chocolate cheesecake

PJ Hamel’s selected chocolate cheesecake has a chocolate-sandwich-cookie crust and a dense chocolate-and-cream-cheese filling. The recipe describes a rich, moist cake, with optional reserved cookie crumbs adding a finishing garnish.

Prepared chocolate sandwich cookies are crushed with confectioners’ sugar, then mixed with melted butter. The moist crumbs are pressed into the bottom and partway up the sides of a greased springform pan and prebaked.

Milk and the selected semisweet chocolate chips are heated until smooth, with optional espresso stirred in afterwards. Cream cheese and granulated sugar are mixed at low speed, followed by whole eggs one at a time, vanilla, flour and the chocolate mixture.

The filling is poured over the baked crust and baked until the outer region is set as the recipe describes. The cake cools first in the switched-off oven with its door open, then on a rack, before it is covered and refrigerated until serving.

Reserved crumbs can garnish the top of the cold cheesecake. The recipe serves small slices with separate whipped cream and berries, complementing the dense chocolate filling and crumb crust.