General Comments:

This pie combines my favorite candy bar with chocolate ganache and peanut butter mousse. What do you think my reaction was upon stumbling across this recipe? If you guessed something along the lines of “Holy crap, I must make this, and I must make it soon,” then you’d be absolutely correct. So, I made it and it was AWESOME.

While it does require making a few different components and assembling them, the overall difficulty level of the pie is pretty reasonable and the ingredients are easily obtained. One thing that immediately comes to mind when I think back on making this particular pie was the discovery that I will likely never buy a store-bought graham cracker crust ever again. Making the crust was super easy (assuming you have a food processor) and in my opinion the flavor and texture was way better than anything you could buy pre-made. Chalk up one excellent discovery.

In terms of the overall taste experience, the chocolate ganache bottom layer and the peanut butter mousse topping fit together rather well. However, I think I personally would have like the peanut butter flavor of the mousse to be a bit stronger. Of course, when you’re also chewing on chunks of snickers that have been sprinkled on top, you don’t necessarily mind the mildness of the mousse.

In terms of storing and serving the pie, the original recipe said that while it was intended to be stored in the refrigerator, putting it the freezer turns it into a sort of ice-cream-like pie, which can give the consumer a different experience if you choose to go that route. Keep in mind, though, that if you decide freeze it, you’ll want to let it sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes to soften up a bit before you try to serve it. I tried eating it both ways and didn’t have a strong preference either way.

Baker’s notes:

Spreading the graham cracker crust evenly over the pie pan was probably the trickiest part about this recipe. The trick is to just be patient and work it around the pan until you manage to get pretty even coverage. Don’t fret too much though, it’s unlikely that anyone will notice that the crust is a little thin in some places when they are distracted by the chocolate-peanut-butter-snickery goodness.

Recipe:

Crust Ingredients:
7 graham crackers, coarsely broken (I used Honey Grahams)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:
1 and 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup chilled whipping cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Mousse Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cups chilled whipping cream, divided
1 cup peanut butter chips
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar

Topping Ingredients:
1 11.5 ounce bag of mini Snickers candy bars, coarsely chopped (this is likely WAY TOO MANY, I only used ~2/3 of the bag)
Leftover ganache topping

Crust Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Spray a 9-inch glass pie pan with cooking spray.
• Using your food processor, pulse the graham crackers until coarse crumbs form.
• Add the melted butter and 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and pulse until the mixture resembles moist sand.
• Using your fingers, press the crumb mixture into the pie pan.
• Bake until lightly browned, about 12-15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Chocolate Ganache Directions:

• In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips, 2/3 cup whipping cream, corn syrup, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla for about 3 minutes, whisking occasionally to smooth out the chocolate.
• Spread the chocolate (don’t use all of it, keep some extra for the leftover chocolate ganache drizzle) over the bottom of the crust and smooth with a rubber spatula. Freeze the pie crust for about 10 minutes to harden the chocolate.

Peanut Butter Mousse Directions:

• In a separate microwave-safe bowl, microwave the peanut butter chips and 3/4 cup whipping cream at 15-second intervals, stirring occasionally until the chips soften.
• Once the chips have melted, whisk in the peanut butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Set aside to let cool, about 10-15 minutes.
• In a separate bowl, beat the remaining 1 cup of whipping cream and 2 tablespoons of sugar until thickened “but not yet holding peaks”
• Gently fold in the peanut butter mixture into the whipped cream.
• Pour and spread the peanut butter mousse over the prepared crust, spreading gently with a rubber spatula. You may end up with some left over.
• Freeze or chill the mousse until firmed, about 10 minutes.

Topping Directions:

• Once firm, top with the chopped Snickers pieces and drizzle with re-heated leftover chocolate ganache.

Credit: Original recipe can be found here.

Tags: pie, recipe, chocolate, peanut butter, snickers, graham cracker, mousse, ganache

Outside:



Inside:



General Comments:

As I dove head first into baking, one of my earliest purchases in my attempt to bolster my baking equipment arsenal was a springform pan. I vowed to give cheesecake a shot and then... didn’t get around to it for a while. A few weeks back (jeez, I am bad at posting my baking endeavors in a timely manner), I finally managed to bake my first cheesecake. Of course, it would have been foolish of me to start with a relatively simple recipe, so I ultimately committed myself to this one. That’s right, crust + 3 separate layers + a piped ganache topping. First cheesecake, first piped frosting, and first time I had to seriously question whether or not something this involved was worth the effort. In talking to my friend Erin about the amount of time that went into this particular baking creation, she created and shared the following, rather apt, graph:



While you may wish to debate the appropriate units for deliciosity (I think the ones Erin came up with work rather well), I’m guessing many of us would agree with the basic message -- if something takes a long time to make, it better be pretty tasty. Even then, we all hit a point at which it’s just not worth it. This cheesecake floated right around the vertical line in the graph. Ultimately, I decided to cross my fingers and hope the outcome would be worth the time commitment.

