Peppermint Bark Cheesecake
Peppermint Bark Cheesecake is a festive holiday dessert perfect for this time of year. Use store bought peppermint bark if you’re short on time!
When I made that Swirled Peppermint Bark the other day, it wasn’t to simply have peppermint bark in the house. I made it with the intention to make this Peppermint Bark Cheesecake.
For the December birthday celebration at work, the one guy with a birthday requested peppermint bark. I’m happy to oblige and decided to kick things up a notch by throwing the peppermint bark in to a cheesecake. And since the cheesecake didn’t use the entire batch of peppermint bark, there was peppermint bark for him to enjoy along side his cheesecake.
It’s no surprise this cheesecake was a huge hit. It uses my favorite flavor combination – mint and chocolate with a festive tone from the candy cane garnish. I did run in to a minor issue with this cake, which was completely my fault. I apparently didn’t latch my springform pan properly prior to putting it into the water bath. As a result, some water seeped in to the cake, even though I had wrapped the pan with two layers of foil. This made the crust a little soggy, but other than this minor issue with the texture, it wasn’t a big deal at all.
Oh and the birthday boy we were celebrating went back for seconds and then thirds of this cheesecake.
One Year Ago: Five Homemade Gift Ideas
Three Years Ago: Caramel Corn
Four Years Ago: Eggplant Parmesan and Green Bean Casserole
Five Years Ago: Peppermint Chocolate Cookies and Snickerdoodles
Six Years Ago: Spinach Tomato Chicken Pasta
Peppermint Bark Cheesecake
Peppermint Bark Cheesecake is a festive holiday dessert perfect for this time of year. Use store bought peppermint bark if you're short on time!
Yield: One 9" cheesecake
Ingredients:
For the Chocolate Crumb Crust
3 cups or 10 ounces finely ground cookies such as chocolate wafers or Chocolate Teddy Grahams
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
For the Filling
4oz white chocolate, melted
3 - 8oz containers or blocks cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 Tbsp heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp peppermint extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups peppermint bark chunks, storebought or homemade
For the Mousse
1/2 cup cool whip, softened
4oz cream cheese, softened
2 oz white chocolate, melted
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
For the Chocolate Crumb Crust
Stir together crust ingredients and press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of a buttered 9-inch springform pan. Fill right away or chill up to 2 hours.
For the Filling
Preheat oven to 325 degF.
Begin melting 4oz white chocolate. Using a double boiler or heat safe bowl, melt over simmering water. Stir until fully melted. Using the microwave, in a heat safe bowl microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power until fully melted. Stir well after each interval.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar. Mix well. Scrape bowl well prior to each new addition and as needed. Add melted chocolate, flour, whipping cream, salt and peppermint extract. Mix well. On medium/low speed, add one egg at a time. Mix until smooth and blended well.
Add peppermint bark pieces, stir by hand.
Transfer spring-form pan to a larger pan, such as a large roasting pan. Pour filling into crust. Add enough hot water to reach half way up the sides of your spring-form pan. Carefully place in center of oven. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Turn off the oven. Keeping the door shut, leave the cheesecake in the oven for an additional 45 minutes. Remove and allow to sit for at least 1 hour before chilling.
Chill 4 hours or overnight before adding the mousse.
For the Mousse
In a medium bowl beat softened cream cheese, melted white chocolate, cool whip, sugar and vanilla until smooth and slightly thickened.
Carefully remove side of spring-form pan. Spread mousse mixture evenly over cheesecake. Chill for 4 hours or overnight before serving.
Garnish with crushed candy canes and shaved chocolate.
Store covered in the refrigerator.
Cheesecake and white chocolate mousse recipe from Baked by Rachel, crust from Smitten Kitchen
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Dark chocolate truffles in cookie form? Um, YES!!! I’ll take a dozen for myself and another dozen for later, please.
