Baked Chocolate Cheesecake—Prototype 26 (7-Way Chocolate):
 
This one was probably my first "7-Way Chocolate" cheesecake this side of COVID.

Among the updates included here was how I added the chocolate syrup. In the past, I used it within the batter, but I felt that this compromised the integrity of the cheesecake. So this time around, I decided to drizzle the syrup, after baking, on top instead.
 
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 yet (see below).

Chocolate Crust:
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, 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:
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/8 cup cocoa powder
40 oz. (5 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 eggs

Cookies:
Double-chocolate sandwich cookies, about 2 dozen (Whole Foods 365 or Newman's Own recommended)

Expect just over 7 cups of the resulting batter, but do not add this to the pan all at once. Rather, this needs to be done in three installments. Wrap the pan in foil just before adding the first installment (to minimize the foil's disturbance and therefore its leakage risk, do not put it on any earlier). Or as an alternative to using foil, place this pan in an Easy Bath Cheesecake Wrap—and don't bother waiting for the pan to get comfortably cool to do so.

For each of the first two installments, gently (especially with the second installment!) scoop about 3 cups of batter into the pan, and add about 12 cookies (don't bother breaking them up—keeping them whole is fine and, in fact, recommended), ensuring that they are fully coated and—as much as possible—immersed. After adding the first installment, bake the pan with its contents for 20 minutes, at 325 degrees. However, after adding the second installment, bake the pan with its contents, still at 325 degrees, but only for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 300 degrees, and continue baking for another 15 minutes (that's a 30-minute "baking installment" here—the first 15 minutes at 325 degrees and the next 15 at 300). For both installments here, bake with the pan in a tub filled with at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch of boiling water, but (to reduce spillage risks) do not fill the tub all the way at this point, because the whole tub-and-pan assembly is going to need to be removed from the oven (in order to comfortably add contents to the pan) between installments.

After all this is done, there should be just over a cup of batter left, with 50 minutes of baking time reached at this point (20 minutes for the first installment, and 30 for the second one). Now comes the third installment—carefully add the last of this batter (do not add any more cookies at this point) on top of the pan's other contents. Try to fully coat the entire surface, especially wherever cookie pieces may be showing. Next, return the entire pan-and-tub assembly to the oven. At this point, fill up the tub generously with boiling water. Resume baking at 300 degrees for another 55 minutes (based upon usage of a 9 1/2" pan).

Afterward, shut the oven off, and leave its door slightly ajar, with the cheesecake still inside—and in the tub—for an hour. Next, remove the cheesecake from the oven and tub. Now, for a special chocolate touch, add two concentric borders of chocolate chips, one of semi-sweet and the other of white, around the edge of this cheesecake (see photo below). Continue to cool it down at room temperature for another two hours. After doing so, remove the cheesecake from pan, then add a chocolate syrup drizzle pattern on top (see photo below for a suggestion) and refrigerate (or add the drizzle at a later point).

Chocolate Cheesecake—Prototype 26 Chocolate Cheesecake—Prototype 26 (sliced)

I made this one in the later half of June 2024 for the Danvers East Home Depot as this store (#2623) celebrated the 20th anniversary of its being in business at this location. Although I have brought chocolate cheesecakes to my workplace here in the past, I cannot remember serving a "loaded/7-way" version for my fellow associates to enjoy. They finished it off in less than 7 hours (we enjoyed a burger/hot dogs cookout as well).

I repeated this prototype almost two months later for a family reunion. However, I decided to add the chocolate syrup drizzle immediately after the chocolate chip borders, instead of doing so right after the pan removal. In other words, the drizzle was applied close to when I took the cheesecake out of the oven (rather than just before refrigeration). I felt that by doing this, the syrup would more easily soak a little into the warm batter, and its heat would also cause some of the remaining syrup on top to evaporate. That ended up being a messy mistake. The syrup was way too runny. I ended up spreading out the drizzle pattern throughout the top of the cheesecake, so that at least the wet syrup's depth would not be as high, and the top surface's appearance would be better-looking.

Chocolate Cheesecake—Prototype 26 (messy drizzle) Chocolate Cheesecake—Prototype 26 (drizzle spread out)

As I served this particular cheesecake at my cousin Joanne's house where the aforementioned reunion was held, the guests dug right in, and many of them raved to me about this dessert. Of all the cheesecakes that I have ever made for get-together occasions involving my relatives, this latest one was probably the most successful up to this point—it was almost 7/8 of the way gone by the end of the reunion! (Joanne packed away the rest in her refrigerator for another time.)
 

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