Hello food blog! It’s been a while, eh? The last few months have mostly involved a lot of really mediocre cooking, and one or two things I intended to share that didn’t work out quite right. I’m down to my last week in Greece, which will be followed by a month in Turkey, and then back to a fully functional kitchen in a country where I can read the packages in the store. Exciting!

Before leaving Greece however, we made use of the kitchen one last time for chocolate cheesecake. It is…a really nice cake. Smooth and chocolatey, but not oppressively rich. I could easily eat more of it. Oh, wait, only 3 days left to clear out the fridge – I will eat more of it!

Crust:

• 24 Oreos
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
• 24 ounces cream cheese, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temp
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

To make this gluten-free, I used all-purpose gluten free flour in the batter, and just kind of winged it for the crust – I just melted some butter and stirred in cocoa powder, sugar, and some more a-p gf flour without measuring or anything, and it worked out fine. But assuming you want to follow the recipe…

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9″ springform pan. Crush the Oreos, stir together with the powdered sugar, and then stir in the butter until evenly combined. Press evenly across the bottom of the pan and up the sides. Bake 15 minutes, the remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 350.

To make the filling, first combine the milk and chocolate in a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Stir constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat, stir in the espresso powder if desired, and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until no lumps remain.

Greek cream cheese does not come in portions useful for non-metric recipes.

smoooooooooth

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add the vanilla, then the flour.

Add the chocolate mixture, beating slowly.

Pour into the crust and smooth the top.

Bake 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted 1″ from the edge comes out clean. (I didn’t actually check this.) It’s fine if the center doesn’t look set yet. Leave the cake in the oven, with the heat off and the door cracked open several inches, and let cool for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack until room temperature (several tortuously slow hours), then transfer to the fridge to chill through.

Put a bird on it?

Serve chilled, possibly with some berries, whipped cream, or chocolate sauce.

My (metrically sized) pans are larger than 9″, so yours will be thicker.

Made some whipped cream.

Chocolate Cheesecake

From King Arthur Flour.

Crust:

• 24 Oreos
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
• 24 ounces cream cheese, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temp
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9″ springform pan. Crush the Oreos, stir together with the powdered sugar, and then stir in the butter until evenly combined. Press evenly across the bottom of the pan and up the sides. Bake 15 minutes, the remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 350.

To make the filling, first combine the milk and chocolate in a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Stir constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat, stir in the espresso powder if desired, and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until no lumps remain. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add the vanilla, then the flour. Add the chocolate mixture, beating slowly. Pour into the crust and smooth the top. Bake 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted 1″ from the edge comes out clean. It’s ok if the center doesn’t look set yet.

Leave the cake in the oven, with the heat off and the door cracked open several inches, and let cool for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack until room temperature, then transfer to the fridge to chill through before serving.