Wow – these sound good! and I truly do not understand how people can just “not be into chocolate!” It is my favorite!
beantownbaker — May 8th, 2013 @ 8:26 pm
Yea, I really don’t get it either. Oh well, more for me!
Oh wow, chocolate truffle cookies sound divine! These look ridiculously good! Love that they’re salted too!
beantownbaker — May 8th, 2013 @ 8:27 pm
I have been sprinkling salt on all of my cookies recently. It makes them much more adult and less super-sweet.
Yum these look divine!
I’m always in need of a chocolate fix! I have several friends that claim they are not chocolate people, yet I find whenever I make something chocolate + salt, they are all over it!
beantownbaker — May 8th, 2013 @ 8:28 pm
I definitely find that people who claim they aren’t chocolate people rarely say no to any homemade baked goods. Chocolate or otherwise.
Oh my! These look divine 🙂 I’d love to make these babies soon!
these look amazing!! and how thick that batter is 🙂 love the sea salt!
beantownbaker — May 8th, 2013 @ 8:29 pm
The batter was basically ganache. You could have just made truffles from it directly.
I love any and all things dark chocolate. These look so decadent!
I’m curious to find out what blog platform you’re working with?
I’m having some minor security problems with my latest blog and I’d like to find something
more safeguarded. Do you have any suggestions?
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 12:56 pm
I use WordPress
Wow! Those look so perfectly decadent! I’m practically drooling on my screen 😉
Just made these. Worried I didn’t bake them long enough… however they still tasted divine. Waiting to get the verdict from my husband on them.
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 12:11 pm
I think underbaking these sounds like a great idea. I might have to do that next time.
Since I’m trying this recipe for the first time, can I halve the entire recipe?
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 12:12 pm
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I didn’t see this comment until now! I don’t see why you couldn’t make a half batch of these cookies. Did you try it? How did they turn out?
These are the most amazing chocolate cookies I have ever made. Everyone with whom I have shared them have gone absolutly nuts and want the recipe. I do not wet my hands when rolling the cookies into balls—too messy. I just let my hands get sticky and rinse and dry them after making several balls. This is one of the best recipes on Pinterest.
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 12:13 pm
Thanks for the kind words! So glad you enjoy these cookies. I was wondering if getting my hands wet actually helped with the messiness very much. Next time I’ll be sure to just go at it without dealing with the water.
Hey! I tried halving the recipe…but it melted while in the oven. Became runny & all of them just stuck together 🙁
I tried just one batch. Anything I can do to fix the remaining batter?
beantownbaker — June 18th, 2013 @ 4:01 pm
Interesting… How did you account for half of an egg? And is your baking powder past it’s expiration date?
Ohh! Looks like I’ve added a lil too much egg. Damn! Any way I can fix the batter? Add more flour perhaps? Plz help!
beantownbaker — June 19th, 2013 @ 7:12 am
I’d add a little more flour to see if you can balance out the extra amount of egg in there.
I added 1/4 cup more flour & a teensy bit of baking powder to my messed up batter & they came out wonderfully! They’re so gooey & yumm that my husband & son (who never eats chocolate!) finished six cookies at one go!
Amazing recipe!! Thank you so much for your help, I appreciate it !
beantownbaker — June 20th, 2013 @ 7:00 am
Oh GOOD! So glad you were able to make them work. Aren’t they divine?
U bet! They are sinfully delicious! Sent some in my son’s snack pack & I have mommies calling for these cookies!
I’m officially ur No.1 fan now! 🙂
beantownbaker — June 20th, 2013 @ 7:18 am
Aww Thanks! 🙂
Hi, I was wondering if I could put them in the freezer instead of the fridge for a shorter period of time? If so, how long should I put them in the freezer for instead of the fridge?
beantownbaker — June 27th, 2013 @ 8:06 am
Hm. You could definitely try it. I would think it’s still going to need an hour or so in the freezer since you want it to set up pretty well. Let me know how it turns out if you do.