Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

This recipe started with a Baileys and Chocolate Cheesecake recipe I found. I have never made a no bake cheesecake because I very much enjoy the baked kind – and I’ve heard all kinds of stories about no-bakes not setting up right. Anyway, I thought I’d give it a try. I intended to make it as the recipe stated, but got sidetracked when looking for chocolate to shave up for it. I found a bag of peanut butter cups in my baking cupboard and was suddenly fascinated by the idea of modifying the recipe to include a chocolate crust and peanut butter cups chopped up into the batter. If you look at the original, you’ll notice that everything is in grams and ounces. Which isn’t really helpful to the everyday baker who may not have a kitchen scale. Lucky you, I weighed and measured everything and below is the recipe in cups & tablespoons.

I also thought about shaving up a dark chocolate Terry’s Orange instead of the peanut butter cups, which I still may do at some point. I love recipes that are easily adjustable to make a new kind of deliciousness. I’m pretty pleased with the results on my first no-bake cheesecake. It wasn’t as firm as I wanted it to be after 2 hours in the fridge – firm enough in a pinch, but I wanted it a bit more solid. So I put it back in there to rest overnight before I serve it up tomorrow.

6 tablespoons butter
2 C chocolate wafer cookies, crushed (one 9oz package “Famous Chocolate Wafers”)
2 3/4 blocks (8oz each…total of 22 ounces) cream cheese – softened
1 C powdered sugar
1 1/2 C heavy cream, whipped until soft peaks form
1 teaspoon vanilla
13 mini peanut butter cups (about 4 ounces) chopped fine

To garnish
12-15 peanut butter cups, chopped coarse.

1. Melt the butter and add the crushed chocolate cookies. Mix
well until the cookies have absorbed all the butter.
2. Press into the bottom and up the sides (about an inch) of an 8-inch springform tin. Place in the refrigerator and allow to set for one hour.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. First whip the cream until soft peaks form. Set aside.  Then whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Fold in the whipped cream and chopped peanut butter cups. When smooth, spoon evenly onto the prepared crust.
4. Refrigerate and allow to set for a further two hours to overnight. Once set, remove and top with additional peanut butter cups, chopped coarse. Serve.