Last night we took the Nutella cheesecake over to Adam's parent's house and it was an instant hit! It only got to cool in the fridge for about 2 hours though, so it was actually better tonight than it was yesterday!
I forgot to get any pictures of it before everyone dug in. haha But here is all that was left after we ate and Adam's Mom kept a big chunk. (I think they liked it.) :) Adam did a great job on it, but there are a few things we decided we would do differently the next time we make it.
So here is the recipe again, but this time with our changes noted. :) Enjoy!!
Nutella Cheesecake Layer Bars
Modified receipe from The Moonlight Baker
Ingredients:
- 8 Chocolate Graham Crackers
- ½ Stick Unsalted Butter, melted
- 16 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ C. Granulated Sugar
- ¼ + 1 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- ¼ C. Nutella (next time we'll use at least 1 cup)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Butter an 8 x 8 baking pan and line with parchment paper, making sure that the parchment is well pressed in the corners. Set aside. (We won't butter the pan the next time, it made the parchment paper nasty and greasy underneath everything.)
In a food processor, pulse chocolate graham crackers until they become crumbs (like bread crumbs). Add in melted butter and pulse until moistened. Press graham cracker mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake crust in the center of the oven until set, about 12 minutes. Set aside and cool.
Clean out the food processor. Add cream cheese, eggs, sugar, ¼ C. heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Pulse until smooth. Put 2/3 (Next time we will half it) of the cream cheese mixture in a bowl and set aside. Add Nutella and 1 Tbsp. of heavy cream to remaining 1/3 (Next time we will half it) of the cream cheese mixture in the processor. Pulse until smooth. (We didn't use a food processor for this. Adam used our hand mixer and it mixed up just fine. Also, we will use WAY MORE Nutella next time. The regular cheesecake layer was kind of strong and overpowered the chocolate portion. So we'll probably use a cup of Nutella next time, maybe more! And we'll split the cream cheese mixture evenly too!)
To assemble, spread the vanilla cheesecake mixture over the cooled graham cracker base, being careful not to disturb the crust. Pour Nutella cheesecake layer on top of vanilla layer and spread evenly. Bake on the center rack of the oven for about 35 minutes (Adam baked the one we made maybe 5-10 minutes longer, not sure if this made any difference or not), or until the center jiggles slightly. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (It needs to sit longer than 3 hours for the flavors to come out. It was SO MUCH better tonight!)
When ready to serve, lift bars out of the pan by lifting up the parchment paper (it should release easily). Slice into 16 squares and serve. (It really did make 16 cute little squares, which was nice so that everyone had several pieces to enjoy.)
I actually don't care for cheesecake, but I liked the crust and the Nutella portion of it. Everyone else (who enjoys cheesecake) liked all of it. But we all agreed more Nutella wouldn't hurt. :) You can see in the picture below that the regular cheesecake layer was bigger than the Nutella layer, so next time we'll make sure it's even, and adding more Nutella should give it a more chocolately flavor. :)
Modified receipe from The Moonlight Baker
Ingredients:
- 8 Chocolate Graham Crackers
- ½ Stick Unsalted Butter, melted
- 16 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ C. Granulated Sugar
- ¼ + 1 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- ¼ C. Nutella (next time we'll use at least 1 cup)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Butter an 8 x 8 baking pan and line with parchment paper, making sure that the parchment is well pressed in the corners. Set aside. (We won't butter the pan the next time, it made the parchment paper nasty and greasy underneath everything.)
In a food processor, pulse chocolate graham crackers until they become crumbs (like bread crumbs). Add in melted butter and pulse until moistened. Press graham cracker mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake crust in the center of the oven until set, about 12 minutes. Set aside and cool.
Clean out the food processor. Add cream cheese, eggs, sugar, ¼ C. heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Pulse until smooth. Put 2/3 (Next time we will half it) of the cream cheese mixture in a bowl and set aside. Add Nutella and 1 Tbsp. of heavy cream to remaining 1/3 (Next time we will half it) of the cream cheese mixture in the processor. Pulse until smooth. (We didn't use a food processor for this. Adam used our hand mixer and it mixed up just fine. Also, we will use WAY MORE Nutella next time. The regular cheesecake layer was kind of strong and overpowered the chocolate portion. So we'll probably use a cup of Nutella next time, maybe more! And we'll split the cream cheese mixture evenly too!)
To assemble, spread the vanilla cheesecake mixture over the cooled graham cracker base, being careful not to disturb the crust. Pour Nutella cheesecake layer on top of vanilla layer and spread evenly. Bake on the center rack of the oven for about 35 minutes (Adam baked the one we made maybe 5-10 minutes longer, not sure if this made any difference or not), or until the center jiggles slightly. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (It needs to sit longer than 3 hours for the flavors to come out. It was SO MUCH better tonight!)
When ready to serve, lift bars out of the pan by lifting up the parchment paper (it should release easily). Slice into 16 squares and serve. (It really did make 16 cute little squares, which was nice so that everyone had several pieces to enjoy.)
I actually don't care for cheesecake, but I liked the crust and the Nutella portion of it. Everyone else (who enjoys cheesecake) liked all of it. But we all agreed more Nutella wouldn't hurt. :) You can see in the picture below that the regular cheesecake layer was bigger than the Nutella layer, so next time we'll make sure it's even, and adding more Nutella should give it a more chocolately flavor. :)
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