I made this delicious cheesecake for Alex's birthday. I found the recipe on the food blog Annie's Eats and adapted it a bit to make it smaller. I simply did not need to be consuming that much cheesecake.
The smallest springform I have is 8 inches when the original recipe called for a 9 inch pan. It's not a huge difference so I'm sure I'll still be eating cheesecake as dessert for every meal for awhile!
If you're not a fan of coffee flavored things I would still give this a try because it is not overpowering. You definitely need to be a chocolate lover though because the ganache over an oreo crust is pretty rich.
Crust:21 oreos
3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
pinch of salt
Ganache:
1 c. heavy cream
2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/6 c. coffee liqueur
Filling:
2 pkgs. cream cheese (8 oz each)
2/3 c. sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dark rum
1 1/2 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp brown sugar
2 large eggs
Topping:
1 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. sugar
optional- chocolate covered espresso beans
(visit annies-eats for a larger yield)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch springform pan. Crush the oreos and mix with the melted butter and salt in a small bowl. Toss with a fork to coat all of the crumbs. Press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes and then let it cool.
Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a saucepan. Put the chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the hot cream over them. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes to melt.
Whisk in liqueur until smooth.
Pour 2 c. over crust, and put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
Keep the rest of the ganache for decorating.
Beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Beat in flour.
In a separate bowl mix rum, coffee powder, vanilla, and brown sugar until dissolved. Add to cream cheese mixture. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
Pour the filling over the chilled ganache.
Bake for one hour.
Cool for 15 minutes on cooling rack while making the topping. Keep oven at 350.
Whisk the sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl. Pour the topping over the hot cheesecake, and bake for about 10-15 minutes. If you think it's weird to have a sour cream topping, don't worry. The vanilla and sugar make it super sweet.
Return to the cooling rack and let it cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Put it in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes before decorating it with the leftover ganache.
Put the ganache in a bag with a decorative tip and be creative! Top with chocolate covered espresso beans if desired.
