To say goodbye to my loyal food column readers, I decided to honor your dedication and make a special peanut butter cheesecake.
I have decided to call this concoction loaded peanut butter cheesecake. I was inspired by a similar recipe on the food blog “Hugs and Cookies” and made a few slight changes to the original recipe to create what you’ll read here.
The crunch and salt of the peanuts mixed with the sweet of the cheesecake create a combination that will satisfy any palate.
By baking the Reese’s Cups included in this recipe, they soften and mix well with the rest of the ingredients.
Topping it all off with drizzled semisweet chocolate creates an even more satisfying treat.
While this may be incredibly high in calories, you won’t care once you take a bite. Calories only mean something if you allow them to.
Ingredients
For the crust:
2 cups crushed Oreo cookies
½ cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) melted butter
For the filling:
9 Reese’s Cups
¼ cup peanuts
8 ounces cream cheese
1 egg
½ cup sugar
¼ cup peanut butter
½ cup melted chocolate
Directions
1. To create the crust, crush the Oreo cookies into dusty crumbs and mix with the ½ cup of sugar and melted butter. The consistency should be rather dry but moist enough to stick together in clumps. If the consistency is too wet, add more crushed Oreo cookies.
2. Spray the bottom of a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Press the crust mixture into the bottom of the pan.
4. Bake the crust at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
5. Allow the crust to cool. Once cooled, lay the Reese’s Cups on top of the crust and sprinkle the peanuts in the open areas surrounding the Reese’s Cups.
6. To create the cheesecake filling, mix the cream cheese, egg, ½ cup of sugar and ½ cup of peanut butter together. Spread on top of the crust in the pan.
7. Bake the cheesecake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
8. When done, allow it to cool completely and drizzle the melted chocolate on top of the cheesecake to serve.
allmwagn@indiana.edu
