Dessert: Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Chocolate Glaze

This cheesecake is a fresh take on a familiar combination. It's not too sweet and has a voluptuous consistency. The glossy chocolate glaze goes on like satin.

Ingredients

Vegetable-oil cooking spray
1 c. finely ground chocolate wafer cookies
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. sugar

Instructions

Crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Wrap bottom and outside of a 9-inch springform pan with a double layer of foil. Coat bottom of pan with cooking spray, and line with parchment. Spray parchment.
Stir together cookie crumbs, butter, and sugar in a medium bowl. Press mixture firmly into bottom of pan, and bake until firm, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on wire rack.
Filling: Melt chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Let cool. Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and beat in sugar in a slow, steady stream until combined. Beat in salt and vanilla until thoroughly combined and completely smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition (do not overmix).
Divide cream-cheese filling in half. Stir peanut butter into 1 half; stir melted chocolate into other half. Ladle 1 cup peanut butter filling into center of crust, and tap pan gently on counter to settle. Ladle 1 cup chocolate filling directly on top of peanut butter filling. Repeat, then switching to half-cup amounts, continue to ladle fillings into crust, alternating them until all of each filling is used.
Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Set cake pan in a large roasting pan, and transfer to oven. Carefully pour boiling water into roasting pan to reach halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake until cake is set but still slightly wobbly in center, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on wire rack. Refrigerate cake in pan until cold, at least 6 hours, up to overnight. Before unmolding, run a knife around edge of cake. Pour glaze over top of cake, smoothing with an offset spatula and letting it drip down the sides. Looking for more dessert ideas? Check out our homemade chocolate chip cookie recipes, apple pie recipes, and chocolate cake recipes.