Cookie dough cheesecake

Celebrate Easter with our creamy choc cheesecake – it has a rich base studded with cookie dough, and it’s all topped with silky ganache. Decorate with mini eggs and cookies

Prep:1 hrs
Cook:1 hrs 10 mins
plus chilling and 3 hrs cooling

Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 774
fat 25g
saturates 27g
carbs 81g
sugars 58g
fibre 3g
protein 9g
salt 0.7g

Ingredients

sunflower or veg oil, for the tin
200g milk chocolate, chopped
100g dark chocolate, chopped
500g soft cheese
3 large eggs, at room temperature
200g golden caster sugar
200ml soured cream
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp vanilla paste
225g light brown soft sugar
225g golden caster sugar
250g salted butter, softened
2 egg yolks (freeze the whites for another recipe)
2 tbsp vanilla paste
3 tbsp milk
225g plain flour
225g self-raising flour
200g dark chocolate chips
100g dark chocolate, chopped
100g milk chocolate, chopped
300ml double cream
2 tbsp caster sugar
chocolate mini eggs, chocolate nests and white chocolate buttons (see tips, below)

Tip

Make chocolate nests as a topping
Crush 100g shredded wheat cereal in a large mixing bowl. Melt 200g dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl in short bursts in the microwave. Mix together and press into the holes of a lightly oiled mini muffin tin or cupcake cases. Leave to set for 2 hrs. Fill with mini eggs.

Make jazzies as a topping
Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Melt 150g white chocolate in a heatproof bowl in short bursts in the microwave. Spoon small puddles of the chocolate onto the parchment. Sprinkle with hundreds and thousands to create jazzies, if you like. Chill in the fridge until set.

Use mini cookies to decorate
If you don’t want to bake cookies, use only plain flour to make the cookie dough layer, halving the rest of the ingredients, and buy some mini cookies to decorate.

Method

Line the base of a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment, then line the sides using a strip of parchment that comes above the tin by about 7cm (as the cheesecake will rise in the oven). Lightly oil the parchment.
Make the cookie dough by beating both sugars and the butter in a stand mixer for 5 mins, or until light and fluffy. Tip in the egg yolks, vanilla paste and milk, then beat again until well combined. Divide the mixture between two mixing bowls, then beat the plain flour into one half of the mixture and the self-raising into the other. Divide the chocolate chips between the two bowls and beat both again until the chocolate chips are evenly distributed. Will keep covered in the fridge for up to three days.
Put the self-raising flour mixture in the fridge while you press the plain flour cookie dough into the base of your prepared cake tin. Keep chilled in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the cheesecake.
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment, then take the cookie dough made with the self-raising flour out of the fridge. Pinch pieces of the dough and roll into balls the size of marbles until you have used all the dough. Space them apart on the baking sheets and bake for 5-7 mins or until golden brown. Leave on a wire rack to cool.
To make the main part of the cheesecake, melt both the milk and dark chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, then set aside to cool down a little. Beat the soft cheese in a large bowl to loosen it, then beat in one egg at a time. Whisk in the sugar, soured cream, flour and vanilla for 5 mins or until light and frothy. Leave for 20 mins to come to room temperature, then slowly pour in the chocolate and gently fold it in until the mixture is even in colour.
Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3½. Remove the cake tin from the fridge and pour the chocolate and cheese mixture over the cookie dough base. Bake for 40 mins or until set on top with a slight wobble in the centre, then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake inside to cool down slowly for 3 hrs (it will dip slightly in the middle). Chill in the fridge until completely cold.
For the ganache, put the dark and milk chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Put the cream and sugar in a saucepan and set over a medium heat until steaming (don’t let it boil), then pour over the chocolate. Whisk to melt the chocolate and create a smooth, glossy mixture. Chill in the fridge for 1 hr or until the ganache is thick and spoonable.
When the cheesecake is cold, place on a serving plate or cake stand, then swirl over the ganache. Decorate with the choc chip cookies and some chocolate mini eggs, chocolate nests and white chocolate buttons, if you like.