Little Pieces of Chocolate Heaven!

When I saw these bars on the foodnetwork.com's list of top cookies in 2006, I knew I wanted to try them! They are super rick, but sooooo good. They really not as complicated as they sound. The most time involved is melting the chocolate. They were huge hit. When reading some of the reviews, I agree that I many try using some peppermint oil or extract in the top layer of chocolate, just for an extra little yum!

I couldn't find chocolate wafer cookies, so I used 1 package(19 full crackers) of chocolate graham crackers.


Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars

Crust:

20 chocolate wafer cookies
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground coffee beans
1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Filling:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs, room temperature

Glaze:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon light or dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons sour cream, room temperature
1/2 cup crushed candy canes (see Cooks Note)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with foil. The foil is really important. I was reluctant, but it is really the only way to get the bars out of the dish without destroying them!!

For the crust: Process the chocolate graham crackers in a food processor with the butter, sugar, coffee, and salt until fine. Evenly press the crust into the prepared dish covering the bottom completely. Bake until the crust sets, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling: Put the chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl; heat at 75 percent power until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir, and continue to microwave until completely melted, up to 2 minutes more.

Blend the cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream together in the food processor until smooth. Scrape down the sides, as needed. Add the eggs and pulse until just incorporated. With the food processor running, pour the chocolate into the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.

Pour the filling evenly over the crust. Bake until filling puffs slightly around the edges, but is still a bit wobbly in the center, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack.

(The picture below shows how the edge cooks nice and puffy, but the middle is still wobbly)

For the Glaze: Put the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in microwave safe bowl. Heat glaze in the microwave at 75 percent power until melted, about 2 minutes. Stir the ingredients together until smooth; add the sour cream. Spread glaze evenly over the warm cake and scatter the crushed candy canes over top. Cool completely, then refrigerate overnight.

Cut into small bars or squares. Serve chilled or room temperature.

(After reading a lot of reviews, I decided to place my dish in the freezer 2-3 hours before cutting them and getting them ready for the party. A person mentioned they did this because when the glaze hardens, the center stays real soft. When this person went to cut the dish into bars, they had a problem with the center oozing out. If you freeze the dish and use a warm knife to cut through the bars, there is little problem with this. You still have to be real careful with the center oozing, and my glaze cracked a bit on top, even with my warm knife. After trying this, I would not recommend freezing the dish is the white streaks that formed on the glaze when I froze it. I will skip the freeing next time, and see how it goes, for aesthetic reasons :-) )