Baked Whoopie Pie Cheesecake—Prototype 1:
 
Whoopie! I have not been aware of any restaurant or bakery offering a cheesecake like this. I myself dreamed this one up. So this is a very new adventure for me. This recipe is modeled primarily after Prototype 9 of my cookies+creme cheesecake (mainly due to similarities between whoopie pies and chocolate sandwich cookies).
 
Yogurt Cheese:
Prepare ahead of time 3 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from three 32-ounce containers of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 48 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference.

Lower-tart alternative:
Substitute this 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese for the aforementioned all-yogurt cheese. Prepare ahead of time only 2 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 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 (1 pint) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese.

Crust:
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
8 oz. (1 cup) yogurt cheese (see above)
3/8 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. finely ground All-Bran

Pour this crust mixture into bottom of greased springform pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall.

Batter:
4 tablespoons melted or softened butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons arrowroot
40 oz. (5 cups) yogurt cheese (see above)
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs

4 small whoopie pies (each about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter, such as from Trader Joe's).
Vertically cut each of these whoopie pies into 6 "slices" (not horizontally—in other words, each "slice" should contain two chocolate "outsides" and cream in between them).

Expect about 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 (minimize the foil's disturbance in order to minimize its leakage risk).

For each of the first two installments, gently scoop about 3 cups of batter into the pan. Add the pieces from 2 whoopie pies, ensuring that they are fully coated and—as much as possible—immersed (this is likely not readily doable on the first installment, but it should be on the second). After adding an installment, bake the pan with its contents for 30 minutes. For the first installment, bake at 325 degrees. For the second installment, reduce the temperature and bake at 300 degrees. 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 about a cup of batter left, with 60 minutes of baking time reached at this point (30 minutes for each of the first two installments). Now comes the third installment—carefully add the last of this batter (do not add any more whoopie pies at this point) on top of the pan's other contents. Try to fully coat the entire surface, especially wherever whoopie pie 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 (then immediately add a border of chocolate chips around the edge of this cheesecake, if desired). Continue to cool it down at room temperature for another two hours. After doing so, remove the cheesecake from pan and refrigerate.

Whoopie Pie Cheesecake—Prototype 1 (whole) Whoopie Pie Cheesecake—Prototype 1 (sliced)

For my 55th birthday, my brother Eric in California and his family there sent me a brand new, KitchenAid Professional 600 stand mixer (in Williams-Sonoma winter dark green), which made its debut in the preparation of this new cheesecake flavor.

Whoopie Pie Cheesecake—Prototype 1 (with new KitchenAid mixer)

Almost all of this cheesecake was gone in about 15 to 20 minutes at Living Hope Church. The last slice was taken not very long afterward. I got compliments as usual.
 

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