How does peanut butter chocolate chip cheesecake sound? At the cheesecake factory, how many kinds of their cheesecake have you tried? Honestly, I almost always get the same one. I know its good and the menu is overwhelming. I haven’t been to one of those restaurants in about 5 years but, The white chocolate raspberry one is my favorite, but I have tried maybe two other kinds so we should use that term loosely.
When I’m baking cheesecake at home I’m much more adventurous. I have so many ideas of what sounds good together. Most people enjoy chocolate and peanut butter together. It’s a great combination but sometimes can be very rich. So, this peanut butter chocolate chip cheesecake was born. I wanted some chocolate but not just a chocolate cheesecake. Hence, vanilla-ish cheesecake with chocolate chips. The peanut butter crust adds a little salty and a little sweet.
Baking Tips
With a cheesecake, if you care about the aesthetics at all, I always recommend using a water bath. I always am more successful with having a cheesecake that isn’t cracked when I do it. However, if you don’t care about anything but taste it’s perfectly acceptable to skip. If you choose to use a water bath, personally I like to use oven safe bags around my cheesecake pan to prevent any leaks.
Always let your peanut butter chocolate chip cheesecake cool with the oven off and the door slightly cracked for at least an hour. If your oven door doesn’t stay open a small amount, try using a wooden spoon to prop it open. This cooling like this will also help with cracks. When you do move to the refrigerator, don’t cover it initially. Once you’ve cut in and eat, feel free to then.
For my peanut butter lovers, here are some other equally delicious recipes:
- Peanut Butter Cinnamon Cookies
- Peanut Butter Stuffed Brownies
- Easy Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Key Ingredients
- Peanut butter cookies – I used and prefer Nutter Butters but I’m sure if there is a different kind you prefer they should work.
- Milk chocolate chips – I originally tried this with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips because I didn’t want the cheesecake to be too sweet. However, it actually turned out quite bitter. I would recommend using milk chocolate chips. If you use semi sweet or dark, probably use a little bit less and use full size over mini.
- Heavy cream – Some cheesecake recipes call for sour cream for extra tang but I like the creaminess that plain heavy cream gives the texture. It’s so smooth and dreamy.
Ingredients
Crust
- 16 Nutter Butter cookies
- 4 tbsp Unsalted butter Melted
- 5 Nutter Butter cookies optional, for decoration
Cheesecake
- 3 Large Eggs Room temperature
- 24 oz Cream Cheese 3 blocks, softened
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 150 g Granulated Sugar ¾ cup
- 50 g Dark brown sugar ¼ cup
- ¼ cup Heavy cream Room temperature
- 1¼ cup Milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F
- Process 16 cookies in a food processor until a fine crumb. Empty into a bowl and add 4 tbsp melted butter. Stir until mixed, mixture will be like wet sand. If use your fingers to pick some up it should stick to itself when pressed together.
- Press into the bottom of your springform pan into an even layer.
- Optional – I took an additional 5 cookies, separated them and scraped out the center. I scored them in the middle breaking each cookie into 4 pieces. I lined the edge of the crust for a decorative cookie crust.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes to set crust. When crust begins to smell fragrant it is ready, remove from oven and set out to cool.
- While crust is baking, prepare your filling. Place cream cheese in bowl of mixer with paddle attached and beat on low-medium for 2-4 minutes until cream cheese is smooth.
- Add in sugar, and beat to combine.
- Add in each egg, one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated into batter before adding the next.
- Add in vanilla and cream and beat on low until mixed in.
- Pour in chocolate chips and mix in with a spatula by hand.
- Pour into cooled crust, and place in the oven. Bake for about 40-50 minutes. Center of cheesecake will still jiggle but outer edge will be set. Turn off the oven and crack the oven door. Leave cheesecake to rest for about an hour in the oven before removing.
- Let cheesecake come completely to room temperature before moving to refrigerator to chill. Cheesecake should chill for at least 6 hours, I usually leave mine overnight.
- After cheesecake has chilled, slice and enjoy!
Notes
- I set my oven at 325 however I noticed when checking my cheesecake at 30 minutes the temperature was closer to about 300-310. The cooking time is going to be on the lower side if your oven is at 325 and longer if it’s actually running a little cooler.
- If you prefer (or can’t find) a different peanut butter cookie to Nutter Butters, they could definitely be used instead. However, the amount of cookies you need for the crust will most likely vary.
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