Peanut Butter and Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Anyone else drooling yet? Because as soon as I heard the name of this cheesecake I know I was. This was actually one of the two cakes I made for Doug’s birthday (yes, I like that guy so much I made him 2 cakes) and he found the recipe himself – in a Redbook magazine sitting out in the break room at work.

This cheesecake is incredibly delicious. I knew it would be just reading the name and the ingredient list. Peanut butter? Reese’s cups? Oreo crust? How could it not be? Granted, I am a major lover of all things chocolate and peanut butter so of course I loved it. But the other 3 lucky people who got to try this loved it too. And I already know I’ll have to make at least one more of these this year – my peanut butter & chocolate loving dad was pretty sad he didn’t get any. And even though this is a little more labor intensive than any of the other cheesecakes I’ve made I’m cool with making it again – it is totally worth it.

 The middle of the cheesecake.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

From Redbook

Crust

1 1/2 Cups Oreos – broken up into crumbs

4 Tablespoons Melted Butter

Filling

4 – 8 Ounce Cream Cheese packages, at room temperature

1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1 Cup Sugar

4 Eggs, Large at room temperature

1/2 Cup Sour Cream

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

3 Ounces Bittersweet Chocolate, melted

6 Regular Size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, cut into quarters

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch springform with cooking spray and cover the bottom of the pan with a double layer of aluminum foil.

Combine the cookie crumbs and the butter and press into the bottom of the pan and 1/2 inch up the side. Bake for 10 minutes and then let cool.

Beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Then add in the sugar until smooth. Reduce the speed of the mixer and ad the eggs 1 at a time until just incorporated. Add the sour cream and vanilla.

Remove 1 1/2 cups of the batter and put in a separate bowl. Add in the chocolate.

Add the peanut butter to the remaining batter in the first bowl and combine until smooth. Remove 1 3/4 cups of this batter to a separate bowl.

Pour the remaining batter from the first bowl over the crust. Then place the quartered peanut butter cups evenly over this layer. Then alternately drop spoonfuls of the peanut butter batter you put in a small bowl and the chocolate batter over the layer of peanut butter cups. Then use a knife to swirl the peanut butter batter and the chocolate batter together until they look marbleized.

Place the springform pan into a larger pan and place in the oven. Then pour enough hot water into the larger pan so that it is 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until the cheesecake barely jiggles in the center when you lightly shake the pan. Then remove the springform from the bigger pan and remove the aluminum foil. Use a thin knife to run around the edge of the cake to release it from the pan. Let cool completely and then refrigerate at least 6 hours.