Dark Chocolate Marble Cheesecake

When it comes to dessert, I have two loves... my first love is classic chocolate chip cookies. My second love is anything chocolate really. For me, the richer the better (too rich is not something I can comprehend). Anyone who knows me well also knows that I am not a fan of fruit in my dessert, pretty as it may be, get out of my dessert.

So, as it would be, my cheesecake follows my dessert rules: I keep in mostly classic - no fruit added, I add chocolate to it (extra dark, extremely rich delicious chocolate!), and it is pretty simple to make (I promise!) I am not really a patchke baker.

This recipe is something I developed my very first shavuos that I was married. One of my favorite cheesecakes (oh boy, i'm about to break all of my aforementioned rules) is Pumpkin Cheesecake. (Pumpkin season holds a special place in my heart). Years ago one of my brothers (the real baker and pastry chef of the family), found an incredible recipe for pumpkin cheesecake - which in my opinion had the most perfect crust. So, the crust of this cheesecake is an adaption of that crust. I use real cookies for my crust, a mixture of shortbread cookies and less sweet "biscuit" type cookies, crumbled up, mixed with butter, just a drop of sugar and some cinnamon. While I work to roll the cookies fine, I also enjoy the little pieces of not totally broken finely cookie that end up in the base, adding to the simplicity of the crust, making it totally homemade, and a little bit rustic.

This cheesecake is not light and fluffy, it is thick, rich, dense, and totally delicious. If you like the super airy style cheesecakes, this is not for you... but if you want to try something dangerously tasty.. give it a try!

Crust

300g shortbread butter cookies (crushed)

150g tea biscuits (crushed)

6 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F

Place crackers/cookies into a gallon zip loc bag & roll with a rolling pin until fine

Mix all ingredients well in a medium size bowl

Form into a base of a springform pan and pat down until firm (use a spoon to get into the sides)

** (Depending on your pan and the desired thickness of your crust there may be extra crust mixture leftover- between the leftover crust mixture and cheesecake batter I am usually able to make an additional small loaf sized cake, or 6 muffin sized mini cheesecakes) **

Bake for about 15 minutes, until slightly golden

Cheesecake

16 oz cream cheese

2 C sugar

6 eggs

32 oz sour cream

2 Tsp vanilla

7 oz (2 bars of extra dark chocolate - I use Equal Exchange Organic Extra Dark)

Directions

Mix together cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream until smooth.

Add in vanilla

Add in egg

Pour all but one cup of mixture into the crust

Melt chocolate

Mix remaining cup of batter with the melted chocolate

Marble using a knife

Bake for 45 minutes LIGHTLY covered with foil

Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes

Turn the oven off and allow the cheesecake to cool slowly in the oven (crack the oven door open slightly)

Tip: We prefer the texture of the cheesecake after it has cooled for at least 24 hours in the fridge before eating