Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

A pretty common Easter dessert is cheesecake. I didn’t start making cheesecakes until the last 10 years or so and only make them rarely since so many of us are lactose intolerant in this house and it really isn’t the favorite dessert. Still, many people love cheesecake so it’s a good ‘safe’ dessert for Easter. This one was well liked.

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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

Crust:

1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed (about 1 3/4 c.)

2 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/4 c. sugar

5 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine

Mix together dry ingredients. Stir in melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom and up the side just past the seam of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 F for 10-12 min. Cool.

Cheesecake:

4 (8 oz) pkg of cream cheese (I use 2 regular and 2 neufchatel)

1 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 c. mini chocolate chips

1 c. sour cream, room temperature

Whip the cream cheese until very smooth. Add sugar and eggs and beat, scraping the sides of the bowl. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake at 325 F for 40-50 min with a pan of water in the oven to prevent cracking. Remove from oven and spread sour cream over th top. Cool for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge to loosen from pan. Cool completely & remove sides of pan.

Raspberry Sauce:

1/2 c. frozen raspberries

1 tsp. lemon or lime juice

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. water

1 tsp. corn starch

Boil raspberries, lemon juice and sugar until raspberries are juicy and disintegrating. Press through strainer. Return juice to pan and bring to a boil again. Mix water and corn starch and stir into juice; stir until thickened. Spread over top of cooled cheesecake.

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I garnished with fresh raspberries and mini chocolate chips. You could leave off the raspberry sauce altogether and garnish with chocolate curls, crushed oreos, chocolate sauce, almost anything you want to make it just a chocolate and cheesecake flavor. I wanted something other than a stark black/white dessert so went for raspberries. 😉