Peppermint Bark Cheesecake

I had an ultimate cheesecake experience at The Cheesecake Factory this past holiday season... It's called Peppermint Bark Cheesecake. 

I had a craving for the divine cheesecake so this would be my weekend experiment.

I like a graham cracker crust under my cheesecake so I decided on a lighter crust. Also, I recall that there were far too many chocolate chips so I kept that tidbit in the back of my mind.

Let's start with the graham crackers. Ever since I made homemade graham crackers, I have vowed never to go back! The recipe is courtesy of Martha Stewart's Cookies book. 

As far as the cheesecake was concerned, I have a trusted recipe from Serious Eats by Dorie Greenspan. I've used the cheesecake recipe for cheesecake cupcakes before but have never made a whole cheesecake with it. I didn't know how much candy cane or chocolate to add so I winged it. I ended up using 1 tablespoon of candy cane and 1/4 cup of tri-colored chocolate chips.

This was my version of my The Cheesecake Factory inspired (less is more) peppermint bark cheesecake. Not quite an exact replica by any means but I plan on being more generous with the key ingredients next time.

I also wasn't very keen with the chips cracking the top of my cheesecake. I've since found some copycat recipes that contain flour which apparently reduce this problem. Luckily I still have a giant candy cane left in the pantry.

For the most part, this baby hit the spot!

This is my go to cheesecake recipe from Serious Eats by Dorie Greenspan.

Ingredients

yield: 16 servings

• For the crust (omit the crust for Passover or see above):
• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
• For the cheesecake:
• 2 pounds (four 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two

Procedures

1. 1
   To make the crust:
2. 2
   Butter a 9-inch springform pan—choose one that has sides that are 2 3/4 inches high (if the sides are lower, you will have cheesecake batter leftover)—and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil; put the pan on a baking sheet.
3. 3
   Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. (I do this with my fingers.) Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides. Don't worry if the sides are not perfectly even or if the crumbs reach above or below the midway mark on the sides—this doesn't have to be a precision job. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven.
4. 4
   Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F and place the springform on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.
5. 5
   Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
6. 6
   To make the cheesecake:
7. 7
   Put a kettle of water on to boil.
8. 8
   Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and lives up to the creamy part of its name, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition—you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.
9. 9
   Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in the roaster pan.
10. 10
    Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter will reach the brim of the pan. (If you have a pan with lower sides and have leftover batter, you can bake the batter in a buttered ramekin or small soufflé mold.) Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
11. 11
    Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.
12. 12
    After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.