Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

It’s birthday season again.

Angel Girl begins our round of summer birthdays. It’s been a year of changes for her.

I’m not sure when exactly it happened, but I slowly realized that she never played with the Polly Pockets anymore – and the doll house was sitting idle.

I knew she was growing up when she asked for a cheesecake instead of the traditional birthday cake.

No worries – we all love cheesecake. But there was still a hint of sadness that my little girl is growing up.

No more castle cakes, or flower cakes, or Candy Land cakes (my personal favorite!).

She’s  slowly moving into the world of adults.

She picked a chocolate chip cheesecake, and I used two different recipes to create this one.  Since I didn’t have any vanilla wafers, I substitutes graham crackers crumbs in the crust. It tasted great – and since we all know that the crust is just the conduit to hold the cream cheese filling together to get it to your mouth – it was perfect! 🙂
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons baking cocoa
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

Filling:

3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
3 eggs
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate  chips

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Combine sugar and flour; beat into cream cheese.

Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Add the cream, vanilla and chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared crust. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. (Cheesecake top may crack.)

Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan. Garnish the cheesecake with mini chocolate chips. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 12-14 servings.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Lisa over at Stop and Smell the Chocolates and at Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.