Reviewed: Nov. 23, 2011

A nice, creamy cheesecake. Not great flavor, but very good. Like most cooks I have a few suggestions. 1) Wrap the springform pan with foil! The crust calls for A LOT of butter - next time I'd use half - so a lot of oil seeped out during baking. 2) I used chocolate filled oreos for the crust, gave it a great flavor. 3) added a dash of vanilla, too, as well as a pinch of salt: I always feel that enhances a sweet dish. The baking times/methods were perfect, I just loosened the sides of the cake from the pan while it was still warm. No cracks (though , other than the initial presentation, I don't know what all the "crack-fuss" is about. So a cheesecake cracks, so what? It doesn't affect the taste one iota; and let's face it, after the first slice no one would notice anyway! All-in-all, a nice creamy texture and not too dense (like some recipes in this genre tend to be).

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Reviewer:

JonnyBGoode

Reviewed: Sep. 11, 2011

This cheesecake was delicious! I did not add sugar to the crust and I substituted greek yogurt for half of the sour cream. I will definitely make this one again!

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Reviewer:

apos159

Reviewed: Jan. 22, 2011

Good and easy to make cheesecake. I didn't have chocolate cookies to make the crust so I used other cookies and added some cocoa. The taste wasn't quite as it should be but there's no way I'm docking a star for something I did to the recipe. I'll be making it again with the chocolate cookies. Served with whipped cream. By the way, I followed the baking instructions - i.e. leaving it in the closed oven for an hour after baking and - NO cracks.

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Reviewer:

COOKINKIWI

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Living In: Milton, Ontario, Canada

Reviewed: Sep. 8, 2010

Wonderful! Everyone raved about this dessert, especially the crust. The only thing that needed changing is the ratio of melted butter to the crust mixture. If you make the given amount of crust (3 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs, which yields a thicker crust) then you need a full cup of melted butter. If you make a thinner crust of 2 cups of chocolate crumbs, then a half cup should be fine. For the cookie crumbs, I used chocolate animal crackers, but realized after the fact that chocolate graham crackers would have worked great as well. I almost left out the almond pieces in the crust, but they were actually one of the complimented aspects. And for those who don't like nuts--you can't taste it at all. I did use the full teaspoon of almond extract, and although I could really taste it in the batter, didn't think it was too strong in the finished product. I definitely wouldn't use more, but don't feel that less is needed unless you hate the taste of almond. The marble effect turned out well even though the "swirling" method with a knife didn't work for me; I think this method will only work if you pour the smaller amount of chocolate batter on the crust first and then pour the remaining vanilla batter on top. Be sure to follow instructions with baking and cooling. I didn't refrigerate overnight (4 hours before serving was sufficient), but be sure the cake is at room temperature before chilling otherwise it might crack. This will surely be a hit!

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Reviewer:

Hayley

Reviewed: Aug. 28, 2010

Delicious! Sweet and yet a bit tart. The whole family loved it. I cooked it on a lower temp for about 25 mins longer, however it still ended up cracking. Good thing cracks don't alter the scrumptious taste.

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Reviewer:

samira615

Reviewed: Apr. 10, 2010

Excellent! Very strong chocolate and almond taste. Followed the recipe exactly as written.

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Reviewer:

Modal Particle

Reviewed: Aug. 24, 2009

This cheesecake turned out to be great! so easy to make, I just followed the recipe. I also used chocolate fudge cookies and baked in water bath. My husband said this is the best cheesecake he has ever eaten ))) Edit!!! I AM MAKING IT AGAIN 2 WEEKS AFTER THE FIRST ONE!!!!

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Reviewer:

Damira

Reviewed: Apr. 12, 2009

Served at Easter and everybody loved it, although my husband thought the almond flavor was too much. I think it's just a matter of personal taste as I thought it was a perfect amount. Also, I used gluten free chocolate cookies for the crust so that my sister could enjoy it and you'd never know the difference. I'm glad I followed the advice of using the water bath although it did make me very nervous because the foil came off with all buttery water inside it which made me think the crust got water-logged. But it didn't and was just fine. Pretty great for my first attempt at cheesecake!

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Reviewer:

Colleen

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Peabody, Massachusetts, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 22, 2008

This is a really great recipe. I changed the almond for vanilla though, and made mini cheesecakes with it. One fell into a container and broke, and since I didn't have the heart to waste food, I simply kept it in the container and put it in the fridge. The next day there was only 20% left. I overheard it was so yummy, my sis ate it anyway. (despite the not too appealing appearence!) As usual, I didn't add sugar to the base, since the graham cracker crumbs are sweet enough already.

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