Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

One of our regular readers provided the inspiration for this sinful cheesecake. She had taken our recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars and turned it into an actual cheesecake by doubling the recipe and putting it into a spring form pan.

I thought perhaps the cheesecake from that recipe might be a bit dense for that purpose so I set out to see if it would work with a creamier cheesecake recipe. I did cut back a little on the whipping cream that I normally put into a cheesecake to make it a little thicker to hold the cookie dough better and it worked very well.

The cookie dough in this recipe is the same as used in those decadent cheesecake cookie bars. It should be should be very cold when it's folded into the cheesecake batter so be sure to make it an hour or more in advance of the rest of the recipe.

Cookie Dough

Cream together very well:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Fold in just until a dough forms:

• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
• pinch salt

Finally mix in:

• 1 cup chocolate chips

Chill the dough in the fridge for at least an hour.

Break off small nuggets of the dough about the size of the top of your forefinger. Place them on a parchment lined tray and keep chilled in the fridge. About 3/4 of these dough nuggets will go into the cheesecake batter. Reserve the other 1/4 to garnish the cheesecake after it is baked, cooled and glazed.

  
Cookie Crumb Crust

In a small bowl, combine:

• 1 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup melted butter

Press into the bottom of a lightly greased or parchment lined 9 inch spring form pan. (Grease bottom only!) Parchment paper is ideal here because it makes it very easy to release the cheesecake from the bottom of the pan.

Vanilla Cheesecake

Cream together:

• 2 eight ounce packages ounces cream cheese
• 2/3 cup sugar

Add, one at a time

•  2 eggs

beating well after each addition. Add

•  2 tsp vanilla extract

Finally blend in

• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Fold in 3/4 of the chilled cookie dough pieces. Pour over the prepared base and bake at 300 degrees F for 60 - 70 minutes. The cheesecake does not have to brown at all in order to be fully baked; the surface of the cheesecake should lose any shine when the cake is properly baked. It can still be slightly wobbly just at the center at this point.

Remove the cake from the oven and run a sharp knife completely around the edge of the pan. This will allow for the cheesecake to shrink as it cools and hopefully not crack (Allow the cheesecake to cool thoroughly on a wire rack at room temperature. (NOT in the fridge). Refrigerate after fully cooled.

Top with chocolate ganache and vanilla whipped cream as well as the reserved cookie dough pieces.

Chocolate Ganache

In a small saucepan, heat almost to boiling:

• 1/3 cup whipping cream

Remove from heat and pour in

• 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips

Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Pour evenly over the cheesecake when it is still in the pan. Return to the fridge to let the chocolate set.

Vanilla Whipped Cream

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3 rounded tbsp icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat to firm peaks and use to garnish the edges of the cheesecake. If you don't have a piping bag just cut a half inch opening off the corner of a large Ziploc bag and use that to squeeze the whipped cream onto the cheesecake.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Easy Summer Fruit Cookie Tarts

Easy Summer Fruit Cookie Tarts

Sometimes the simplest  of experiments yield amazing results.  That couldn't be more true than with these beautiful little summer fruit tarts. There was some leftover cookie dough in the fridge that had been there for a couple of days and I honestly thought of tossing it in the trash but as everybody knows, I hate to throw out anything. There is also an abundance of fruit in the house at the moment, we always seem to overbuy but then again, it rarely gets tossed out; we always seem to find some way to use it. 

I broke out some of my individual fluted tart pans, pressed the cookie dough into them without even rolling it out, added some sliced strawberries, sliced black velvet apricots, and a handful of frozen blueberries from the freezer , sprinkled a little sugar on top of the fruit and tossed them into the oven. I didn't expect much to be honest, thinking the juicy fruit might drown the cookie dough completely and I'd be left with a soggy mess that would still end up in the garbage bin. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained and the trash bin was the cookie dough's initial destination anyway, so no big deal anyway, I thought.

Easy Summer Fruit Cookie Tarts

Wow! These little tarts are amazing. I only made three and everyone in the house insisted on sampling each one! They were all absolutely delicious! This particular cookie dough held up perfectly, providing a crispy edged buttery vanilla pastry that didn't crumble into a million pieces but wasn't too soft to hold its own shape either. They were perfect!

I'm already thinking of new fruits to try in them and thinking about a full sized peach tart as an experiment when the Niagara peaches arrive. This turned out to be one of my favorite new recipes this summer and a lesson that a little kitchen experimentation can be a wonderful thing.

Cookie Dough Crust

Sift together:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream together until light and fluffy:

• 1 cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar

Add and beat well:

• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Fold in the dry ingredients until crumbly, then press the dough into a ball , wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for a half hour. Press the cookie dough into tart pans about a 1/4 inch thick on the bottom and sides.

Add any sliced fruit or berries into the pastry shell and sprinkle each one with 1/2 tsp sugar. You can probably omit the sugar if you'd rather just have the natural sweetness of the fruit. Some fruit and berry suggestions include:

• blueberries
• strawberries
• peaches
• plums
• nectarines
• blackberries 
• raspberries

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F until evenly dark golden brown at the edges. You want some good dark color to the cookie crust to make sure they are fully baked. Cool on a wire rack to almost room temperature before removing from the pans to cool completely. These would also be excellent served warm with a scoop of good vanilla bean ice-cream.