The Home Cook: Chocolate Swirl Turtle Cheesecake

Let's kick off our shoes, pull up a chair and just remember what it feels like to sit quietly. Pull out your yarn, needle and floss or applique and get comfy cozy because the time has come to recoup from the festive madness. We can pass some coffee or cocoa and maybe share a little nibble of something crunchy and unsweetened. After the holiday sugar rush I'm sure I'm not the only one who could use a carrot sick or twelve. But before we delve into those New Year's resolutions I have one more bad-to-the-bone thing to share. I'll give you a hint it starts with cheese and ends with cake, and if you've been a diligent reader you've known this was coming.

The way I see it there are two cheesecake camps. Camp 'A' is filled with devout souls who yearn for a thick, dense hunk of cheesecake, the kind that holds your fork for you and needs a big steaming cup of coffee or an icy glass of milk to help it down; Camp 'B' is populated with the folks that often shame-facedly whisper things like, "I like box cheesecake" or "it's better when it's fluffy". I am a Camp A proponent...this recipe is for the Camp B people. I'm not sure how it happened, but I think...I think it's because I love my husband. Also because I'm a push over. Tim loves cheesecake, in all it's variations, but his heart truly sings for the soft fluffy varieties. He'll take a box version over a dense, artisan crafted one any day and as much as it goads me, his preferences are his preferences. I'm not changing the stripes on that zebra...or at least not that particular stripe. So when he put in his holiday desert requests I was left with a challenge...make a cheesecake, preferably a turtle cheesecake and make sure it's fluffy.

Okay then.

What I eventually came up with was a base cheesecake recipe, a recipe for the crust / chocolate swirls and a guide for the toppings. Overall the end product was a "success". I will however say this...it seemed WAY TOO FLUFFY. Baby bunnies and cheese cakes should have very little in common. That said, maybe you're wondering, was it a hit? Did the fluffy factor hit the mark? The short answer is...we don't know. While it was certainly well received by others, Tim never ate any...he stuck with his first love, the pumpkin pie. Sometimes a girl just can't win.

Chocolate Swirl Turtle Cheesecake

Crust
1 9-ounce package Chocolate Wafer Cookies
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) Unsalted Butter, melted

For Filling:
4 8-ounce packages Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
5 large eggs
1 16-ounce container Sour Cream
1/4 cup Milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Chocolate Swirls:*
3 tablespoons whipping cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Toppings:
1/4 cup purchased caramel sauce
1/4 cup purchased fudge sauce
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips*
1/2 cup whole toasted pecans, lightly chopped.

To Prepare Crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind cookies in processor. Blend in butter. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 10-inch-diameter spring form pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Wrap outside of spring form pan with foil.

To Prepare Filling:
Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until will blended. Beat in flour. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined. Beat in sour cream, milk and vanilla.
Bring cream to simmer in heavy small saucepan. Reduce heat to low. Add chocolate and stir until mixture is melted and smooth. Remove from heat.

Pour half of cream cheese mixture into crust. Spoon half of chocolate mixture over by tablespoons, spacing evenly. Using tip of knife, swirl chocolate mixture into filling. Spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over. Spoon remaining chocolate mixture over by tablespoons. Swirl into filling.

Place spring form pan in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come 1 inch up sides of pan. Bake cheesecake until just set in center and top is slightly puffed and golden brown, about 1 hour, 5 minutes to 1 hour, 15 minutes. Remove cheesecake from roasting pan and foil. Refrigerate until cold, at least 6 hours. Cover; refrigerate overnight.*

To Finish / Serve:
Using small knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides. Drizzle 2 Tablespoons of fudge sauce over the top of the cake, garnish with toasted pecans, dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips; drizzle caramel sauce over top and serve.

*Cook's Notes:*
Double the swirl ingredients...do not use chocolate chips.

The original filling recipe directions: Bake cheesecake until just set in center and top is slightly puffed and golden brown, about 1 hour. Turn off oven; keep door closed. Let cheesecake stand in oven 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from roasting pan. Refrigerate until cold, at least 6 hours. Cover; refrigerate overnight. I think I'd try it this way next time to set the filling a bit more.

As if this isn't decadent enough, I want to make this caramel sauce in lieu of the jar variety someday.

If you can locate mini-chocolate chips, use them...but not 1/4 cup worth, this would be a less is more thing.

I used a 10" spring form, filled with in 3/8" of the top and had batter leftover...like a dozen or so cheesecake tartlettes worth of batter.