In an effort to clean out the pantry’s baking department, I ended up crafting a “Snickers” cheesecake this weekend, even though no Snickers were involved in the making of said cheesecake. The cheesecake itself is lovely plain, nice and light, and the toppings were merely a happen accident of what was on hand. This was certainly an easy to throw together dessert that looked more impressive than it was.

Here she is naked and unafraid.

Now with the caramel peanut layer…

Finally, topped with a chocolate ganache.

You’ve got to love a self drizzling cheesecake when cut.

Snickers Cheesecake

For the crust:

• 300g Bischoff biscuits
• 200g unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:

• 800g cream cheese
• 1 c. (200g) sugar
• 2/3 c. (160g) sour cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 4 eggs

For the peanut caramel:

• 1 c. salted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 1/2 bag of Kraft caramel nibs (or any caramel sauce on hand)
• 1/3 c. heavy cream

For the chocolate ganache:

• 100g dark chocolate
• 1/3c. double cream

1. Preheat oven to 170C (325F). Grease and line a 9″ springform pan, set aside.
2. In a food blitz Biscoff biscuits into crumbs. Pour in the melted butter and blitz to combine.
3. Press biscuit mixture into the bottom of prepared pan an bake 10 minutes.
4. While biscuit base is cooling, make your cheesecake by mixing together cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Then, mix in eggs one at a time.
5. Pour cheesecake batter ontop of biscuit base and bake for ~55 minutes, until edges are golden and middle remains jiggly.
6. Turn oven off and crack the oven door. Allow to cool in warm oven for 10 minutes.
7. Remove cheesecake from oven and allow to cool on cooling rack on the counter for about two hours.
8. Then, you can top with the caramel peanut layer. Create this by placing caramels and cream in a small sauce pot and stir over low-medium heat until the caramels are melted. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped peanuts.
9. Allow mixture to cool for a few minutes as to let it thicken up a bit. Once thick, but still spreadable, use an elevated spatula to spread on top of cheesecake.
10. In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and cream and zap for thirty seconds. Remove and stir to help melting process. Return to microwave for another 15 seconds and stir. If not melted, repeat.
11. Pour ganache on top of peanut caramel layer and spread to cover.
12. Place cheesecake in refrigerator and allow to rest and cool for at least six hours.