Chocolate Marble Cheesecake
Why I Love This Recipe
From Self Magazine
Ingredients You'll Need
Crust
2 tablespoons slivered blanched almonds
Vegetable oil cooking spray
6 chocolate wafers
Filling
15 oz (1 3/4 cup) part-skim ricotta
8 oz lowfat cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup lowfat sour cream
1 large whole egg
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or to taste)
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons amaretto (if desired)
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant-espresso powder
3 tablespoons bittersweet chocolate chips
Directions
For crust
Heat oven to 350˚.
Toast almonds on a small baking sheet for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven; reduce heat to 325˚.
Coat an 8" springform pan with cooking spray. Wrap outside of pan in foil to prevent seepage.
Process chocolate wafers and almonds in a food processor until fine crumbs. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tbsp crumbs onto bottom of pan (just enough to coat bottom lightly).
Shake pan to distribute evenly. Reserve remaining crumbs.
For filling
Puree ricotta in a food processor until smooth, about 1 minute.
Add cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, egg, egg whites, almond extract, flour and salt; puree until smooth.
Whisk amaretto, if desired (or same amount of hot water), 2 tbsp hot water, cocoa powder and espresso powder in a bowl until well combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Stir 1 cup plain filling into chocolate mixture. Set aside.
Assembly
Pour remaining plain filling into prepared pan.
Drizzle chocolate filling in a circular pattern over plain filling.
Using a knife, make circular strokes to create swirls in the plain filling.
Add 1 inch hot water to a shallow baking pan; place springform pan in baking pan.
Bake until cheesecake is firm around the edge and slightly soft in the center, 45 to 55 minutes.
Run a knife around inside of pan.
Remove foil; let cool on a rack.
Chill 6 hours or overnight before removing sides of pan.
Press reserved crumbs onto side of cheesecake.
