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Ingredients
Crust
1 9-oz. package
chocolate wafer cookies
6 tablespoons butter,
melted
Filling
2 cups semisweet
chocolate chips, melted
3 8-oz. packages cream
cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
6 oz. mini milk chocolate
chips (or mini mint chocolate chips, if preferred)
Topping
1 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons
confectioner's (powdered) sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
extract
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
Directions
Crust
Place cookie wafers in a
food processor or blender and process until finely
crushed. Place crumbs in a medium mixing bowl
and stir in melted butter until well mixed. Butter
the sides only of a 9-inch springform pan. Pour
crumbs into the
pan and gently press to cover the bottom and about 1
1/2 inches up the sides of the pan. Set aside.
Filling
Preheat oven to 350°
F.
Melt chocolate chips
over hot water in a double boiler (alternatively,
place chocolate chips in a bowl slightly larger than
a saucepan, heat about 1 inch of water in saucepan
on low heat and heat chocolate slowly until melted).
Stir chocolate until smooth and set aside to cool
slightly.
In an electric mixer
bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla,
salt and sugar. Beat again briefly until smooth. Add melted
chocolate and beat until fully mixed. Add eggs, one
at a time, scraping bowl with spatula after each
addition. Add sour cream and beat again until
smooth.
Remove bowl from
electric mixer and fold in mini morsels. Pour
mixture into crust and smooth top with a rubber
spatula. Bake for one hour and 15 minutes, then remove from oven
and allow to cool on a cooling rack. After 15
minutes of cooling, using a thin flat knife, run
knife around entire edge of cheesecake to loosen
sides from pan (this will allow the sides to settle
(shrink down slightly) with the rest of the
cheesecake). Cool completely (about 1 hour, 45
minutes), then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate
in springform pan overnight. Before
serving, remove sides from spring form pan and
decorate with Topping (Topping recipe follows). Cheesecake (or portions of the cheesecake) can be frozen and kept frozen
until ready to serve. To serve after freezing,
remove cheesecake from freezer and place in
refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until defrosted yet
chilled.
Topping
To a medium-sized mixing
bowl, add whipping cream, confectioner's sugar,
vanilla extract and cocoa, and beat with a handheld
electric mixer until peaks form. Place whipped topping in
a pastry bag with a star tip, then pipe a decorative
border around top edge of cheesecake. Use any leftover
topping for applying to individual servings.
(Alternatively, you can skip the decorating step and simply add a dollop of topping to
each individual serving.) |
