Pinterest Made Me Do It #2

Happy hump day! Today's post is the second post of my Pinterest Made Me Do It series. This one is so exciting because it's perfect for the holiday season...a chocolate chip peppermint bark cheesecake! Oh my!

I made this decadent dessert for when we had Amanda and Nick over. Also - Amanda has finally launched her food blog and you should totally go check it out. One of the recipes featured in her blog is an artichoke dip that she brought over and it was to die for! You can't go wrong with any of her recipes :) https://shesaidfood.com


Now let's get into the cheesecake. This was my first time making a cheesecake so I was slightly (ok VERY) intimidated. First things first is the spring form pan. Luckily my mom had one she doesn't use so she gave me hers....THANKS MOM! :)

Here are the ingredients...

Oreo Crust:
24 Oreos
5 Tablespoons unsalted melted butter

Cheesecake Filling:

4 - 8oz cream cheese softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
3 eggs
peppermint bark chopped into small pieces
1 cup chocolate chips

White Chocolate Ganache:
5.5 oz high quality white chocolate finely chopped (I used Ghirardelli)
1/2 cup heavy cream

Garnish:
Whipped cream
Crushed candy canes
Dark chocolate shavings

To make the crust:
1. Grease the spring form pan
2. Combine finely crushed Oreo's and melted butter. Then press evenly into the spring form pan and set in fridge while making the filling.

To make the filling:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Once smooth beat in sour cream, flour, salt, and the extracts
3. Add in eggs one at a time on low speed until mixed
4. Add chopped peppermint bark and chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon flour
5. Once mixture in combined pour into spring form pan
6. Place the spring form pan on a roasting pan with 1 inch of water in the roasting pan
7. Reduce oven temp to 325 and bake for 70-90 minutes (Mine took closer to 90)
8. Once cheesecake is cooked, turn off oven and let set in oven for 30 more minutes
9. Cool cheesecake on a rack and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight

To make the ganache:
1. Bring heavy cream to just a boil and pour over white chocolate.
2. Stir until melted and smooth. Let cool then pour over cheesecake
3. Once the ganache is set, garnish with whipped cream, crushed candy canes, and chocolate shavings

This cheesecake was amazing and not as intimidating as I originally thought (Thank God!). I love peppermint bark during the holiday season so this hit the spot for sure.

Hope you enjoyed my Pinterest Made Me Do It #2! :)