Today is National Cheesecake Day and while I don’t mind buying cheesecake (even though it’s expensive), I really like making it! You can do pretty much whatever you want to a basic baked cheesecake recipe and it will turn out. This is sort of a copycat Cheesecake Factory Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch Cheesecake. I don’t have all of the elements but I’m working on it. This is a very rich, decadent cheesecake with chocolate, hazelnuts, and Nutella! If you’ve never made a baked cheesecake, it is a time commitment, so plan ahead. Ideally you make cheesecake a day ahead, giving it time to chill completely.
A few tips for a great cheesecake: 1. It’s important to use room temperature cream cheese and eggs; this helps eliminate the little lumps of cream cheese, creating a smooth filling. Additionally, the eggs will blend in more evenly. Take them out of the fridge at least 1 hour before you’re ready to make the cheesecake. 2. A water bath, while not necessary, helps prevent cracking and a caved-in center; the cheesecake rises less but more evenly and won’t collapse. If either of these happens, just cover the cheesecake with chocolate ganache or any other topping! 3. When adding the eggs, mix in slowly, don’t whip on high; it adds too much air and contributes to a fallen center. 4. Making a cheesecake is time consuming, with many long gaps between steps (baking the cheesecake, cooling in the oven, cooling on the counter, chilling in the fridge, etc.), so plan to do dishes, change loads of laundry, take a short nap, binge watch some Netflix, etc.
Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake
1-9” cheesecake, 14-16 servings
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
1 ½ cups (about 10-12 sheets) chocolate graham crackers, crushed
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted
⅓ cup hazelnuts, finely chopped – OPTIONAL
Cheesecake Filling
5 – 8 oz. blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
¾ cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
¼ tsp. salt
5 large eggs, room temperature
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups Nutella
½ cup chocolate chips, melted and cooled
½ cup hazelnuts, chopped
Optional Toppings
Nutella
Hazelnuts, chopped
Directions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Wrap a sheet of tin foil around the outside bottom and sides of a 9” springform pan.
- Mix crushed graham crackers, sugar, melted butter, and hazelnuts (if using) until combined.
- Press crust into the bottom of the springform pan and about 1” up the sides.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Cheesecake Filling
- Preheat oven to 450 F and prepare a water bath; grab a 2-3″ deep roasting pan (large enough to fit the springform pan in) and set a large pot of water over high heat to boil.
- Place room temperature cream cheese in a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and beat cheese until creamy and there are no lumps. Add vanilla and mix.
- In a separate small bowl, mix sugar, flour and salt and then mix into the cream cheese.
- Add the eggs one at a time, gently blending after each egg until just mixed. If you’re worried about over whipping, use a wire whisk for this to avoid making the eggs fluffy.
- With the mixer on low, add the heavy whipping cream.
- Pull about 2 cups of the base out, adding 1 cup to the melted chocolate chips, stirring to combine and leaving the other cup plain.
- To the remaining base, gently fold in the Nutella and chopped hazelnuts.
- Pour half the Nutella base into the cooled crust. Drop large spoonfuls of the plain base and the chocolate base into the pan. Pour the remainder of the Nutella base on top. Use a knife to marble everything together.
- Place tinfoil wrapped springform pan in the roasting pan and place in the preheated oven. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan to about 1” deep, no higher than the tinfoil.
- Bake for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 300 F and bake for 55-75 additional minutes. The cheesecake is done when only the very center of the cheesecake jiggles when the pan is shook.
- Once it’s done, turn off the oven, crack the door, and let the cheesecake sit in the oven for about 30 minutes.
- Remove from the water bath and cool for 30 minutes and then use a butter knife to loosen the crust from the edge. Let come to room temperature, about 2 hours and then set in the fridge to cool for 5 hours or overnight.
Let Cheesecake cool completely and then slice into 14-16 servings. Serve with some Nutella drizzle and chopped hazelnuts.
