Reeses Cheesecake, anyone?

I love a good cheesecake, and Matt is obsessed with Reeses...so here's a good union.

I found this recipe on Pinterest, but it looked a little TOO rich. That's the tricky thing about sweets...I love them but often they are just too rich. I decided to tweak this recipe a bit to see if it would make it a little less sweet. Instead if a brownie crust, I went with a traditional crumb crust made from Oreo Cookies. I undid the cookies, scraped out the icing, and then I crushed them in my handy dandy food processor. I used about 2 c. crumbs and mixed in 3-1/2 Tbsp. butter, melted.

Before you add crust to pan, I wipe butter around the bottom and edges of the pan. When I put the crumbs in the pan, I press firmly so that it's really packed in there and goes up the edges about 1/2-1 inch.

I put the crust in the oven at 350* for a few minutes. After taking it out of the oven, I sprinkled a package of Reese's minis onto the crust.

At this point, I wrap my pan in tinfoil and place it in a water bath. That means that you place your cheesecake pan wrapped in foil into a larger pan, such as a lasagna pan or roasting pan, then add about an inch of water. I don't really know why we do this, but it's what I was taught and I keep doing it because my cheesecakes have all turned out delicious.

Then I prepared the batter. Is that what you call the inside of a cheesecake? 

I used the filling recipe from Pinterest.

2 lbs cream cheese, softened

5 eggs

1-1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. Creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. Heavy whipping cream

1 Tbsp. Vanilla

Put crm chiz in mixer, mix til softened. Add one egg at a time. Add sugar, then pb, then cream, and lastly vanilla. As you go through those stages, it is often an odd consistency, but as you continue to blend, it smooths out. Then pour into the pan (we're using a springform pan, as always).

Bake at 325* for 90 minutes...yep, that's a long time! 

After you take it out, let cool for about an hour. You can then run a knife around the edge to separate the cake from the pan. I often don't have to do this step, as it kind of shrinks away from the pan as it cools.

I removed the pan and let it cool in refrigeration over night. The next day, I made the topping. Again, I didn't want it to be too rich, so this recipe makes a ton! Heat 1/4 c. Heavy cream, add 1 c. Choc chips. Allow chips to soften in cream and whip it up! Drizzle over top of cheesecake! Then cut 7 Reese's in half and dip raw edge in topping and place around edge. 

When it's all done, it looks like this! 

Yummmmmy!