Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake—Prototype 10:
 
This one is my first two-flavored cheesecake since COVID-19's arrival.
 
3-Cheese Blend (1CT-1NC-1YG):
Prepare ahead of time 16 ounces of yogurt cheese, derived from one 32-ounce container of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 16 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 16 ounces of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese and 16 ounces (two 8-ounce packages) of softened Neufchatel cheese ("light cream cheese").

Grease a 9 1/2" (or 9") pan, but do not wrap foil around it until just before the batter is added (spreading the crust in an already wrapped pan can result in greater disturbance to the foil, thus increasing leakage risks).

Chocolate/Peanut Butter Crust:
2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
2 oz. peanut butter chips, melted
3/8 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
8 oz. (1 cup) 3-cheese blend (see above)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. finely ground All-Bran

Place the resulting mixture in the greased pan and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall.

Chocolate Batter:
7/8 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
3 eggs

Wrap the pan in foil at this point. Carefully pour the batter on top of the crust and bake all this in a hot water tub at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. Afterwards, take the tub-and-pan assembly out of the oven and promptly add the batter indicated below.

Peanut Butter Batter:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 oz. unsalted peanut butter
20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above)
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
3 eggs

Carefully scoop this on top of the chocolate batter (it is best to do this around the edge of the pan and let the peanut butter batter flow towards the middle) and return the tub-and-pan assembly to the oven, this time at only 300 degrees. Bake for about 55 more minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then shut off the oven and cool the cheesecake down while still in it (and in tub), with the oven door slightly ajar, for about an hour. Afterwards, remove the cheesecake (still in its springform pan) from the oven and tub and continue to cool it down at room temperature for another two hours. As an option, immediately after removal from the oven, decorate this cheesecake with chocolate and/or peanut butter chips (or peanut butter cup candies such as miniature size cups or broken pieces of larger cups) around its edge.

After cooling down at room temperature, remove the cheesecake from its pan and refrigerate.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake—Prototype 10

I did not want nearly a half dozen eggs to go to waste, and that was a major reason for this cheesecake. And my cheesecakes in general were still rather infrequent at this time because of the lingering coronavirus pandemic. So I felt that I would make an updated version of this chocolate-peanut butter combo. This one would be my very first cheesecake of 2022—off to an early January start!

It seems like I did not make a note of what I ended up doing with this cheesecake (maybe served it at my Home Depot workplace?) in that January and ultimately forgot. However, I made this prototype again at the end of September in 2024, this time with the border chips reversed (peanut butter outside, semi-sweet chocolate inside).

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake—Prototype 10 (repeat)

And I brought this one for Rosh HaShanah to my cousins Joanne and Jerry's place, where the cheesecake was gladly received.

In March of 2025, I repeated this prototype for a bake sale at my workplace. But for the first time, I added something new on top to complement the border chips—Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! That would take my cheesecakes to a whole new level. The Reese's cups themselves were miniature versions.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake—Prototype 10 (with peanut butter cups)

However, there was one concern that I had, and that was these newly-added cups melting down quite a bit—into "hats"—which was not my intent (okay, the outcome, I admitted, would hopefully still be at least "half-decent"). I would typically add the chips to the cheesecake promptly after removing it from the oven. In this case, I added the peanut butter cups quickly after placing the chip borders. That ended up being too warm for the cups. My intent was for them to melt just slightly, in order to (hopefully) adhere better to the cheesecake's surface. I made a note for next time to wait much longer before placing these cups—perhaps, in fact, until just before putting the cheesecake into the refrigerator. Nevertheless, my "mad-hatter" Resse's treat was enthusiastically received among my Home Depot co-workers.

At this point, I became more keenly aware of a somewhat rubbery texture with the peanut butter layer. That should not have been surprising, in light of my noticing that the peanut butter somehow made the batter thicker. My thoughts for next time: Try cutting down on the xanthan gum, perhaps to only 3/8 of a teaspoon (another idea would be to reduce the baking time after adding the peanut butter batter to a little less than 55 minutes).
 

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