Goodbye Jim :-(

 My friend Jim moved to Texas today :-(   :-(   :-(  We were housemates our senior year in college, and he lived very near to me after we graduated, so now I am very sad that he is gone. So, for his going away present, I made him a delicious Snickers cheesecake. Which was dumb, I should have made myself a Snickers cheesecake because I am soooooooo sad now. But alas, I had promised Jim another cheesecake, and he requested Snickers, so here it is. Bye Jim, I'll miss you!!!!

 Look at the batter! So chunky and full of delicious EVERYTHING. Seriously. It was our joke the night Jim, Myself and our friend Amanda went out to send him off that I had gained five pounds just reading this recipe. Its probably true.

 

Can I please get a close up on that caramel ribbon? Oh yes, there it is. Beautiful and delicious!

 

Look! My cheesecake is sad that Jim is leaving :-( Actually, its because I made this late on a Friday night, before I had to get up really early, and I didn't want to wait the hours it takes cheesecakes to cool. I probably could have just left it in the off oven overnight, but then I wouldn't have been able to do the ganache topping. What can I say, I'm a very busy girl.

Ta da! It is beautiful. It was even more beautiful out of the pan, but I didn't get a pick of that. We had to go out and have an excellent night to wish our good friend Jim good luck on his new adventure!

**Sidenote. They opened a new Bar Louie at Great Lakes Crossing. You should go to it. It is very very fun! Shout out to Kristen T and Aaron, our AMAZING bartenders!!

Goodbye Jim Snickers Cheesecake

Crust

35 oreo cookies

4 tbs. melted butter

2 tbs water

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cover bottom of springform pan tightly with tin foil, and Pam it
3. Crush up all the Oreos. Mix with butter and water.
4. Press crushed Oreos into the bottom of the pan. 
5. Bake for only 6-7 minutes. Set aside to cool. 

Filling

24 oz. Cream Cheese at room temp

2 eggs

8 oz. sour cream

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

3-5 Snickers Candy bars (I used 3, plus a Mr. Goodbar for peanuty-ness) 

1. Beat cream cheese until fluffy
2. Add in eggs, sour cream and sugar and beat until well blended and homogenous
3. Gently fold in chocolate chips and chopped up candy bar pieces
4. Fold in caramel sauce (you can buy it pre-made I suppose or just follow my recipe below)
5. Pour batter onto crust and make sure it all spreads out evenly
6. Place in an oven with some sort of drip catcher underneath, like aluminum foil, just in case
7. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes, or until the edges are brown and set but the middle is still jiggly
8. If you're patient, and have lots of time, turn of the oven and maybe crack it open a bit so it cools down. Let the cheesecake cool slowly in the oven maybe for up to a couple of hours to prevent cracking. Or if you don't care as much about presentation, and you just want your darn cheesecake, then skip this step.

Ghetto Fabulous Caramel Ribbon

*I do a lot of things the "ghetto fabulous" way because I am poor, or I forgot an ingredient at the store, or I just shopped without a list and got the wrong thing. This is one of those times.

A package or two of chewy caramel candies, depending on your love for caramel

about 2 tbs butter

about 2-4 oz heavy cream

1. In a double boiler melt butter
2. add in cream and warm
3. add in caramels. probably if you were more patient than me, you could do this gradually. I just threw the whole bag in there, which resulted temporarily in a big caramel boulder, but it all melted well in the end. Don't forget to stir a lot!!

Chocolate Ganache Topping

2 tbs. butter

5 oz whipping cream

1 cup Chocolate of some sort. I used Hershey's bars

1. Bust your double boiler back out. In it melt the butter. 
2. Add in chocolate chips and 1/3 the cream and melt. 
3. Stir in remaining cream and stir until smooth. I'm sure there's a purpose to this, but I skipped it and just added all the cream at once. I MUST LEARN PATIENCE SOMEDAY!! And sharing. But that's another post ;-)
4. If you are not transporting your cheesecake, run a knife around the egde and remove it from the pan now. Slide it onto the cake plate (if you're smart like me, this isn't too hard because you lined the inside bottom of the pan with foil). 
5. Pour the chocolate glaze stuff into the shallow in the center of your cake. Chill overnight for best results. 
6. Give to your friend who is moving far away to stupid Texas, or, do the smart thing, and eat it yourself to make yourself feel better.