Marble Cheesecake

My assignment for this Thanksgiving is to bring the desserts. I will be making the traditional pumpkin pie, but wanted to try out something a little different as well. My recipe of choice is this marble cheesecake from foodnetwork. The only issue is that I have only attempted a cheesecake once before and it was a soupy disaster! I decided to do a test run just in case I made cheesy soup again I could come up with another plan. To my surprise, this one came out great! I did use a water bath (not called for) and tweaked the baking time a bit based on other recipes and cheesecake tips I read online (and out of fear I would under bake it again). I did get a few cracks on top but I consider this one a success none the less.

Ingredients

For the crust:

(Note: I had to double the crust recipe in order to cover the bottom of the pan)

• 4 ounces chocolate cookie crumbs (I used chocolate teddy grahams)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

For the filling:

• 2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature (VERY important to have it at room temp or you will get lumps)
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 yolks
• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup sour cream, plus 1/4 cup
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch spring form pan.

Crush cookie crumbs in a sealable plastic bag. Blend the cookie crumbs with the melted butter, press it into the bottom of the pan, and chill. Wrap pan bottom and sides in aluminum foil to prepare it for the water bath.

In a mixer with a whisk attachment, place the softened cream cheese and whip it. Add the sugar and continue to mix until blended. Add the flour and salt and blend. Add the eggs and yolks gradually, scraping in between then add the vanilla. Add 3/4 cup of the sour cream and mix in. Take off 2 cups of the mixture and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 1/4 cup sour cream with the cooled melted chocolate then whisk it into the reserved 2 cups of filling. Pour a layer of the vanilla filling into the bottom of the pan about 1-inch thick. By large spoonfuls, alternate the 2 fillings to fill the spring form pan. Using the flat face of a spatula or knife, swirl the 2 batters slightly to marbleize it.

Place wrapped pan in water bath. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 250 degrees and bake for 1hour and 20 minutes. Then, turn the oven off and let it cool in the oven 1 hour. The cake will still shimmy, but it is done, it will set up as it chills. Cool on counter for 10 minutes then run a knife or icing spatula along the edges to loosen and hopefully prevent cracking. Leave on the counter to cool another 50 minutes (1 hour total on the counter). Refrigerate the cake overnight. Remove from the spring form pan, slice with a hot, dry knife, and serve.

For recipe as originally written click here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sweet-dreams/marble-cheesecake-recipe/index.html