Coffee Cheesecake recipe #ChooseSmart #Cbias #Sfsmarties

My hubby is a good guy. He does a lot for his family. When my son or I break something he is always there to rescue us by fixing it. He helps with dishes and laundry when I am busy here in my blog or running after our son. My son LOVES to play with daddy and they have their own little world which I love listen to. So I decided I wanted to make something for him as a thank you. So what are his two most favorite things? Coffee and Cheesecake. So why not put those two things together? I found an awesome recipe for a coffee cheesecake, so I started looking at the Smart and Final circular (#ChooseSmart) to see what I can find:

Although they did not have coffee on sale they had pumpkins for 2.99 and my son has been begging for one to carve. I thought this would be a cool since it is a small one and my son can carry it.

So off we went. We first stopped to get him a hair cut because the poor kid can’t see through his bangs!

He wanted to show it off so as we got to Smart and Final I took a picture of his new hair cut:

I was SOOOO tempted to buy a dessert and be done:

 With some goofiness from my son:

Ingredients

• 2 cups crushed chocolate graham crackers (about 18 crackers)
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat butter, melted
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 4 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup chocolate liqueur (or coffee liquor)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
• 4 large eggs
• 4 Semi-sweet baking chocolate squares
• Mocha Sauce

1. 1. Stir together crushed graham crackers and melted butter; press mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray.

2. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325

3. Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add liqueur, vanilla, and coffee granules, beating at low speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition.

4. Remove and reserve 1 cup cream cheese mixture. Pour remaining batter into prepared crust.

5. Microwave chocolate in a medium-size, microwave-safe bowl 1 minute or until melted, stirring after 30 seconds. Stir reserved 1 cup cream cheese mixture into melted chocolate, blending well. (Mixture will be thick.)

6. Spoon mixture in lines on top of batter in pan; gently swirl with a knife.

7. Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until almost set. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven, with door closed, 30 minutes.

Remove cheesecake from oven, and gently run a knife around outer edge of cheesecake to loosen from sides of pan. (Do not remove sides of pan ***I did not see this until after I already did it and it did hold together, but MUCH easier if you wait)

Cool 1 hour on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours

8. Remove sides of springform pan. Serve with Mocha Sauce. (I skipped the Mocha Sauce).

My hubby LOVED this dessert!:

He said it is REALLY good. I think for a first try I think I did pretty good. What do you think?

This recipe was inspired from here but did my own version of it.

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