SMS: Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake with Blackberry Glaze

Every time I make a cheesecake, I wonder why I don't do so more often. Then I eat half of it within the first day, and I remember why. I really love cheesecake. If offered a choice of flavor, I would normally have picked the unadulterated plain old cheesecake. However, this version has changed all of that.

It really is divine, this cheesecake. One of my favorite things we've made from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book so far. I mean, what's not to love? Two of my favorite flavors (coffee & chocolate) together in one creamy, decadent creation, complete with a chocolate crust that has a thin layer of melted chocolate on it. I'll say it again: chocolate crust, topped with melted chocolate, filled with chocolate espresso cheesecake. Oh my. And let's not leave out the blackberry glaze that you see on top. While there isn't a lot of it, it adds a wonderful light and tangy element to the dessert that really puts it over the top. Chocolate and blackberry are a match made in heaven.

Changes I made to the recipe are as follows: I made a 1/2 recipe in a 6" spring form - the crust was the perfect amount, but I had extra filling (which I made these with, forgetting that I had already made them, only to remember when I took a bite and recalled that I had eaten all of the cheesecake layer off of the brownie layer, because it wasn't terribly good. Same thing happened this time.); I used whole wheat flour in the crust; I didn't have any hazelnuts (nor am I particularly fond of them) but I had some almond meal, so I used that instead of chopped nuts in the crust. As a result, my crust was probably smoother than intended, and it is actually remarkably similar in texture and taste to my Chocolate No-Roll Crust. For the topping, I cooked down and strained frozen blackberries and apple juice - sorry, I didn't measure them.

Everyone who tasted this dessert flipped out over it. Many thanks to Shandy of Pastry Heaven for this wonderful pick. If you're interested in the recipe - and you should be - head on over to her blog. Also, this will be the last SMS post for the year. We're taking a baking break as a group, and will be back in the swing of things in January. Don't worry, I'll still be baking and posting plenty of other goodies in the mean time.

TWD: Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

I'm always up for making a brownie - not to mention eating one - and I love cheesecake, and espresso. This was a treat I was sure I'd love.

I read on the TWD P&Q about a few problems that people had had making these, but for some reason, I chose not to listen to them... And I ended up having the same problems... Namely, that the top of the cheesecake/brownie was supposed to have beautiful swirls of cheesecake and brownie batter.

The brownie batter is made first and set aside while the cheesecake is made. Since there is melted butter and chocolate in it, as it cools down it begins to thicken. By the time I was ready to put dollops of brownie batter on top of the the cheesecake batter and begin swirling, mine was so thick that there was no swirling whatsoever. You can see the brownie globs in the photo below. It was not a pretty sight. I popped it in the oven, and figured I'd drizzle some chocolate on it later to pretty it up.

It took 42 minutes to bake in a 9" round pan.

I made a chocolate glaze that I was intending to drizzle on the top, but it was thick and didn't drizzle, so I just slathered it on. For the glaze, I used the recipe from the Chocolate Amaretti Torte that we made with TWD a few months ago.

Chocolate Glaze (a half recipe)

2 oz bittetsweet chocolate finely chopped

2 oz (1/4 cup) cream

1 1/2 teaspoons water

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Place chopped chocolate in heatproof bowl - pyrex measuring cup works well. Bring cream, sugar and water to a boil. Pour over chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Pour on cheesecake and smooth with spatula.

I didn't think the brownie itself was out of this world, though the cheesecake was amazing. The chocolate glaze was certainly a wonderful addition.

For the cheesecake brownie recipe, please visit Melissa's blog, Life in a Peanut Shell. Thanks to Melissa for hosting this week, and for picking such a fun and yummy recipe!