I have a very sad story for you (you’re probably wondering how sad a story it can be if cheesecake is involved, and I suppose to that you’re right). Anyway, Delish is hosting a chocolate recipe contest that ends today, with a chance to win a $500 Williams-Sonoma gift card (and I do love Williams-Sonoma!).
I just happened to have two blocks of Neufchatel cheese in my fridge and an idea for double crusted chocolate covered cheesecake. So I made this fabulous potentially-would-be-award-winning-recipe and I tried to submit it to the contest. I got an error message saying something like Your recipe can’t be submitted at this time, please try again later. So I did try again later with no luck. So I tried again even later. I even emailed Delish to let them know about my technical difficulties, but they never responded. It was no use, my cheesecake was unwanted by Delish’s recipe contest. The upside to this unfortunate event is that I get to post the recipe for this tantalizing cheesecake (and I did get to console myself with some cheesecake!).
The crust is one of my favorite things about this cheesecake. It’s sweet (from a little brown sugar), salty (from crushed pretzels), and slightly nutty (from rolled oats). This crust is so good I had to make this cheesecake double crusted. The sweet surprise is chopped up candy bar inside the cheesecake filling; I used Snickers Almond (because it’s a favorite of my husband’s) but feel free to use your favorite.
A note on the sweetness: For the cheesecake filling I used ¾ c of white sugar and it was perfect for me (I don’t like my sweets overly sweet). On the other hand, my husband (who leans more toward the almost-too-sweet preference) said he thought the cheesecake filling could have used a little more sugar. That being said, feel free to increase the sugar to 1 c.
Double Crusted Chocolate Covered Sweet Surprise Cheesecake
Oatmeal-Pretzel Crust:
½ c lightly packed brown sugar
1 ½ c all purpose flour
1 ½ c rolled oats
1 ½ c salted pretzels, crushed (I crush them coarsely and leave some larger pretzel pieces, but you can crush them finely if you prefer)
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
2 (8 oz) blocks Neufchatel cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ c low-fat Greek yogurt
3 eggs
¾ c white sugar
2 tsp Madagascar Pure Vanilla Extract
1 (10 oz) bag miniature Snickers Almond bars (~15 mini bars), chopped
Ganache Topping:
12 oz Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 c heavy cream
2 TB unsalted butter
1 TB Madagascar Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp instant coffee
Butter, to grease the pan
A springform pan
To make the ganache, put the chocolate chips in a glass or steel bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream and butter to a boil and pour it over the chocolate chips. Leave the chocolate and cream alone for 5 minutes, then stir to combine; mix in the vanilla and coffee. At room temperature the ganache is the perfect consistency to “frost” the cheesecake.
Preheat the oven to 375F. Use a fork to combine all the ingredients for the crust. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of the springform pan with butter. Pour half the crust mixture into the greased cheesecake pan and reserve the other half of the crust mixture for later. Use a glass to help you firmly press the mixture down evenly. Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Once the crust is out of the oven, turn the oven down to 325F.
Use a mixer to blend together the Neufchatel cheese and Greek yogurt; once they’re fully incorporated, mix in one egg at a time; add the sugar and vanilla and mix until everything is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped candy and pour the mixture into the pre-baked crust. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove the cheesecake from the oven and evenly sprinkle the remaining crust mixture on the top; bake for another 20 minutes. Allow the cheesecake to cool completely to room temperature and then refrigerate it for 2 hours. Pour the room-temperature ganache over the cheesecake and spread it out in an even layer (some chocolate will drip down the sides of the cheesecake, but don’t worry about spreading it evenly over the sides). Refrigerate for another 2 hours before cutting and serving.
I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to 
Your recipe made it into the contest. That’s where I found it. I’ve made it and love it! My preference is without coffee…
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.
OMG that looks so good!!!
Oh my, this looks absolutely heavenly. I think you’d win any contest you entered this in.
this blog never failed to cheer me up with beautiful food. =)
Oh, those kind of things seem to happen to me all the time! Sorry about that, but it’s their loss because this chocolate drenched cheesecake is outrageous! Wow! Sinful and decandent and luscious and I normally do not like cheesecake. This is like one huge candy bar! Yum!
oh I’m so sorry! It must have been SO frustrating, esp since this is CLEARLY a winner. They must be kicking themselves for not responding now!
I’m so glad you were able to enter the contest! The cheesecake is fabulous, definitely a winner!
Oh my that is to die for…looks delicious…wonderful clicks
Yay! I am glad this deliciousness was able to be entered into the contest. This looks like a winner to me. Absolutely gorgeous and what great tastes going on here!
Wow! It really looks heavenly!
Ah.. what a sad story…
I’m sorry you did not get to submit your recipe…it looks really tasty! BTW did you get my email back to you?
That pretzel crust is GENIUS! Now I have to make something with pretzel crust!
That is very sad! This kind of almost happened to me for the Iron Cupcake challenge.
Your cheesecake is perfect! I give it 5 stars, a blue ribbon, and a gold medal!
And, I thought my chocolate covered strawberries looked good. Wow! Now if I’m going to eat something good that would be it. Seriously drooling right now. Happy Friday!
A Happy Update: First I want to thank you all for your sweet words! AND, I wanted to tell you all that the wonderful people at Delish emailed me and let me enter my recipe through email even though the contest deadline passed! I guess there is a sweet ending (corny pun, I know) to this sad cheesecake story! ;)
The only word I can think of to describe your cheesecake is SINFUL. And it’s their loss that you couldn’t enter the contest.
If it makes you feel any better…I missed the deadline for a mac n cheese contest. I missed it by one day :(
I am making it this weekend, it sounds absolutly fabulous!!!!
I hate it when it happens, I had the same thing happening to me a while ago… but you have some wonderful cheesecake to eat at least!
OMG what a bummer! I think it’s totally worthy of winning the Williams-Sonoma GC too :( Eh next time! At least you got to enjoy this amazing delicious looking cake!
faith m so sorry to hear the sad story. still ye cake sound delish.. mouth watering!! yummm!! stupid tech probs huh? dn worry ull try again in some other contest nd m sure u will win :)
cheers!!
Aww boo to Delish but YAY for you and for us for having the recipe for this! :D I love a good dripping photo and that looks grand :)
I love cheesecakes! You just made me crave with your photos… *drool*
i heart the word ganache
I love this recipe! And you know, the fact that you love it is a winner! Yum!
That’s too bad about not being able to submit it! It’s a winner for sure! My mouth is watering at the sight of it!
OMG! This looks amazing. I’m so sorry that you had problems submitting your recipe.
Drool! Too bad for delish and yay for us! Fabulous recipe and if it’s any consolation…I thank you 500 times! Yeah, I know…not the same!!
Sorry you couldn’t get it submitted. :0(
Very sad indeed ;-P!
That cheesecake looks so mouthwatering! I’m drooling…
Cheers,
Rosa
FABULOUS! Sorry you couldn’t get it submitted, but now we have the recipe and Delsih doesn’t!!!
WOW, this looks heavenly. The perfect thing to drown your sorrows in! Im drooling.
Sorry about the $500 WS gift certificate, that would undoubtedly have been awesome!