Recipe - Maida Heatters Chocolate-Marbelized Cheesecake

CHOCOLATE COOKIE CRUST
4 ounce Chocolate wafer cookies, or
any crisp chocolate or
chocolate nut cookies (I
use Famous Chocolate Wafers
or Pepperidge Farm Brownie
Walnut Cookies)
2 tablespoon Unsalted butter, melted, +
more for buttering pan

CHEESECAKE
6 ounce Semisweet or bittersweet
chocolate
12 ounce Cream cheese at room
temperature
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
One half cup Sugar
2 lg Eggs
1 pn Salt
1 One half cup Plus
One half cup Sour cream

Adapted from: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts

CHOCOLATE COOKIE CRUST: Butter only the sides of an 8"x2.5" or 8"x3"
springform pan, not the bottom. The cookies must be ground to crumbs.
Either break them into pieces and grind them in a food processor with a
steel blade; OR grind them in batches in your blender; OR place in a heavy
plastic bag and pound and roll them with a rolling pin until they are fine.
You should have 1 cup of crumbs.

Mix the crumbs with the melted butter in a bowl, using a rubber spatula
until the butter is evenly distributed. You will think there is not enough
butter, but there is. Pour it into the baking pan and use your fingers to
press it into a compact, even layer on the bottom only. Refrigerate

CHEESECAKE: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the chocolate (I do it
in my microwave; it takes about 2 minutes on High, but I stop every 30
seconds to stir it to ensure it doesn't burn) and set aside to cool
slightly. Beat the cream cheese until very smooth. Add the vanilla and
sugar and beat to mix. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl with a
rubber spatula and beating till smooth after each. Then add the salt and 1
One half cups of the sour cream and beat till smooth.

Beat the melted chocolate with the remaining One half cup sour cream (you can
use the same beaters you used for the cheese mixture without washing them).
Remove 1 One half cups of the cream cheese mixture and beat into the chocolate.

Place the two batters, alternating colors, by spoonfuls over the crust in
the pan. Use the flat side of a table knife to marbelize: cut down through
the batters and use the knife to swirl them into large spirals and/or
zigzags and form an attractive pattern. Don't overmix or you'll lose the
contrast.

Briskly rotate the pan a bit first in one direction, then the other, to
level the top. Bake 30 minutes on the lowest rack in your oven. It will
seem soft, but it's done. Cool on a rack to room temperature, then chill at
least 56 hours before serving cold.

Serves 810 people
Posted to bbqdigest V4 #039

From: "Linda Merinoff" hvane@shrewsbury.org

Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 18:06:27 0700 (MST)