Reese's Cheesecake

Holy Sweet Yumminess! This is good. This recipe comes from my mother. As a kid I remember it being one of my favorites. I haven't had it in forever, and it did not pale in comparison to child hood memories. I'm a lazy desert person and am completely content purchasing premade deserts for the most part. And my husband is a devourer of deserts so large portions are generally out. The guy eats like a whole Coldstone ice-cream cake in 2 days and still remains at like 8 percent body fat. Ahh, the genes of the fortunate. Anyway, I thought to myself, I need to round out this food blog with some deserts. And something decedent sounded particularly enticing that night. So I proceeded to call up mommy and ask her if I could pretty please have her recipe. She didn’t say no, as I figured she would not. And a few hours later, we have this! I know it’s not as pretty as the other pictures out there. Some people have a certain skill for deserts and making them beautiful. I do not. But if you can look past my ugly ducking ascetics and stick through to the end... this is worth it. It has the perfect balance or rich chocolatey-peanut butter flavors, while still having a little bit of lightness to it. (In a battle the lightness would lose to the ooey-gooey-decadence though. But isn’t that what you want out of a cheesecake?)

Ingredients/Instructions:

Chocolate Peanut Crust:

1 1/2 cups crushed chocolate wafer cookies or Oreos (no filling)

1/3 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

3/4 stick of melted butter (6 tbsp)

2 tbsp packed light brown sugar

pinch of salt

Blend all ingredients together and put into a greased spring form pan. Press firmly and evenly around the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. (Reduce heat of the oven to 325.)

Chocolate Ganache:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

8 oz bittersweet chocolate

In a sauce pan bring the heavy whipping cream to a low boil. Slowly add in the chocolate, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Pour roughly half over the crust. (I saved the rest for the top. But you could put it all over the crust if you choose.)

Filling:

4 8oz cream cheese (room temp)

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1/4 cup whipping cream

12 oz chopped peanut butter cups (a 2 pack is 1.5 oz)

In a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer beat room temperature cream cheese and brown sugar with an electric mixer on the lowest speed until smooth. Add the peanut butter, and the vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the whipping cream and beat until smooth.

Pour half of the filling over the crust. Add the chopped peanut butter cups and pour in the rest of the batter. Bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes. The outsides will be firm and the center slightly jiggly. Cool for 10 minutes.

Topping:

2 cups sour cream

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Blend together and spoon over the top of the cheesecake. Return to the oven and bake 5-8 more minutes. You may choose top with more peanut butter cups or the rest of the ganache, if it was reserved.

Serve and Enjoy!

Prepare to do like 2 hours of cardio the next day to burn it off!