Food Friday--Nutella Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of my favorite foods.  It didn't used to be that way.  When I was a child, I hated cheesecake and could not understand how anyone could eat that nasty stuff.  But, I used to adore blueberries and could eat myself sick on them and still want more.  As I got older, I lost my taste for blueberries and acquired a taste for cheesecake.  

Nutella is something that I had not heard of until about 8 years ago.  A good friend had brought some over to our apartment and shared her ritual of opening the jar and inhaling the goodness before grabbing a spoon and enjoying a taste.  I was intrigued by the smell of the Nutella, and when she gave me a spoonful, I was hooked.  

This past weekend I got a craving for cheesecake and I had a jar of Nutella just laying around, lonely and unused, so I decided to see if I could make a good Nutella cheesecake.  

It smelled so good while it was baking that it drew my teenager from his room multiple times happily sniffing around the oven and asking when it would be done.  After much anticipation, he was able to try some and declared it "good".

Nutella Cheesecake (16 servings)

What you need

Crust

1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

Filling

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened (I used the lower fat Neufchatel cheese because I like it)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1/2 cup milk

1 13-ounce jar Nutella 

What you do

Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a small mixing bowl, combine crust ingredients. Pat into the bottom of a 9" springform pan and bake for 10 minutes.   

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and vanilla until just combined.  Scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl, then add the egg yolks and egg, and beat on low until just combined.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and add in the milk and Nutella and mix completely.

Pour the filling into your springform pan. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.  Wrap the bottom and sides of your pan with aluminum foil and place it on a deep baking sheet and then place them both in the oven. Create a water bath by adding water to the baking sheet, just enough to fill it about halfway up. The foil around the springform pan keeps the water out of your cheesecake, and the water helps buffer the heat from the bottom of the oven, and provides moisture that will prevent your cheesecake from cracking.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until center appears set when shaken lightly. Remove from the water bath and cool on a wire rack. Remove the outer ring from the cheesecake pan, cool completely, and store in the refrigerator.  (Or if you live where I do, store the cheesecake in the unheated garage.)  

Foiled and ready for baking.

Baked and cooled.

Creamy hazelnutty goodness.