonecalls and emails complimenting on my chocolate cheesecake. In my own opinion, I thought it was a little rich for my taste. I'm more of a fluffy dessert person...like strawberry shortcake, which is still on my learn-to-bake list. Since it's not my own recipe (I found it online), I'd be happy to share:

• 1-1/2 cups OREO Baking Crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 pkg. (250g each) PHILADELPHIA Brick Cream Cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted, cooled
• 1/4 cup hazelnut-flavored liqueur (optional)
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp. icing sugar (optional)

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Mix crumbs and butter; press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
2. BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add chocolate and liqueur; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.
3. BAKE 45 to 50 min. or until centre is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Top with icing sugar and mixed berries just before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.
   

For mine, I used 6 squares of semi-sweet chocolates (no name brand). I thought 8 squares was a lot. I'll eventually want to try it with other types of chocolate...I also got lazy and used a pre-made chocolate graham crust. I can't be bothered with crushing oreo cookies. Once done, I melted one square of semi-sweet chocolate and drizzled it on top to hide the crack on the top of the cheesecake, and then sprinkled some icing sugar. I need to get an icing sugar sieve...things dollorama needs to produce. I get annoyed when my decorative icing sugar is clumpy. I didn't have any berries on hand so I skipped that...I also only guessed my amount of cream cheese. I have two containers of 400g...i probably used a bit less than what was required, but ended up tasting fine. I guess some desserts don't require exact measures.

Eat with a tall glass of milk! Cheers!