Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake

CSN Stores feature over 200 super convenient online stores. CSN sells everything from coffee tables to chaise lounges to cookware.The lovely representatives over at CSN Stores have offered to let me review one of their products on the blog.

So I’ve chosen to review this:

This is perfect because I want to make my very first home made pie. Anthony has been begging me to make him some sort of apple cake; I guess he’s craving apples. And he prefers pies to cakes (which is blasphemy to me; I’m a total cake girl all the way). So thanks to the kind folks at CSN, I have the opportunity to score some major brownie points with my husband.

Keep a look out for this product review sometime soon!

And speaking of baking and the whole cake v. pie argument, I thought I’d share a sinfully delicious cheesecake I baked last week for Mindy’s birthday.

I found the recipe for this delicious gem at Tasty Kitchen. I modified the cheesecake part a little bit to make it a little lighter though. The original recipe calls for 2 pounds of cream cheese but I halved that and subbed a pound of ricotta.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS

FOR BROWNIE CRUST

6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted
1-¼ cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2 whole Eggs
1 cup Flour
⅓ cups Unsweetened Cocoa
½ teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Peanut Butter Chips
12 mini Reeses peanut butter cups

FOR CHEESECAKE FILLING

1 pound 1/3 less fat Cream Cheese, softened
1 pound part skim Ricotta
5 eggs
1-½ cup Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed
1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
½ cups Whipping Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract (I Used Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla)

FOR DECORATION

½ cups Whipping Cream
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Peanut Butter Chips
mini Reeses peanut butter cups

PREPARATION (taken from the original recipe)

Brownie Crust:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch Springform pan with butter.

2. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with spoon or wire whisk. Add eggs; stir until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; blend well. Spread in prepared pan.

3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until brownie begins to pull away from side of pan. Meanwhile make cheesecake layer (see below).

4. Immediately after removing brownie from oven, sprinkle milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups over brownie surface. Spoon cheesecake mixture over chips. Turn down oven 325°.

Cheesecake Filling:

5. Beat cream cheese (and ricotta) in bowl of electric mixer until smooth.

6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

7. Add sugar, peanut butter and cream; mix until smooth.

8. Stir in vanilla.

9. Pour filling into prepared crust.

[There will likely be extra batter, I put it in some ramekins, original baker put it in smaller springform pan]

10. Double-wrap Springform pan with aluminum foil to prevent water seeping in.

11. Place Springform pan into a larger baking pan.

12. Pour hot water into the larger pan so that the water comes 1 inch up the sides of the Springform pan.

13. Bake at 325 degrees 1-1/2 hours, or until firm and lightly browned.

14. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for one hour.

15. Run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan somewhat.

16. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before decorating.

17. Remove cake from pan and put on a pretty plate. (I left mine in the springform pan, I’m lazy like that)

18. Bring whipping cream to boil in a small saucepan.

19. Remove from heat and add semi-sweet and peanut butter chips. Stir, stir, stir until melted and smooth.

20. Drizzle over cake and then add peanut butter cup halves around the edge of the cake. (I used mini Reeses cups and cut them in half to make a border, I also placed the ganache in a piping bag and created (messily) the lattice design.)

21. Eat and enjoy!

Even with the modifications this cake was incredibly decadent. Granted we were already full from a fabulous dinner feast. This cake put us into a food coma. At one point Mindy’s husband laid on the floor. I’m so glad this didn’t stay at our house because I’m pretty sure I would have gained weight just from eyeing it.