Coffee Toffee Cheesecake

cI have been good.....I have been really really good. I have 8 pounds left to loose and I fit into my clothes again and I feel like I can give myself a little bit of a break. To celebrate my accomplishment I made myself my favorite treat...cheesecake. I got this recipe out of a magazine but I can't even remember which one. I've made it before and it has become our favorite cheesecake recipes. It's chocolaty, creamy, smooth with a hint of coffee and just simply divine. I made it yesterday hubby and I both had a slice and then we dropped the rest of it this afternoon for his co-workers to enjoy so that it was out of the house and we would not be tempted to eat more. His co workers have been enjoying my baking goods lately :) I love to bake but since I cant eat those delicious treats I just send them to work with hubby :) it's a win win!!

Coffee Toffee Cheesecake


Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups crushed Oreo cookies (you can either use a food processor or place the cookies in a zip lock bag and use a rolling pin to crush them)

• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (6oz)
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 4 tsp instant coffee
• 3 pkg (8oz) cream cheese 
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream (12oz) 
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 eggs lightly beaten

Optional:

• 4 Heath candy bars (1.4 oz each) chopped
• 1 dark chocolate candy bar

Or:

• 1/2 cup melted milk chocolate

Directions:

Place a greased 9-in springform pan on a double thickness of heavy duty foil. Securely wrap foil around pan. Press the cookie crumbs onto bottom and 1 inch up the prepared pan. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and cream; stir until smooth. Stir in coffee granules until dissolved. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla and salt; gradually beat in chocolate mixture. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour into crust. Place springform pan in a large baking pan; add 1 1/2 inches of hot water to the larger pan bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes or until center is just set and the top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.

OK now for the top there are a few different options.

1. You can melt the chocolate and pour over the top of cheesecake and let it cool. It will create a chocolaty crust over the top. That is what I did this time but I found it difficult to slice through the chocolate when completely cool so my slices were not quite as nice.

2. You can melt the chocolate and pour it onto a wax sheet and spread it out thin then let it set. When completely cool using a spatula scrape it slowly off creating curls to create a pretty topping for the cheesecake.

3. The other option that I can think of is just melting the chocolate and pouring it over individual pieces just before serving for a yummy warm topping.

4. You can also chop the heath bar and sprinkle it on top then melt the dark chocolate and drizzle it over the heath bar.