Fudgy, tangy cheesecake with a two-ingredient filling and two-ingredient crust. Yes, it's possible. The trick is to skip the oven, which, if you ask me, only leads to more trouble (like a water bath) and more ingredients (like eggs and flour). A no-bake approach makes this recipe as simple as mix, scrape, refrigerate, done. Most of the chocolate is melted and beaten into soft cream cheese until billowy, like a halfway point between ganache and frosting. The rest is chopped, then stirred in, so each bite has a little crunch. Bittersweet chocolate is often my go-to, but stick to semisweet here. It's our primary source of sweetness, since there's no added sugar, not even in the crust. If you want to skip measuring the chocolate, Nestle makes a 10-ounce bag of mini chips. And if you don't have (or want to buy) salted butter, you can use the same quantity of unsalted butter and increase the salt in the crust from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon. And yes, you could skip the flaky salt on top, but do me a favor and try it on one bite first. It's striking, you'll see. — Emma Laperruque
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Salty Chocolate Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 7 ounces Ritz or graham (classic or chocolate) crackers
- 4 ounces (8 tablespoons/1 stick) salted butter, melted, plus more for greasing
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus flaky salt for sprinkling (optional)
- 10 ounces (1 2/3 cups) semisweet chocolate chips, divided
- 12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) cream cheese, at a cool room temperature
Directions
- Add the crackers to a medium bowl and crush with your hands to yield fine crumbs. (You can also put the crumbs in a bag and whack with a rolling pin, or use a food processor.) Stir in the melted butter and salt.
- Grease the bottom of an 8- or 9-inch springform cake pan. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment, then grease the parchment and the sides of the pan. Using a measuring cup, firmly press the cracker mixture into the bottom for an even, flat crust. Freeze until firm.
- Once the crust is firm, melt 8 ounces (1 1/3 cups) of chocolate and let cool until barely warm. Finely chop the remaining 2 ounces (1/3 cup) chips.
- With a hand mixer or a stand mixer fit with whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-high until very fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add half of the melted chocolate and beat until incorporated. Add the rest of the melted chocolate and keep beating until incorporated. Using a spoon or flexible spatula, stir in the chopped chocolate.
- Evenly spread the chocolate — cream cheese on top of the frozen crust. Tightly cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 1/2 hours or up to 1 day.
- Just before unmolding, slicing, and serving, sprinkle with a pinch of flaky salt.
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