Five-Star Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

For the 17th year old — yet again — Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Birthday Cake!

This recipe has 5 stars written across the top of the page in my little handwritten recipe notebook.  My son has asked for it to be his birthday cake for at least the last three years.

It is creamy, decadent and absolutely delicious.

The 18th birthday Chocochip Cheesecake 1/2 gone!

For the crust:
1 c. (5 oz) chocolate cookie crumbs (such as Oreo)
2 T. salted butter, softened

Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, softened (2 blocks)
1 c. white sugar
2 c. sour cream (16 oz. container)
3 large eggs
1 T. vanilla (I use Penzey’s)
1 1/2 to 2 c. semi-sweet or special dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 360 degrees.  Grab a 9 inch springform pan, a food processor (or blender) and a hand mixer.  Also grab measuring cups, spoons and a spatula.

English: Vector representation of embossed Oreo face. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To prepare crust:
Crumb the cookies finely, using a blender or food processor.  I used about 1 1/2 rows of Oreos this time.  You can also sometimes find Oreo cookie crumbs in a box near the pre-made crusts.  I scrape the white part out of the Oreo before I make the crumbs.  Add the soft butter and blend until it is evenly mixed in.  Press this mixture into the bottom of the 9 inch springform pan (with the sides attached).  Refrigerate the crust while you make the filling.

To prepare the filling:
Beat the softened cream cheese smooth in a pretty large bowl with the hand mixer.  Blend in the white sugar and sour cream.  Don’t overbeat it, just get it blended together.  (You will get a lot of cracks if you get too much air in the mix).  Add the eggs and vanilla.  Yes, it says one tablespoon of vanilla.  Use it.  Mix smooth.  Stir in 1 to 1 1/2 c. of chocolate chips.  Pour the filling into the crust.  Sprinkle the rest of the chips on top.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes and then turn the oven OFF and leave the cheesecake in the oven for one hour more.  Set a timer so you don’t forget to get it out of the oven.  Don’t ask me how I know this.  Chill for at least 4 hours.  Overnight chill is better.

Oh my gosh.  It is SO good.

Sweet Sixteen CC Cheesecake

ENJOY!

Recipe Re-visit

recipe notebook

I’ve been blogging for about a year now.  My original blog is called “The Tromp Queen” and if you haven’t visited that blog, I’d love to have you stop by for a visit.

I posted several recipes there, and in the interest of trying to keep everything food and recipe related in one place — I want to share the links to those posts here for any of my new followers who might have missed those posts.

Aunt Ruthie’s Terrific Toffee is a family recipe that we dearly love.  I encourage you to try this recipe when you need something sweet and delicious.

Craving Curry?  gives two of my favorite, quick and easy curry recipes. (These can easily be made as vegetarian recipes).

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake is popular in my family as a birthday cake choice.  It is absolutely decadent and worth EVERY calorie.

Another family favorite is Spinach Börek.  My sister-in-law is a Turkish woman, and she graciously taught me how to make this many years ago when we first met.  This is my son’s favorite meal to eat for special occasions.  This recipe is also vegetarian, but not vegan.  (It has dairy and eggs).

Chocolate Chip Scones!!!  This recipe is my most famous!  It still gets the most views on my blog regularly.  It is a pin on Pinterest, and I get a lot of traffic from there, too.  This is the recipe that got me thinking I should start a recipe blog.

The last post (and the oldest recipe post on the Tromp Queen) is about my trusty recipe notebook (pictured above).  I lost it for a few months and thought it was gone forever.  When I found it (finally!), I wrote this post and shared a simple family recipe for my Mom’s macaroni salad.  Enjoy!