Yep, another cheesecake

Sorry about the lousy image quality - I was in a hurry with this one and couldn't wait for the next day and natural light. I broke in my square cake pans for this chocolate cheesecake. It's a chocolate malted cheesecake and it's quite easy to make. You'll notice that I used a crust this time, and it remained crisp until the second day. Color me impressed.

This was one of the richest cheesecakes I've made in a long time, but it was pretty tasty. I was inspired by an online article that I read several weeks ago. However, by the time I was ready to make the cheesecake, I could no longer find the recipe and article, so I made a slight modification to an existing chocolate cheesecake recipe from my always-expanding recipe database.

I have a question about malted milk powder - why is it so gosh-darned expensive? It's pushing $7.00 a jar in some stores! I've seen it online for less, but by the time you factor in shipping, it's more. It's only barley malt and sweetener, so what gives? 

In another vein, has anyone out there tried the Horlick's brand malted milk powder? I've heard that it's the best, but haven't been willing to shell out the $$$ since I'm happy with the Carnation brand. If anyone can give me insight on the differences between them, I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts. 

Here's the recipe for those who are interested:

Chocolate Malt Cheesecake

14 graham crackers (1 sleeve) (or 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs)
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter, melted
pinch salt

3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
3 large eggs
12 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli 60% baking chips)
1 (15 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
2 tablespoons high quality cocoa powder
3-4 tablespoons malt powder (depending how malt-y you want it)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch round or square cake pan with parchment. (Optional: Spray parchment with nonstick cooking spray.) Place graham crackers in large ziploc bag and using a rolling pin (or large can of tomatoes if you don't have a rolling pin), crush crackers into fine crumbs. Stir in sugar, pinch of salt and melted butter until mixture looks like damp sand. Press mixture into bottom of the cake pan and bake until light golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let cool while mixing batter.

Put a teakettle or pan of water on to boil. In a microwave-safe medium bowl, combine butter and chocolate. Microwave at 50% power for 1 minute, then stir. Repeat until all chocolate is melted. Stir in cocoa powder and malt powder. Beat cream cheese in large bowl until completely soft, then blend in chocolate mixture, scraping bowl to ensure even mixing. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Scrape bowl one last time to make sure all ingredients are thoroughly mixed, then pour batter into cooled crust. Place cake pan in a large roasting pan and carefully add boiling water until it reaches halfway up the side of the cake pan. Carefully place roasting pan in oven and bake until the cheesecake is nearly set, 40 minutes to 1 hour. Remove pan from water bath and let the cheesecake cool on a rack to room temperature. Wrap cheesecake with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until firm, about 4 hours. (Remove from pan using instructions from previous cheesecake story.)

Comments

[Tina]

I can only imagine how it tastes. It looks like a slab of chocolate ganache.

[TheFuzzyChef]

Darcie,

The price of malted milk powder is up because the price of barley (and hops) are up, due to the conversion of a lot of grain fields to corn, and the loss of other fields this year to Global Climate Thrash.