Triple Layer Cheesecake The Kosher Palette (reprinted with permission) Food Editor's Note: Our good friend Adele Bacow gave us this cookbook, raving about the quality and ease of its recipes. This first recipe that we tried, a cheesecake for Shavuot, lived up to our high expectations. This cheesecake has plain, coffee, and chocolate layers, and looks and tastes like a dream. It will be a spectacular dessert for any special occasion! Ingredients Crust: 1 cup Oreo cookie crumbs 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons butter, melted Filling: 4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1 3/4 cups sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Pinch of salt 4 large eggs 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder 1 tablespoon hot water 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped Instructions Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Cover outside tightly with 2 to 3 layers of heavy-duty foil; set aside. Combine cookie crumbs and sugar in a small bowl. Stir in butter until mixture is evenly moistened. Press crumbs on bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes; cool on a wire rack. Turn oven off. Beat cream cheese in a large mixing bowl at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Reduce speed to medium and beat in vanilla and salt. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Dissolve espresso powder in hot water in a large bowl. Spoon 2 cups of cream cheese mixture into espresso, blending with a rubber spatula. Spoon into crust and freeze 1 hour until firm. After first layer is firm, melt chocolate in top of a double boiler. Add 1 3/4 cups cream cheese mixture, stirring until well blended. Spoon over espresso layer and freeze 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread remaining filling over chocolate layer. Place cheesecake in a larger baking pan on oven rack. Pour enough hot water into larger pan to come 1-inch up the side of the springform pan. Bake 1 1/2 hours or until center is just set. Remove cheesecake from water bath. Cool completely on a wire rack. Remove foil from pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove side of pan just before serving. Drizzle with melted chocolate and garnish with coffee beans. Yield: 12 to 16 servings. The Kosher Palette is a cookbook originally published in April 2000 as a fundraiser for the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, New Jersey. With over 300 recipes, menu and presentation tips, and beautiful color photographs, it has been wildly successful and is now in its sixth printing. To order The Kosher Palette, please call 973-597-1115 ext. 1197. Triple Layer Cheesecake ShalomBoston.com
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