STEPHANIE'S SLICE OF LIFE

This cheesecake was one of those desserts that the entire time my family was eating it there were happy little “mmmm” sounds and constant “this is so good” being said. Is there really any better compliment than that? I might even go so far as saying this is one of the best cheesecakes that I have ever tasted. This cheesecake has just gone to the top of my list of desserts to make for Holidays and the like. If you prefer a plain cheesecake, just eliminate the chocolate chips and the cocoa from the recipe.

It is quite time consuming in that it takes about five hours from start to finish, but not difficult to make. The only difficult part about it was actually having the restraint to not eat it until it was cool. We were somewhat successful in that regard.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup melted butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup sugar

3 – 8oz. packages of cream cheese

1 – 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp. flour

1- 16oz. package of strawberries

2 tbsp. sugar

Crush graham crackers to make them into crumbs. You can do this in a food processor, or in a zip lock bag with a rolling pin. I use my little chopper.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, butter, cocoa, and sugar in a small mixing bowl.

Push the mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Make sure it is well packed down.

With an electric mixture, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. While beating add the sweetened condensed milk and continue beating until well mixed.

Beat in the eggs and vanilla at medium speed until smooth.

Toss 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips with the teaspoon of flour. This helps the chips not sink to the bottom of the cheesecake while baking.

Fold those chips into the cheesecake mixture, and pour into the springform pan.

Sprinkle the additional 2/3 cup of chocolate chips on top.

I put a baking sheet under the pan just in case there was any leakage.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Do not open the oven. Leave in the oven for an additional hour with the oven turned off.

Once the cheesecake is out of the oven, place in the refrigerator to cool. Do not remove springform portion of pan until completely cool.

Ta da! Oh my goodness, look at that!

You can serve it as is, or if you would like you can make an easy strawberry topping.

For the topping, I just macerated strawberries by slicing the strawberries and tossing them with 2 tbsp. of sugar.

After the strawberries sit for a little while, the sugar draws out their juices and makes a syrup.

Now I challenge you to eat a piece of this cheesecake and not make any “mmmm” sounds 😛