Description

Peanut Butter Cheesecake with mocha ganache – made with part greek yogurt and less sugar than traditional cheesecake. You can even use gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies too. This recipe is rich without being super heavy.

Scale

Ingredients

crust:

24 chocolate sandwich cookies, processed into crumbs
4 TBS butter, melted

cheesecake:

16oz cream cheese, softened (reduced fat or regular)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I’d use no-stir kind*)
1/3 cup granulated sugar (dry sweetener of choice)
1 cup Greek yogurt, room temperature (2% recommended; plain, vanilla or coffee)
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla

mocha ganache:

1 cup quality dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk (or heavy cream)
1/2 TBS instant espresso or coffee powder

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line bottom of 9″ springform pan with parchment.
Make the crust: in bowl mix cookie crumbs with melted butter. Press evenly into bottom of springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
Make the filling: Meanwhile, in large bowl with electric mixer beat softened cream cheese and peanut butter until thick and fluffy – about 1 minute. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth for another minute. Add yogurt and eggs one at a time, mix on low so you don’t over-mix eggs. Batter should be smooth, but it’s okay if some lumps are present.
Prepare the cheesecake: Pour filling into prepared, pre-baked crust. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 325ºF, or until the middle is just set. If it cracks it’s alright because we’re covering it with chocolate 😉 Turn oven off and allow cheesecake to cool in oven with door open for 20 minutes. Then chill in fridge for 4 hours.
Make the ganache: combine coconut milk (or cream) and chocolate chips in small saucepan over low heat. Stir continuously until smooth. Pour overtop of chilled cheesecake.
Garnish with peanuts if desired and re-chill until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Notes

*I’d use a creamy peanut butter like JIF for this recipe to make sure the oils aren’t separated when mixing together with cream cheese.

Room temperature ingredients are also helpful here to ensure even incorporating.

Category: dessert
Method: oven
Cuisine: American

Keywords: cheesecake, peanut butter, mocha, peanut butter cheesecake, gluten free