Recipe: Peanut Butter Cheesecake

My final installment of Thanksgiving recipes for the year was a peanut butter cheesecake by way of a last minute request. It came out marvelous. Much like my chocolate ricotta pie, it’s time consuming but simple and such a treat. You really should make this.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Crust:
75 Trader Joe’s cinnamon cat cookies (I’m sure any small cookie would do, Nilla Wafers, graham crackers, etc.)
3/4 cup butter (or whatever substitute you like, I used Earth Balance)
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt

Filling:
1 cup ricotta cheese
7 oz. cream cheese
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1.25 cups peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1.5 cup simple syrup (3/4 cup water & 3/4 cup brown sugar)

Topping/garnish:
3 mini peanut butter cups
1 oz. melted chocolate (I used 65% cocoa, a great compliment to the peanut butter)

Instructions: Make the shell, weight it with pie weights or beans or whatever, and bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes. Once the shell is baked, add the filling, and bake at 350 degrees for another 30-35 minutes. Chill for at least an hour but preferably overnight, garnish once cheesecake is fully cool.

Geez, Trader Joe’s much?

Make the crust first so it can bake while you work on your filling. Load up all the ingredients in your foodpro and pulse. Press into a springform pan and bake according to directions above.

Next, blend your filling in your foodpro. Add all the ingredients and let her rip.

A note on the simple syrup: boil 3/4 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar, let cool, and then add separately to the rest of your ingredients in the foodpro. This is done to thin out the consistency of the filling. All the cheese makes it pretty thick and dense, definitely do not skip this step.

Once your crust and filling are done, spoon the filling in and bake (directions above).

Once the cheesecake is done, let it cool, remove from your springform pan, and chill for at least an hour (I chilled mine overnight).

For the topping/garnish I melted 1 oz. of 65% dark chocolate and drizzled over the top of my cheesecake with a fork (a Barefoot Contessa method I love).