The Chocolate Cult: Heart Happy Valentine Cookie Chocolate Cheesecake

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Heart Happy Valentine Cookie Chocolate Cheesecake

Once more The Chocolate Cult is participating in a Good Cookie Fundraiser to help fund research toward cancer in children. This is a more romantic version of a similar cheesecake I created years ago back in 2010. This new recipe is different in several ways and the results are superior as well.

This is the second year for our Valentine’s event! We want to make a difference in the fight against pediatric cancer!

Did you know that cancer is the #1 cause of death of children by disease in the U.S.? There are 40,000 U.S. children actively battling cancer right now. With less than 4% of the National Cancer Institute's budget going to all childhood cancer combined, I knew it was important for me to get involved.

Help us make a difference by donating to Cookies for Kids' Cancer! Our goal is to raise at least $3000. Because these three companies: Dixie Crystals, Mediavine and OXO have each pledged to match our donations raised through this campaign up to $3000!!!

Thanks to many of you, we have reached our goal. You can still donate and help us make an even bigger difference!

Donate here.

As part of our Year-Long Celebration of The Chocolate Cult I'm going to try and share more recipes here on The Chocolate Cult. A lot of people enjoy cooking and baking blogs, while that is not what we are, when I asked our followers on Facebook what they wanted more of, they said "recipes". I won't always have from scratch brand new creations for you all, but if I try something new or do create something I'll share it with you. Any ingredients I received from a company or brand to review I'll mark with * but their reviews are likely to have been completed earlier. My goal is to have at least one recipe a month for you. There may be more in any given month depending on what products I'm sent to test our or charity baking/cooking events I participate in.

Heart Happy Valentine Cookie Chocolate Cheesecake

Heart Happy Valentine Cookie Chocolate Cheesecake
By: TammyJo Eckhart

Ingredients:

Your favorite cookie dough -- make your own or buy it
3 8 oz blocks of fat free cream cheese
3 large egg whites (or liquid egg substitutes)
8 oz of pure chocolate, any cacao percentage will work but I go higher
1/2 C Splenda Sugar Blend*
1 tsp real vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Set your cream cheese out to bring it to room temperature. The length of time will depend on the temp of your room. It is soft enough when it whips easily using an electric mixer.

2. Break your chocolate into pieces and melt until smooth. Set aside to allow to cool until you need it.

3. Line a heart-shaped 9 inch baking pan with foil smoothly it down as much as you can but making sure the foil is over the edges of the top of the pan. This will help you remove the cheesecake later. Apply non-stick spray over the entire surface of the foil in the pans.

4. Apply non-stick spray to the bottom and sides of a springform pan for any extra mixture you have. I did this so I could have a cheesecake that was easy to remove as well as the heart-shaped ones.

5. Preheat oven to 325°F.

6. Prepare your cookie dough and divide it so you can place it on the bottom of each pan. Flatten each part into one of the bottoms of the pans you have lined and/or sprayed. Make sure that you put the cookie at least 1 inches up the sides so when you remove it, the crust will be easy to ease off the bottom of the pan without losing the cheesecake integrity.

7. Beat together the cream cheese, Splenda, and vanilla in a large bowl until it is smooth.

8. Add in the cooled chocolate; if it is warm on your fingertip, it is still too warm. Do not place it in refrigerator or freezer to cool because that will make it too hard. This mixture is fairly hard anyway, you don't need to make it even more difficult to work with.

9. Once you have added it, blend in the chocolate until you can not see any white form the cream cheese mixture.

10. Add in 1 egg white at a time and blend in slowly. You will have to scrape the sides of your bowl several times. The resulting mixture will be thick but not nearly as think as before you added the eggs.

11. Spoon the cream cheese mixture into each of your pans, making sure there is room to spare in the pans for it to raise a bit. Spread it out evenly in each pan.

12. Bake for 35 minutes then check to see if the cheesecake is set. It should be just set and not look liquid or crusty. The size of your pan will determine how much time it will take.

13. Remove from oven and turn off the heat.

14. Run a knife around the outside of the cheesecake in the springform pan. Set all pans on separate cooling rates until completely cool to your touch.

15. Release the springform and remove the outer ring. Then using a cake lifter separate the crust at the bottom of the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan and set on a plate large enough to hold it. I got this from Wilton to test out if you are interested in what a cake lifter is.

16. Using the foil, slowly lift the heart-shaped cheesecake out of its pan. you may need to use a spatula to help you and place it on a plate that fits it; I found the cake lifter to be a big help here as well.

17. Refrigerate for 4 hours and serve later that night with whatever topping you like or enjoy solo. You can also wrap the cheesecake up securely and freeze it for several months.

Depending on how many pieces you cut these into, the calories will vary a good deal but the entire thing came out to 5077 calories! Not a heart-healthy treat perhaps but I think it will make your heart happy and your Valentine's tasty.