Prepare to become fat......and happy

Like any good daughter I asked my Dad what he wanted for Father's Day. 

Ask and he shall receive!

  This makes all of my other cheesecakes look like diet cheesecakes, so beware.

 If you like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups you will love this, because it tastes just like one!

All I had was my iPhone, so it's a little grainy. Deal with it....If the picture was any better you would be drooling.

 Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Oreo cookie's (with the filling scraped out) crushed
• 3/4 stick butter, melted
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup half-and-half cream or milk. (I used 2 % milk because I had it)
• 8 oz of good chocolate (I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking chocolate)
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line the outside of a 9 inch springform pan with aluminum foil.
2. To Make Crust: In a medium bowl, combine Oreo crumbs and melted butter. Press the mixture onto the bottom and sides of an ungreased 9 inch springform pan, and bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees to set the crust. Put is aside.
3. To Make Filling: In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese (let it sit out for a half an hour before you use it and it will work better), sugar, peanut butter, flour, and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs and egg yolk all at once, beating on low speed until combined. Stir in half-and-half or milk (depending on which one you used). If you mix the cream cheese up first and get it soft and then add the sugar next it'll help you not get lumps.
4. Pour batter into the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake in a water bath by placeing it in a large baking pan (I use a roasting pan), pour boiling water into the baking pan until it comes 1/2 way up the sides of the spring form pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the center circle of the cheesecake is still slightly giggly when you shake it.                                         You do this because the center of the cheesecake will continue to cook even after you take it out of the oven so you want it to not be fully set.

Let cake cool on a wire wrack for an hour and half, and then wrap it in plastic wrap put it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving.                                                                                          

To make the Chocolate Ganache Topping:

Directions

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place it in a large stainless steel bowl.
2. In a large, high sided saucepan, heat cream over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until it starts to boil. At this point, the cream will want to boil over, so keep an eye on it! Immediately remove from heat and pour over chopped chocolate. If you add about a tablespoon of corn syrup it will give it a shine to it.
3. Whisk until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Cool and then pour over the top of the cheesecake. 

This is amazing tasting, by the way! This ganache would also work well for chocolate dipped strawberries or as hot fudge on ice cream. 

In case you couldn't tell, I decorated it with halved Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to make it fancier looking. It was Father's Day after all, and I felt it my duty to give my father-in-law exactly what he wanted... a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, and if I do say so myself it was fabulous!