Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake

Cheescake was definitely the most popular response last week when we asked what our next Baking Kit recipe should be! Since all that cream cheese & eggs doesn’t transport so well, we thought we’d share our favorite Cheesecake recipe with you instead! The secret to the super smooth texture of this baby is baking it in a water bath at a low temperature for over an hour. Oh & did we mention it also has a chocolate filled cookie crust? Don’t worry, we included the recipe for that too at the bottom. Enjoy!

Don’t forget to tag @nickxfritz_munich in your snaps because we love seeing your creations!

Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake

Quantity: 1 cheesecake in a 23cm springform pan

Ingredients:

• 680g / 1 ½ lbs cream cheese (preferably Philadelphia & not light or whipped), softened to room temperature. Pro tip: We recommend taking it out of the fridge about an hour before using it!
• 200g / 1 c sugar
• 1 TL / 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 EL / 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 118ml / ½ c whipping cream
• 60ml / ¼ c hazelnut schnapps

Instructions:

• Once you've prepared your pie crust, set it aside & preheat oven to 160°C
• Add all the cream cheese to a large bowl & beat until smooth with an electric mixer
• Add the sugar & vanilla. Beat until smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times
• Add the flour & mix on a low speed
• Add the eggs 1 at a time, mixing well & scraping down the sides after each addition. Add the yolk last, again mix well
• Add the hazelnut schnapps & whipping cream, gently mix it in on a low speed
• Pour the batter into your prepared pie crust. Now comes the famous water bath part. 😊 Wrap the bottom of your springform pan tightly in tin foil & place it in a deep, rimmed baking sheet. Pour enough water into the baking sheet so that it cover the bottom 2-3cm of your spring form pan. Place the whole thing in the oven & bake for 70 minutes
• Pro tip: After 1 hour & 10 minutes the middle of your cheesecake will still be quite liquid! Don’t fret, it will firm up as it cools down.
• Remove the cheesecake & water bath from the oven. Run a thin knife along the edge of your cheesecake to loosen the sides. Then, put the cheesecake, without the bath, back in the oven. Crack open the oven door & let the cheesecake cool for 2 hours or so. Once cooled, keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to eat it & enjoy!

Chocolate Graham Cracker Pie crust

OK so a little backstory, when I first moved to Germany, I had never made a pie crust at home before! I was so used to buying the premade graham cracker ones that it never even occurred to me to make my own! Then I got to Munich & the premade ones - & graham crackers – were nowhere to be found. I had to get creative. Below is my “German” version of a graham cracker pie crust – with a little extra shot of chocolate. Because, well, why not? 😊

Ingredients:

• 60g / ¼ c butter, melted
• 10 Leibniz volkorn biscuits
• 50g / ¼ c sugar
• 20g / ¼ c oats
• 56g / 1/3 c chocolate chips (chopped chocolate also works)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 180°C
• Butter your chosen cake or pie receptacle, if you are making the cheesecake recipe above, you’re going to want a 23cm springform pan
• Using your hands, crumble the Leibniz biscuits into a bowl & add all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips
• Using a pastry cutter or fork, mash the whole mixture together until there are no more “dry” bits & it’s a nice, crumbly texture
• Pour the mixture into your pie or cake pan & use your hands to flatten & spread it out
• Bake for 10 minutes. While the crust is still hot, spread the chocolate chips out evenly over the crust. Let them sit for about 10 minutes, until the chocolate has melted. Using a knife, spread the melted chocolate chips out over the pie crust & voila, you have yourself a chocolate pie crust!
• Set it aside & let it cool fully before using it!

Happy Baking!

Post a pic and tag us @nickxfritz_munich with your version! Happy Baking!

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