Cooking Light Week - Day Seven: Triple-Chocolate Cheesecake

"This is light!", my husband exclaimed as he ate his slice of triple-chocolate cheesecake. Yes it is! This "light" version of cheesecake is smooth, rich & full of chocolaty goodness. I've only made a few simple cheesecake recipes in the past. I challenged myself and boy am I glad I did. It had several steps to it but it was very easy to make and it turned out absolutely delicious. I compared this recipe to other similar cheesecake recipes and found that most cheesecake recipes use more butter in the crust, full fat cream cheese, more eggs and full fat sour cream. You don't need it, trust me. This gives the presence of an elegant, decadent dessert. Great for a dinner party or a family event or when you want to make an impression.

(See bottom of post for my first blog award I received)

Triple-Chocolate Cheesecake

Recipe from Cooking Light

Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon stick margarine
1 tablespoon egg white
1 1/3 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 16 crackers)
Vegetable cooking spray
3 tablespoons dark rum (I used light rum)
3 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
1 (8-ounce) block nonfat cream cheese, softened (I ended up using 2 reduced fat blocks of cream cheese since that's what I had in my fridge)
1 (8-ounce) block Neufchâtel cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa
Chocolate curls (optional)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Place first 3 ingredients in a bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer until blended. Add crumbs; stir well. Firmly press mixture into bottom and 1 inch up sides of an 8-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes; let cool on a wire rack.

Combine rum and chocolate squares in the top of a double boiler. Cook over simmering water 2 minutes or until chocolate melts, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; add chocolate syrup, stirring until smooth.

Preheat oven to 300°. Place cheeses in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Add 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, vanilla, and salt; beat until smooth. Add rum mixture; beat at low speed until well-blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Pour cheese mixture into prepared pan; bake at 300° for 40 minutes or until almost set. Combine sour cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 2 teaspoons cocoa; stir well. Turn oven off, and spread sour cream mixture over cheesecake. Let cheesecake stand for 45 minutes in oven with door closed. Remove cheesecake from oven, and let cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Garnish with chocolate curls, if desired.

My daughter Mariah learning how to press crumbs in a pan. She did a good job.

Look at that cheesecake filling!

A Perfect Slice

Enjoy!

Mom's Cooking Club Lesson: Don't be afraid to try recipes that seem a little more difficult or with ingredients you've never used before. Now, of course, my motto is simple, quick and easy but sometimes if you push yourself to try something new, everyone will reap the taste rewards.

My Award!

I was so surprised and pleased when Barbara from Barbara Bakes passed on this blog award to me. I'm new to this world of food blogging and it's so nice that people are visiting my site and recognizing me. Check out Barbara's wonderful blog for some great recipe ideas. Thank you Barbara!

I'm going to pass on this award to 2 great blogs that I've been following:

Prudence Pennywise - I have been following this blog for about a year now and I love it. I have tried several of her recipes and each one has turned out delicious.

Cooking Stuff - I have only recently begun to follow this blog. His posts are humorous and his variety of recipes look great.

This has been a great week of sharing Cooking Light recipes and pairing up with my sister-in-law, Aggie, over at Aggie's Kitchen. Here's a look back at the recipes we presented this week:

Turkey Burgers with Peanut Sauce

Kung Pao Chicken

Chicken with Cashew Cream and Mushrooms

New Potatoes with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

Steak and Fennel Sandwiches

Grilled Teriyaki Shrimp Kabobs

Triple-Chocolate Cheesecake

Frozen Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

Thank you and Happy Memorial Day!