Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake with Fudge Ripple

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A dessert-menu showstopper you can build at home: a dark chocolate cookie crust, dense peanut butter cheesecake rippled with warm ganache, and a crown of chopped peanut butter cups. The two things that make it look like a $38 restaurant slice are the ripple technique (a few confident figure-eights, no more) and cold, hot-knife slicing that leaves every cut sharp.

Ingredients

• 26 cookies chocolate sandwich cookies, filling included (about 10 oz)
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

• 5 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1 pinch fine salt

• 32 oz full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature (four 8-oz blocks)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 3/4 tsp fine salt
• 1 cup creamy conventional peanut butter (not natural-style)
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature

• 10 standard peanut butter cups, chilled and roughly chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, cold
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp roasted salted peanuts, chopped (optional)
• 1 pinch flaky sea salt

Instructions

1. Set an oven rack in the lower third and heat the oven to 325°F. Wrap the outside bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan in two layers of heavy-duty foil, pressing tightly so no water can seep in. Cut a parchment round for the pan base.
2. Make the crust: pulse the cookies in a food processor to fine crumbs (you want about 2 1/4 cups). Add the sugar, salt, and melted butter and pulse until the crumbs look like damp soil. Press firmly into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the pan, using the flat bottom of a measuring cup to compact it. Bake 10 minutes, then cool on a rack while you make the filling.
3. Make the ripple: put the chopped chocolate, corn syrup, and pinch of salt in a small bowl. Heat the 1/2 cup cream until it steams and just begins to bubble at the edges, pour it over the chocolate, wait 2 minutes, then stir smooth. Set aside at room temperature — you want it warm and pourable but not hot, roughly the thickness of chocolate syrup.
4. Make the filling: in a stand mixer with the paddle (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat the cream cheese on medium-low for 2 minutes until completely smooth, scraping the bowl and paddle twice. Add both sugars, the cornstarch, and salt; beat 2 minutes more on medium-low. Keep the speed low throughout — beaten-in air is what cracks cheesecakes.
5. Add the peanut butter and beat 1 minute until uniform, then the sour cream and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time on the lowest speed, mixing just until each disappears, about 20 seconds each. Scrape the bowl and fold by hand a few times to catch any unmixed streaks. The batter will be thick, like soft frosting.
6. Reserve 1/3 cup of the ganache for serving. Spread half the peanut butter batter over the cooled crust and smooth it. Drizzle about half the remaining ganache over it in thin ribbons, then add the rest of the batter and smooth the top. Drizzle the last of the ganache over the surface in parallel lines about 1 inch apart.
7. Ripple it: drag the tip of a butter knife or bamboo skewer through the surface in slow figure-eights, going only about halfway down into the batter. Make three to four passes and stop — more than that muddies the chocolate into gray-brown streaks instead of clean swirls. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to release large bubbles.
8. Set the springform in a roasting pan and pour boiling water into the roasting pan to come 1 inch up the sides. Bake at 325°F for 75 to 90 minutes, until the outer 2 inches are set and the center 3 inches still jiggle as one soft unit when the pan is nudged; an instant-read thermometer 1 inch from the center should read 150°F.
9. Turn the oven off, prop the door open a few inches, and let the cheesecake sit in the cooling oven for 45 minutes. Lift it out of the water bath, remove the foil, and cool on a rack to room temperature, about 2 hours. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
10. To finish, run a thin knife dipped in hot water around the inside of the pan, then release and remove the ring. Warm the reserved ganache for 10 seconds and drizzle it over the top. Whip the cold 1/2 cup cream with the powdered sugar to stiff peaks and pipe or spoon it around the border, then pile on the chopped peanut butter cups, peanuts, and flaky salt.
11. For restaurant-clean slices, freeze the finished cheesecake for 20 minutes. Dip a long thin-bladed knife in hot water, wipe it dry, and cut straight down in one motion without sawing; rewarm and wipe the blade between every single cut. Cut 16 slices from a 9-inch cake.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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