Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

I love collecting recipes. I’ve done it for as long as I can remember — starting my huge treasure trove of them about the time I was in third grade. I garner them from many sources — cookbooks, magazines, newspapers, and these days, online.

Of course I also gather them from friends, relatives, coworkers — the people in my life. These are the truly special ones. For me, they possess a level of emotional attachment and a deeper meaning than the rest. These recipes immediately trigger memories of the person who gave them to me and remind me of the times we’ve shared together.

This recipe is one of those. I got it from Mary Schindler, a friend who savored life and lived every moment with true zest and zeal. I hope you’ve had a chance to read yesterday’s posting about Mary — she was one of a kind!

I’ve included the charming special tips (in pink) that Mary added when she sent me the recipe. I’m honored to be able to share it you. CJK

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

(Mary Schindler)

Crust

1 cup (6 oz.) chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet chips — not milk chocolate.) 

3/4 cup flour

2 tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup butter 

Filling

3 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened (I used 2 light and 1 regular.)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sour cream (I used light sour cream — sometimes I use plain yogurt.)

6 eggs

Crust

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Melt chocolate chips. Mix the flour, sugar and butter together and then stir in 2 tbsp. of the melted chocolate. Pat the mixture into a springform pan. (Mine was 9 inches.) Bake the crust in the preheated oven at 400°F for 10 minutes.

              

Filling

Beat first five ingredients together and then add the eggs — one at a time.

Remove 1 1/2 cups of batter. Gently mix the rest of the melted chocolate into the remaining batter. (I tweaked this by adding a few shakes of cinnamon and a pinch of chili pepper.)

Pour the plain batter into the baked crust.  Drop the chocolate batter on top of it and swirl it through. 

Put the cheesecake into the 400°F oven and then immediately turn the temperature down to 300°F.  Bake for 1 hour, without opening the door. (I’ve seen on the Food Network to put a pan of water on the shelf below the cake — I did that this time.) When the time is up, shut off the oven, but do not open or remove the cheesecake for another hour. (It usually cracks across the surface like you saw.) When that hour is up, remove, cool and refrigerate 8 hours.   YUM  :) Mary Schindler

A note from Carol: Mary called this sweet treat “Educated Cheesecake” in the recipe she sent to me — but that, dear readers, is a story of its own.

This cheesecake would be a hit at any holiday gathering. It offers a heavenly blend of rich chocolate and vanilla flavors and it’s absolutely attractive. I liked Mary’s idea of adding a bit of cinnamon and chili powder to the chocolate batter — perky!

Another idea is to add 1 to 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract to the chocolate batter before it’s swirled into the white one. Once it’s baked and cooled crushed candy canes sprinkled over the top would give it a festive look and complement the peppermint flavor.

Other cheesecake recipes on FFF that you may like to try are Sheila Seelhammer’s Almond Cheesecake and Carl Monson’s Cheesecake Supreme.