Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

It has been a busy few weeks: graduation, visitors, C's birthday, packing, moving across country.  I'm still in Dallas for the next week but C has officially moved (and taken all my stuff) to Phoenix.  So, although it's been a busy time, I still wanted to make C something special for this birthday so we could celebrate before left.  I think we both agree the best thing is chocolate and peanut butter together, and I think C's favorite dessert is cheesecake. I put them all together for this awesome dessert.  Please forgive my lack of pictures on how I made this, I didn't have my camera with me at the time!  

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Crush oreo's into fine crumbs and add melted butter.  Combine well and press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.  Beat softened cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  add eggs one at a time beating in between each one.  Add remaining ingredients, beating until all is smooth.  Pour into crust and allow to sit at room temperature 30 minutes.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 60 minutes.  Allow to sit in the oven with the door open for another 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and run a knife around the edge.  Allow to come to room temperature while you make the additional toppings.

To make the peanut butter topping  put whipping cream into a saucepan and heat just until bubbling at the edges.  Turn off the heat and add peanut butter chips, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.  To make the chocolate topping put whipping cream into saucepan and heat until bubbling at the edges.  Turn heat off, add the chocolate chips, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes stir both until smooth.  Pour peanut butter over the top of the cheesecake, smooth to edges.  Refrigerate for 10 minutes.  Pour chocolate over peanut butter and smooth into a center circle.  Decorate as desired.  I topped with extra peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Refrigerate overnight before serving for best consistency.  This was a really hard task, to wait an entire night to try this amazing dessert.  If  you're a peanut butter & chocolate fan this is the dessert for you.  It's very rich, but it's the perfect birthday treat. 

And what a Happy Birthday it was :) 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Cheesecake:

9 oz oreo's

1/4 cup butter

2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cups dark chocolate chips

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoon butter

3 teaspoons vanilla

Chocolate Topping:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Topping:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  

Crush oreo's into fine crumbs and add melted butter. 

Combine well and press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.  

Beat softened cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  

Add eggs one at a time beating in between each one.  

Add remaining ingredients, beating until all is smooth.  

Pour into crust and allow to sit at room temperature 30 minutes.  

Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 60 minutes.  

Allow to sit in the oven with the door open for another 30 minutes.  

Remove from the oven and run a knife around the edge.  

Allow to come to room temperature while you make the additional toppings.

To make the peanut butter topping  put whipping cream into a saucepan and heat just until bubbling at the edges.  
Turn off the heat and add peanut butter chips, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.  
To make the chocolate topping put whipping cream into saucepan and heat until bubbling at the edges.  
Turn heat off, add the chocolate chips, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.  
After 5 minutes stir both until smooth.  
Pour peanut butter over the top of the cheesecake, smooth to edges. 
 Refrigerate for 10 minutes.  
Pour chocolate over peanut butter and smooth into a center circle.  
Decorate as desired.
Refrigerate overnight before serving for best consistency. 

Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake

Last day of holiday treats!  It always amazes me how fast the holidays fly by, seems once Halloween is here the year is over.  This is a pretty Christmas specific dessert, but what a yummy one.  I also really love how it looks holiday!

Line a 9 inch round cake or spring form pan with foil.

Combine Oreo cookie crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl.

Add melted butter and mix well.

Press crumbs firmly onto the bottom of the prepared pan, and partway up the sides.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. 

Gradually add sweetened condensed milk until smooth.

Stir in peppermint extract and red food coloring, and mix well.

Fold in the whipped cream.

Pour filling into pan.  Cover and freeze for around 6 hours until firm.

Garnish with topping.  I crushed up candy canes and used those, you could also use any leftover Oreo crumbs you might have.

This is more of an ice cream pie than cheesecake, but either way it's delicious.  I served it at a holiday party, and even people who weren't huge fans of peppermint enjoyed it.  It's not over powering, but still creamy and delicious.  Sure to be a hit with anyone you tries it!

Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake

Serves 12

Adapted from Smuckers

2 cups chocolate wafer cookie or Oreo crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

2 cups heavy cream, whipped

red food coloring

candy canes *optional

Line a 9 inch round cake or spring form pan with foil.

Combine cookie crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl. 

Add butter and mix well.

Press 2 cups of crumbs firmly onto the bottom and partway up the sides of the pan.

Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Beat cream cheese until fluffy in a large bowl.

Gradually add sweetened condensed milk, and stir until smooth.

Stir in peppermint and food coloring and mix well.

Fold in whipped cream.

Pour filling into pan.

Cover and freeze for around 6 hours or until firm.

Garnish with whatever topping you desire, and enjoy!

Kathleen's Sky Diner Review

I have been dying to try Kathleen's Sky Diner on Lovers Lane since I first drove by it many months ago.  In case you didn't know, the best movie theatre in Dallas is located just a couple blocks down in Lovers called Inwood Theatre.  It's an old  theatre that's been re-done, but still kept it's charm.  The best thing is what they call the "screening room," which is a theatre with a huge screen, and most importantly - Love Sac couches to sit on.  If you've never sat in one you're missing out, you can check out their website here but it doesn't do them justice, it's like sitting on the most comfortable bed to watch a movie.  Kathleen's Sky Diner and Inwood Theatre are a great dinner and a movie night, which is exactly what we did!

We started with the spicy shrimp.  It was amazing, and not something I expected to see on the menu.  The portions were very large too, we couldn't eat the whole appetizer and our meals, so we took some leftovers.

We each ordered a pasta dish, and C was very excited that you got your own cheese and spicy peppers to add as you like.  He likes to add a lot (understatement) to his meal, so when the waiter/waitress does it, he always says it's never as much as he would like.  Points for letting us add at our leisure!

They have a special ravioli every day, C ordered the mushroom stuffed ravioli.  You could tell they were hand made because they were all shaped a little different, which is a good sign!  The sauce was a buttery light sauce, and it had a lot of fresh veggies in it.  Beautiful dish, and very tasty.

I ordered the pasta bolognese, not nearly as light as C's meal, oops.  It was so good!!!  The pasta again, seemed homemade.  It was very tender and the sauce was amazing.  Different than a regular bolognese as it was more cheesy, but it was very filling and tasted great.  I could only eat around half of it, mainly because I was saving room for dessert.

If you like cheesecake and red velvet cake, this is your dessert.  I think it was a good compromise as C really likes cheesecake and I really like red velvet cake.  It was very creamy and the frosting was great.

Overall, I thought the sky diner was awesome.  It was a little pricey, but I can't really complain about that because everything I ordered I really enjoyed.  For some reason their website isn't working right now, so I'll link you to their yelp reviews by clicking here.

Rating: 4