Kahlúa Cheesecake

Growing up, we used to get a pie every Friday for Shabbat dinner from Marie Callender's. Besides pumpkin pie, one other pie was my absolute favorite.  Here is how the real thing looks like courtesy of yelp.

When my coworker gave me a bottle of Kahlúa for Christmas last year, I had to try to make it. Here is my feeble attempt to make it based of the recipe that appears at the top of this link: http://www.food.com/recipe/kahlua-cheesecake-15330.
It is a little different than Marie's, a little more chocolaty. I wish everything was more chocolaty.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2. Cut up two 8 ounces cream cheese blocks and leave out in your room temperature kitchen so that it gets soft. I cannot emphasize how important this step is. You will regret it if you don't. It needs to be warm to combine with the rest of the ingredients.

3. Grind 1.33 cups of some kind of dry chocolate cookie/cracker in a food processor. The recipe calls for chocolate wafers, but those are hard to find and when you do find them, they are overpriced. I used chocolate teddy grahams, but you could also use oreo wafers without the filling or chocolate graham crackers.

4. Since I measured the chocolate crumbs in a large graduated measuring cup, I add the 0.25 cup of melted unsalted butter (that's half a stick) directly into the cup and mixed until well combined.

5. Press the crumb mixture into a 9" springform pan that has been lined with aluminum foil. I use a large circular measuring cup to help press the crumbs into bottom and sides of the pan.

Usually, crumb based crusts are pre-baked, but this recipe did not ask for that. I put the crust in the fridge while I made the filling to let the crust firm up.

6.  What makes this recipe different than regular cheesecake is the addition of a chocolate Kahlúa  mixture. This will make it taste amazing. Start by filling a pot with about an inch of water. Heat it up to a simmer. You don't want it to get too hot.

7. In a glass/metal bowl that fits on top of the pot without touching the water, combine 1.5 cups of semi-sweet chocolate, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 0.25 cup of Kahlúa or any other coffee liqueur.

8. Keep stirring until the mixture melts and is well combined, then take the bowl off the heat. Let the mixture cool as you prepare the rest of the batter.

9.  Combine 2 eggs, 0.33 a cup of granulated sugar, and 0.25 of a teaspoon of salt. For some reason I decided to mix freehand, but don't be a hero... use a stand (paddle attachment) or a hand mixture. Mixing cream cheese can get difficult. 

10. Mix in 1 cup of sour cream.

11. Mix in the warm cream cheese until it is well combined and there are no solid chucks.

Mix
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 Mix

12. Gently mix in the chocolate mixture.

13. Pour the batter into the prepared crust.

14. Put the cheesecake in the oven for 35 minutes. Once the time is up, turn the oven off and leave the door slightly open for 15 minutes. Your kitchen will warm up a little, but it will be worth it.

I have a back log of finished dishes, so stay tuned for more. Next will be my healthy quick pizza.