Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake

I'm a little behind in sharing this dish as I made it over Christmas break, but you could make this dessert any time of year. It is absolutely, decadently, richly delicious, like a totally insane chocolate heaven!

This was my first attempt at a real, from-scratch cheesecake, and it was pretty easy. I picked up several tips from searching online, and now I can bake cheesecakes with confidence! :) This is a Southern Living recipe, and the white chocolate garnish on top could be any shape: a heart for Valentine's Day, a monogram for a shower, a letter for a birthday...just print any shape or letter from the internet, place under wax paper and pipe over. Voila! Another excellent way to eat this cheesecake is with a drizzle of raspberry sauce - magnifico! Here is the recipe...

Chocolate Cheesecake Truffle

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Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups crushed dark chocolate-and-almond shortbread cookies (about 18 cookies; I used Keebler Dark Chocolate and Almond Shortbread Sandies) 
2 tablespoons melted butter 
2 (4-oz.) semisweet chocolate baking bars, chopped
1 cup whipping cream
4 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened 
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs 
Ganache Topping: 

1 cup whipping cream

1 (4-oz.) semisweet chocolate baking bar 

1 (4-oz.) dark chocolate baking bar

Garnish: fresh raspberries, raspberry sauce or White Chocolate Snowflake

Preheat oven to 300°. Combine crushed cookies and butter. Press mixture on bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

Microwave chocolate and cream at HIGH 1 1/2 minutes or until melted, stirring at 30-second intervals.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 2 minutes or until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, beating just until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Add chocolate mixture, beating just until blended. Pour batter into prepared crust. Place a 9x13 pan halfway filled with water on the lowest rack in oven.

Bake at 300° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or just until center is set. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven with door closed 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven; gently run a knife around outer edge of cheesecake to loosen from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.

Bring cream to a light boil in a saucepan over medium heat.

Process chocolate bars in a food processor until coarsely chopped. With processor running, pour cream through food chute in a slow, steady stream, processing until smooth. Let mixture cool until slightly warm (about 20 minutes). The Ganache is ready when it drops from the spoon.

 

Remove sides of pan, and place cheesecake on a serving plate. Slowly pour warm Ganache Topping over cheesecake, spreading to edges. Chill 1 hour before serving. Garnish, if desired.

Look at that CHOCOLATE. Oh, yummm.

This is so rich that a very thin slice is all you need. One cheesecake could potentially serve 18-20 people if you slice it thin enough!

PS - I am linking up to Tasty Tuesdays at 33 Shades of Green. Click over to find lots of other delicious recipes!