Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake

I was pretty excited to see that Peabody was hosting the Donna Day Cheesecake event because I was just looking for something to take to a potluck. My best friend tore her ACL in Taekwondo and had to have surgery to repair it this week. Her kind roommate decided to throw a potluck for her once she got out of the hospital and I really wanted to bring something special. For my very first Donna Day submission, I give you Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake.

This cheesecake is extremely rich. If you decide to have some, cut a small slice. Trust me, it will be enough! It is very creamy and smooth. I topped it with some broken chocolate drizzle.

This recipe comes from Eating Well magazine’s cookbook. I haven’t made many things out of it, but I wanted a lighter cheesecake, and I wanted to see how Eating Well dessert recipes were. The recipe called for 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese and 1% cottage cheese. I had never made a cheesecake with cottage cheese before and was happy to see that it worked out pretty well. I felt that I could have cut back on some of the coffee in the filling. I used Ghirardelli cocoa powder and some good dark chocolate so the chocolate flavor didn’t need that much enhancement. I think if I had cut back on the coffee, it would have been less rich… but maybe that was Eating Well’s plan… make it so rich that you can only eat a little bit! It worked for me! It was delicious.

Crust

1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs (about 20 wafers)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water

Filling

24 oz. 1% cottage cheese

12 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese (1 1/2 cups) cut into pieces

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 large egg

2 large egg whites

2 tablespoons instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water (I think you could get away with just 1 tablespoon)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 325. Put a kettle of water on to heat for the water bath. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Wrap the outside bottom of the pan with a double thickness of foil.

Blend crumbs, sugar, oil and coffee in a small bowl with a fork or your fingers. Press into bottom of the pan.

Puree cottage cheese in food processor until very smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides. Add cream cheese and blend. Pour into a large bowl. Whisk in brown and white sugars, cocoa and cornstarch. Add egg, egg whites, coffee, vanilla, salt and chocolate and blend well. Pour into crust-lined pan.

Place cheesecake in a roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to come 1/2 inch up the side of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake until the edges are set but the center still jiggles, about 50 minutes – 1 hour. Turn off oven. Spray a knife with cooking spray and run it around the edge of the cake (I did not do the knife part and it worked out okay…) Let stand in the oven, with door ajar, for 1 hour. Transfer from the water bath to a wire rack; remove foil. Let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Refrigerate, uncovered, until chilled.

Before serving, garnish as you like (whipped cream, chocolate covered coffee beans, chocolate drizzle…).

Makes 16 servings

228 calories, 8 g fat, 27 mg cholesterol, 33 g carbohydrate, 10 g protein, 2 g fiber, 310 mg sodium

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