So, was it? Well, I think after the number of slices I managed to serve (its unwise to try to eat too much of this particular cheesecake in one sitting) and the number of people that tried it with strong positive feedback (one person said they’d happily pay 6 bucks for a slice of it at a restaurant), I’d say it was. The espresso flavor was strong without being overwhelming, the kahlua fudge/ganache layer + frosting was scrumptious, and the cookie crust, though rather difficult to cut with a fork, was tasty. So... if you want a cheesecake that is both pleasing to the eyes and the tastebuds and you’ve got ample time, I’d recommend giving it a shot.

Baker’s Notes:

First and foremost, this cheesecake requires some time. You need to chill the bottom ganache layer before you can add the cheesecake layer, then you add the cheesecake layer and bake it, then let it sit for a bit before you can add and bake the final layer, then you need to get the whole thing cooled down before you can add the ganache topping, and then.... you need to let it sit so that the ganache topping can firm up and the flavors can mingle. Ideally you should make it and let it sit over night before digging in. You’ve been warned.

Second, the cookie crust layer has a pretty substantial amount of chopped chocolate in it and when it was baked and chilled, it turned into a very hard chocolate + cookie stone-like crust. It tasted awesome, but was difficult to cut through with the side of a fork, particularly at the corner. Since the corners were the most difficult (you just had to abandon the fork and pick it up and eat it), I think its rather important to try to make sure you do a good job of spreading out the crust when you line the springform pan and try very hard to keep the corners thin.

Third, as I mentioned, this was the first time in which I had to pipe a decorative topping onto something. When I first put the ganache into the piping bag it was too firm and wouldn’t flow through the piping tip. Since I already had all the ganache in the piping bag (which had already proved to be a messy process), I tried to gently warm the ganache using the heat from the oven vent burner until I could actually work with it. This did the trick, but the consistency of the ganache in the pipping bag was not consistent and led to unpredictable ganache flow. Unpredictable flow led to some ugly parts in the decorative topping, which I tried to just accept, but still drove me a bit crazy (I might just be a little too OCD when it comes to stuff like that -- it still tastes the same, right?). My recommendation is that if you left the ganache topping sit for a long while before you pipe it on to the cheesecake, warm it up (very lightly) a bit first to make sure it will flow the way you want.

Recipe:

Crust Ingredients
1 9-ounce box chocolate wafer cookies or 9 ounces of homemade chocolate wafers
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
7 tablespoons hot melted unsalted butter

Ganache Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
20 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup Kahlúa or other coffee-flavored liqueur

Filling Ingredients
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder or coffee crystals
1 1/2 tablespoons ground whole espresso coffee beans (medium-coarse grind)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons mild-flavored (light) molasses
3 large eggs

Topping Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

• Make crust: Finely grind cookies, chopped chocolate, brown sugar, and nutmeg in processor. Add butter and process until crumbs begin to stick together, scraping down bowl occasionally, about 1 minute. Transfer crumbs to 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Wrap plastic wrap around fingers and press crumb mixture firmly up sides to within 1/2 inch of top edge, then over bottom of pan.
• Make ganache: Bring cream to simmer in large saucepan. Remove from heat; add chocolate and Kahlúa. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Pour 2 cups ganache over bottom of crust. Freeze until ganache layer is firm, about 30 minutes. Reserve remaining ganache; cover and let stand at room temperature to use later for decorating.
• Make filling: Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until blended. Scrape down bowl, making sure you get to the bottom, where little pockets of unmixed cream cheese love to hide. Beat in flour. Stir rum, espresso powder, ground coffee, vanilla, and molasses in small bowl until instant coffee dissolves; beat into cream cheese mixture. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.
• Pour filling over cold ganache in crust — it will go nearly all of the way to the top, don’t panic. Place cheesecake on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until top is brown, puffed and cracked at edges, and the center two inches moves only slightly when pan is gently shaken, about one hour. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Cool 15 minutes while preparing topping (top of cheesecake will fall slightly, making room for topping). Maintain oven temperature.
• Make topping: Whisk sour cream, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend. Pour topping over hot cheesecake, spreading to cover filling completely. Bake until topping is set, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Refrigerate hot cheesecake on rack until cool, about three hours.
• Run small sharp knife between crust and pan sides to loosen cake; release pan sides. Transfer cheesecake to platter. Spoon reserved ganache into pastry bag fitted with small star tip. Decorate with ganache as you see fit.

Credit: Original recipe is located here.

Tags: recipe, cheesecake, cappuccino, fudge, chocolate, espresso, ganache, graph

Full post will come later, but for now:






Can’t wait to cut into this guy later tonight...

Tags: cheesecake, cappuccino, ganache, fudge, teaser