I have become famous, or perhaps infamous, in my family for cheesecakes. For every occasion, they can somehow justify serving cheesecake. I actually enjoy making them, so it’s not really a huge imposition on me. Sunday was my daddy’s birthday, so out came the best cheesecake book I’ve ever found. (Seriously, get this book. Feel free to check out previous evidence of its goodness.) No one loves peanut butter more than he does, so this choice was a no-brainer.
Let me begin by saying that every recipe I’ve ever made from this book calls for a 9″ springform pan. I usually use a 10″ pan. Even using the larger pan, I almost always have batter left over. Maybe her 9″ pan is a good bit taller than mine. Anyway, with a larger diameter pan, it stands to reason that you’ll need more crust. This cheesecake has a cookie crust, so making more is no problem. I’ve found that you can’t really screw up a cookie crust. Cookies, butter, maybe some nuts. And pretty much whatever consistency you like. For this cheesecake, I decided to go all out on the peanut butter flavor and use peanut butter sandwich cookies instead of the book’s recipe with non-filled peanut butter cookies and chocolate wafer cookies. Those peanut butter-filled Oreos would have been good, too, I think.
Mixing a cheesecake is, to me, one of the simplest things to do. Basically, everything goes in my stand mixer, and I let it do all the work. The best advice I can give you, as with just about anything you bake, is to avoid overmixing. The only tedious part of making a cheesecake is the time you must devote to it. Most cheesecakes I make are in the oven for about 4 hours. I usually just plan on sticking close to home for the day.
Everyone loved this cheesecake. Wonderful creamy texture, big peanut butter flavor with a hint of chocolate, just the perfect crunch from the crust and peanuts. As I write this, I am a bit sad, though, because I only had one piece. We left later that day for North Carolina (where I am writing this) to visit our very dear friends, so the cheesecake was dispersed to the family. I didn’t think cheesecake would survive the road trip. Well, we know what that means. I’ll have to find a new excuse to make cheesecake.
16 responses so far ↓
1 Alicat // Oct 5, 2006 at 10:49 am
oh my GOODNASS. that looks awesome!
2 peabody // Oct 5, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Mmmmm…yummy. I too used to be the Cheesecake lady at all of my gatherings, but I grew tired of it and so they only get them from time to time.
3 Abby // Oct 5, 2006 at 3:38 pm
North Carolina? If you make ME a cheesecake, here in N.C., I’ll come pick it up. No problem.
It looks divine. But mine always crack.
4 Mary // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Yummy! I agree that cheesecakes are one of the easiest things to make. I think of cheesecakes as small effort, big reward.
5 Brilynn // Oct 5, 2006 at 8:13 pm
I can never refuse cheesecake, this one looks delicious!
6 Ivonne // Oct 6, 2006 at 6:53 pm
I am constantly amazed at how peanut butter and chocolate can be combined in seemingly infinite ways. This cheesecake is gorgeous! And thanks for the book recommendation.
7 Elizabeth // Oct 7, 2006 at 8:14 am
Wow…I’m a fanatic for any PB/chocolate combo…I’ll be trying this one day soon! Lovely!
8 veuveclicquot // Oct 8, 2006 at 9:11 am
beautiful! Although I’m not a huge fan of cheesecake, I know my best friend will love this!!!
9 Lauren // Oct 12, 2006 at 7:23 am
I just checked out a bit of your blog - it’s so nice and you have wonderful pictures. I definitely will check out that cheesecake book.. looks insanely delicious!
10 julia // Oct 13, 2006 at 6:50 am
wow, you can make me a cheesecake anytime as well!
absolutely amazing - love the flavour comb. and the cookie crust sounds so delicious…! yum!
11 Ari (Baking and Book // Oct 22, 2006 at 2:23 pm
My husband would love this. Your dad is so lucky to have recieved something this delicious for his special day!
12 madeline goris // Mar 28, 2007 at 4:25 pm
tis so cooooooooooooooooool and totaly awesoooooooooome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13 jada // Jul 12, 2007 at 10:07 am
I”m gonna try to make this!!!!!!!!!! It looks so good!!!
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