Happy Easter everyone! Hoping you are all safe and sound this long weekend. It’s been a tough one, not being able to visit family… But Antoine and I tried to make the most of it with a delicious home-cooked meal and big dessert, just for the two of us!
With our lack of grocery store shopping, I’ve had to make do with what I have in the fridge and pantry. The bright side is new recipe mash-ups to share! We hope you enjoy this seasonal spring dessert 🙂
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
- 3 pkg. (250 g each) Philadelphia cream cheese (I used light, as it’s what I had!)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup Cadbury mini eggs, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup Cadbury mini eggs for garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F.
- Roughly chop Cadbury mini eggs in a food processor.
- Mix together 1 1/2 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs and 1/2 cup melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
- Beat together 3 packages of cream cheese, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla extract with a mixer until blended.
- Blending on low speed, add 1 egg at a time. Mix just until blended (this is important!), before adding the crushed mini eggs. Pour the mixture over the crust and spread evenly.
- Bake at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes until centre is almost set. The centre 2-3 inches should still be wiggly. Cool before removing the rim of the pan.
- Refrigerate cheesecake for at least 4 hours before serving. Top with more mini eggs and shaved chocolate, if desired. Enjoy!
Full Disclosure: This was my first baked cheesecake! It tasted great, but it wasn’t as pretty as I would’ve liked. It cracked… Here are some extra steps I’ll take next time to prevent cracks in my cheesecake:
- Use a springboard pan – Special thanks to Emily for gifting me this one in my favourite colour! <3 It was the first time I got to use it, but I think there will be many more cheesecakes in our future 🙂
- Mix the eggs as little as possible – The recipe says “just until blended,” and I didn’t realize how important this is to the step. Eggs introduce air into the mixture, so they should be blended minimally.
- Avoid overbaking! The centre of your cheesecake (2-3 inches) should be wiggly. I didn’t know this, and unfortunately let the cheesecake bake for five more minutes leaving it in a full 40, rather than 35.
- Cool the cheesecake gently – Sally’s Baking Addiction recommends leaving the cheesecake in the oven when it’s done. Simply turn the oven off and crack open the door; leaving it inside for about 1 hour. Sudden changes in temperature often cause cracking. Once the cheesecake reaches room temperature, it should be refrigerated for 4-8 hours.
Recipe credit: This recipe is a blend of Kraft’s Apple Crumble Cheesecake Recipe, and Buzzfeed’s No-bake Cadbury Mini Egg Cheesecake. Quarantine creativity; what happens when you are missing a few ingredients from two delicious recipes and don’t want to visit the grocery store!