Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

I have made this cheesecake on several occasions and the key to it is, lots of chocolate and peanut butter with a sprinkle of Reese's pieces chocolate on top! You can scroll down to the bottom where the instructions are broken down easily.

Crust:

2 cups of graham crumbs

3 tb of sugar

3 tb of melted butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Filling:

3 packages of philadelphia cream cheese room temperature (don't use light, full fat produces best results!)

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs room temperature

1/2 cup whipping cream room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream room temperature (full fat)

1 cup and half of Kraft smooth peanut butter (You can use any brand of smooth peanut butter)

1/2 cup of Hershey milk chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Topping:

1 package of mini Reese peanut butter cups

1 cup of whipping cream

1 cup of Hershey milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. When ready to bake you will reduce the temperature to 325 F degrees. In a small bowl add the graham crumbs, sugar, melted butter and cinnamon. Mix together and spread across the bottom of the pan and press down. Place the crust in the oven at 350 F for about 8 minutes or until golden brown (not too dark). Take it out of the oven and let it cool. In a mixer with a paddle attachment mix the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add one egg at a time until well incorporated. Add vanilla, whipping cream and sour cream to mixture and mix until smooth. Do not over mix, this will cause cracking in the cheesecake. If there are a few little lumps that is okay! At this point take a little over 1 cup of the cheesecake batter and put it into a small bowl. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or over a double broiler. Add the chocolate to the batter, mix and put to the side. Next, add the peanut butter to the rest of the batter until well incorporated. Pour the batter into the spring form pan then with a spoon add dollops of the chocolate batter over the peanut butter batter. With a butter knife swirl the chocolate batter into the peanut butter. It's important to swirl and not mix! You want to see the chocolate swirls when you cut into it. This is the time when you prepare the bain-marie. Boil water in a kettle so that it will cover the cheesecake half way when you put it into the roasting pan. Line the spring form pan with thick aluminum. I wrap it twice so that water does not enter. You don't want you crust to get soggy!! Make sure you use the long aluminum sheets so that it covers all the way to the top of the pan. Put the spring form pan in the oven at 325 F in the roasting pan and then add the boiling water so that it is covering the pan at about half way. This is key so that the cheesecake doesn't come out with any cracks. Bake the cheesecake for 50-55 minutes. The cheesecake should still jiggle in the center when its done. When the cheesecake is baked, leave it in the oven for an hour and open the oven door just a crack. Then leave it out until fully cooled and put in the fridge over night. Just before you are ready to serve make the topping. Put the whipping cream in a small pan and let it get hot. Add the chocolate chips and stir. The mixture should have some firmness but it shouldn't be too thick. It should be pour-able like a ganache. If it is too thick add more whipping cream, if too thin then melt some more chocolate. Add that over top so that it covers the entire cheesecake and it drips a bit on the sides. Then coarsely chop the mini Reese peanut butter cups and add on top. Then if you have left over chocolate ganache, drizzle on top of cheesecake and enjoy!!