No-bake cheesecake

Super Spidey Cheesecake for Terence & Marilyn

Ha! I followed a recipe! Sort of. The inspiration for this was from Martha Stewart Living’s 2008 Halloween issue. But of course I made my edits to the recipe. This is my version. It has less sugar, different types of sweeteners, lighter cream cheese, and a few other added touches. Though the spider web is for Halloween, you can make any design with the chocolate ganache – hearts, stars, whatever. Best part of this recipe – no baking!

Marilyn is one of my favorite co-chefs. This was one of my contributions to our latest Halloween feast because Terence loves cheesecake (I think he puts it in a separate food group.) I’m posting this at Marilyn’s request!

You do need to make this at least a few hours before serving, better to make it the day before. Equipment needed: 10 inch springform pan, pastry bag, ¼ inch round tip, and electric mixer.

Ingredients:

Crust:

4 ½ cups finely ground chocolate wafer crumbs (I used Newman’s Own Chocolate Alphabet cookies and ground them in a food processor. Can be messy – I had a fine coating of chocolate cookie crumbs all over my kitchen. Part of playing.)

½ cup melted unsalted butter

additional butter for greasing the pan

¼ cup raw sugar

1 tsp coarse salt

Ganache:

¾ cup chocolate chips; I used a combination of semi-sweet and dark chocolate.

½ cup heavy cream

Filling:

16 oz. light cream cheese, softened

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 T vanilla

¼ cup maple syrup

¾ cup raw sugar

¼ tsp coarse salt

a few T of lemon juice (I didn’t measure, just gave a few squirts)

1 ½ cups cold heavy whipping cream

Grease the springform pan all the way up the sides.

Crust: Whisk all the dry ingredients together then add the melted butter. Stir the butter in completely, then immediately pat the crust into the pan, all the way up the sides.

Ganache: I did a no-no – I microwaved my chocolate and cream (gasp!). You can be responsible and use a double boiler if you want. If you use a microwave, start in 10 or 15 second increments. Between increments, take the bowl of chocolate & cream out and stir rapidly, the chocolate will melt as you combine it. It starts out as a bit of a liquid mess and turns into a wonderfully fluffy ganache. If you microwave it a bit longer it will be runny.

Either way, spoon or pour the ganache into the crust, reserving approx. 2 T for the top. I put a thin layer partway up the sides and across the bottom. Refrigerate the crust.

Filling: Beat the cream cheese in a mixer on medium speed. After a couple minutes I added the maple syrup and vanilla. After another minute or two, I stopped my mixer, added the sugar and salt and then started it up again on a medium-high speed until it was fluffy. I added the lemon juice at the very end.

In a separate bowl, mix the heavy cream on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Whisk in ¼ of the whipped cream into the cream cheese, and then fold in the rest of the whipped cream. Pour the filling into the crust and spread evenly. (Martha says to gently tap the bottom of pan on counter to release air bubbles – I didn’t do that part.)

Put the leftover ganache in the pastry bag fitted with the ¼ inch tip. For the spider web, pipe a spiral starting in the middle of the cheesecake. Then take a knife, and starting at the center point of the spiral, drag the knife to the edge of the cheesecake. Repeat every inch or two to form a spider web. You could make all kinds of other cool designs – definitely a playful part of this recipe!

Refrigerate for at least a few hours, I refrigerated it for 24 hours and the texture was wonderful. Before serving, I took a very thin knife and went around the edges of the pan to make sure the crust would come out smoothly. Remove the outer edge of the springform pan and serve! To make neat slices, wipe your knife blade after each cut (I kept a pitcher of warm water handy to dip my knife in before wiping.)

My friend Maureen gave me a plastic spider which I washed and stuck in the middle of the cheesecake. Hee hee. Spooky delicious Halloween dessert!

Warning: Can be addictive.