One week and counting until Valentine’s Day!
As you may have guessed, my favorite part about Valentine’s Day is desserts. I’ve mentioned before that my hubby and I don’t usually go all out for Valentine’s Day gifts. I’m perfectly OK with that. Valentine’s Day desserts are a different story… For me, it’s just not Valentine’s Day without a decadent dessert. I don’t need diamonds, but please don’t mess with my chocolate!
So, it should come as no surprise that when I was approached by Sargento to highlight one of their recipes here on my site that I immediately started thinking desserts. They have a great selection of cheeses, and among those cheeses is ricotta cheese. I bet you can see where this is going… Cheesecake. Chocolate chip cheesecake, to be exact.
One of the things that I love about cheesecake is that it’s a blank slate. I mean, there’s a whole restaurant chain dedicated to it with dozens of varieties of toppings and flavors! So, when it comes to making cheesecake for Valentine’s Day, you can really make it your own. As I mentioned last week, chocolate covered strawberries are one of my Valentine’s Day favorites, so I used those as my cheesecake inspiration. I garnished my cheesecake with fresh strawberries and chocolate decorations. I had a lot of fun plating up the cheesecake in lots of different ways.
And, of course, I also had fun eating it.
This recipe proves that cheesecake doesn’t have to be difficult… It’s really quite simple! Even if you don’t do a lot of baking, you can handle this… Just think how impressed your Valentine will be if you make a cheesecake (from scratch)!
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
(Makes a 9-inch cheesecake, Used with permission)
For the Crust:
- 1-1/4 cups fine chocolate wafer crumbs (25 cookies, processed in food processor)
(Jen’s Note – One package of chocolate graham crackers works well, too!) - 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons butter, melted
For the Filling:
- 4 cups (30 oz.) Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup half-and-half or whipping cream
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1-1/2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips or mint-flavored chocolate chips, divided
- Mint sprigs (optional)
Lightly grease bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan. Combine crust ingredients in small bowl. Press evenly over bottom of
pan. Bake in preheated 350°F oven 10 minutes.
(Jen’s Note – To ensure you have an even crust, use a metal measuring cup to press the crumbs down into the bottom of your springform pan!)
Combine Ricotta cheese, sugar, half-and-half, flour, vanilla and salt in medium bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, blend with electric mixer until smooth. Fold in 1 cup chocolate chips; pour over crust.
Bake in preheated 350°F oven 1 hour or until set. Cool in oven with door propped open 30 minutes. Refrigerate 4 hours or longer.
Place remaining chocolate chips in small resealable plastic bag, sealing securely. Melt chocolate in microwave oven 2 minutes or in hot water. Cut off one small corner of bag. Drizzle chocolate attractively over chilled cake. Let stand 10 minutes or until chocolate is set. Cut into wedges; garnish with mint sprigs, if desired.
(Jen’s Note – I prefer to skip the plastic bag and drizzle chocolate with a squeeze bottle… Here’s my tutorial for perfect chocolate drizzle!)
My Kitchen Addiction Disclosure – This post was sponsored by Sargento. Though I have been compensated to write this post, all opinions expressed are my own.
Beautiful presentations Jen. This certainly looks like it would be perfectly delicious!
Interesting! I’ve never made a cheesecake with just ricotta and no cream cheese. This does look super easy and I love your decorations.
Lovely cheesecake! You are killing me with these beautiful desserts.
This looks insanely delicious.
Okay, I’m a huge cheesecake fan and I’m ashamed to say I’ve never tried a ricotta based one, so your recipe here-LOVE at first sight. You have two of my favorites combined!
Gorgeous!! And WOW what a recipe!! This probably wouldn’t last a day in our house! :)
absolutely perfect for Valentine’s day – but really, I could eat this for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between ANY time!! cheesecake is one of those desserts i rarely make at home – i don’t trust myself!!
That’s a gorgeous cheesecake! It looks delicious and perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Wow, this looks incredible! What a perfect Valentine’s Day treat, too. Yum!
Ricotta? Cheesecake? Two of my favorite things in life! This is drool worthy!
Looks amazing as usual Jen! I love the way you made the plate so pretty! I want to try this one :)
I love ricotta based cheesecakes, they are always so light and and not as overwhelmingly rich as most cheesecakes.
Yum, CHOCOLATE! Can’t go wrong with this decadent cheesecake :) And your presentation is even better, love how you put chocolate on the plate!
My mom loves cheesecake, I bet she’d be pretty psyched if I whipped this up for her. Adding it to my to-do list :)
Cheesecake is my favorite dessert and this is so lovely!
Your pictures are gorgeous! I love the way this cake looks.
Um, wow!!! Delicious and oh, so pretty, Jen!!!
This treat looks absolutely perfect for VDAY – decadent and delicious.
Two questions: Would this recipe still work if I wanted to put a chocolate ganache layer over the bottom of the crust?
and- After it’s done baking I would just leave it in the oven with the door open ( after turning it off) This wouldn’t over-cook it?
Thanks!!
Hi, Amanda –
I haven’t actually tried the chocolate ganache, but I’m afraid it might either burn to the sides of the pan or ooze out all over your cheesecake when it is baked. Personally, I would probably put the chocolate ganache on the top after it has chilled.
As for over-cooking it… I followed the recipe as it was written, which called for leaving the cheesecake in the oven with the door open. The oven cools down pretty quickly once it’s open, so I think this just brings it down to room temperature gently instead of going straight to the fridge and shocking it from hot to cold. My cheesecake was the right consistency and wasn’t over-done, but I’m sure there are other ways to do it, too.
thanks so much for the quick response!!
Ughhh cheesecake, my ultimate weakness! This looks divine, absolutely divine. I made a Peanut butter choco-chip cookie dough cheesecake for my birthday last year. SO decadent.
Oh I have never had a ricotta cheesecake before – time to remedy that I think. Like the idea of the different texture!
Oh wow that cheesecake looks good. But ricotta cheese? Is that just a substitute, or does it have a different flavor profile? The idea seems interesting :)
I am going to bake this cake soon. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
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