Leftover Halloween Candy Cheesecake

Halloween Candy Cheesecake. Willowbird baking Challenge #5, the final challenge. Cheesecake. Or my version of what to do with your kids leftover Halloween candy.

Leftover Halloween candy? Is that like leftover wine? This halloween candy cheesecake provides the best of two worlds - cheesecake and, well, halloween candy. I use the mini halloween chocolate candies for this cheescake, such as mini snickers and milky way. 

While I am not the biggest fan of cheesecake, it is not my first choice of dessert, I do enjoy making them. So when I saw that Julie aka Willowbird Baking's final challenge was cheesecake I knew this was going to be a HUGE challenge for me. I had only made a few cheesecakes in my time but knew that for this challenge I really wanted to step it up.   I do enjoy the super decadent cheesecakes from The Cheesecake Factory and wanted to make this recipe worth of one that they have in their showcase. 

What ingredients do you need for leftover halloween candy cheesecake?

This cheese cake has a few components to it:

Crust - made with chocolate wafer cookies and butter 

Ganache - I use a bittersweet chocolate to offset the sweetness

Caramel Sauce - a quick homemade caramel sauce with sugar, butter, cream, vanilla and salt

Cheesecake - a basic cheesecake recipe with cream cheese, cream, eggs, vanilla and candy pieces. 

Candy topping and decor - This is where you can have some fun with the different halloween candies. I stick with the chocolate minis such as snickers, Twix, milky way, three musketeers etc. I also make a thick, lightly sweetened whipped cream for part of the garnish to stick some of the candies in to make it all fancy like a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake.

Recipe ingredients and methods adapted from Simple Recipes, Willowbird Baking and Recipe Bloom

Halloween Candy Cheesecake

Shanna

Halloween Candy Cheesecake Too much leftover Halloween candy? No more trick or treaters at the tail end of the evening to give away the rest of your kids loot? Well then. Bake them into a cheesecake like I did.

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

• Crust:
• 1 ½ packages of chocolate wafer cookies, Famous Wafers 12 oz
• 8 tbs butter
• Ganache:
• 8 oz bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, chopped
• 8 onz heavy cream
• Caramel Sauce:
• 1 c sugar
• 6 tablespoon unsalted butter cut into cubes
• ½ c heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Cheesecake filling:
• 3-8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 c sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• ¾ c heavy cream, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanila extract
• 2-3 cups leftover chocolate Halloween candy, I used mini's, cut into pieces
• Topping:
• Caramel sauce
• Ganache
• Sweetened whipped cream
• Mini candy bars

Instructions

 

• For the Crust: In a food processor, grind the wafer cookies into fine crumbs, add in the butter and pulse until the crumbs are moistened. Gently press the crumbs into a 9" springform pan, using a flat bottomed glass, twisting as you press so they don't stick, and press up the sides,about 3" up or to the top edge of the pan. Make sure you use even pressure so its the same thickness all around. Freeze until ready to fill with ganache.
• For the ganache: Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a stainless bowl. Heat the cream over medium heat until simmering. Pour over the chocolate and let sit 2 min. Slowly stir the mixture until it is all combined and thickened. Let sit 5 min. Pour 1 cup of the ganache over the bottom of the crust, tilting so it covers the bottom evenly. Chill for 30 min.
• For the caramel sauce: While the ganache is chilling prepare the caramel sauce. In a high sided sauce pan, at least 4qt, pour in the sugar and place over medium-high heat. Watch closely for the sugar to start to melt, stirring occasionally. Once all the sugar has melted and has turned a dark amber color add in the butter and whisk to combine. The mixture will bubble up and may splatter so wear an oven mitt while whisking to prevent burns. Once the butter is combined, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the heavy cream, salt and vanilla. This will cause the mixture to bubble up rapidly again, so be careful and whisk until the caramel is smooth. Let cool in pan a few minutes before transferring to a glass jar. Let sit at room temp until ready to use. Once it has firmed up pour a thin layer over the ganache layer in the pan and chill again until ready to fill with the cheesecake filling.
• For the Cheesecake: Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Set out foil to wrap the springform pan in and have a larger pan ready to set the springform pan in for a water bath In a stand mixer or large bowl using a hand mixer, mix the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, and mix until well incorporated before adding the next. Add in the cream and vanilla and mix on low until combined. Fold in the chopped candy bars. Pour mixture slowly into the spingform pan and even out the top, it will be flush with the crust at the top edge of the pan.
• Wrap the sides of the springform pan in two layers of foil, making sure there is a double layer and its tight to the pan and no water can get in and set into the larger pan. Add in 2-3 cups of water so the water reaches up 1" the sides of the springform pan.
• Bake in the 325 deg oven for 65-80 min or until the edges are set and the middle of the cheesecake is still jiggly. Remove from oven and take pan out of water bath. Let cool completely and then chill in the refrigerator, 4-5 hours or overnight until ready to decorate.
• To decorate the cheesecake: carefully un-mold from the spring form pan and set the cake on a platter still on the springform pan base.
• If the ganache has set up too firm to drizzle over the top, set the bowl over a pan of warm water, but not touching the water, and stir slowly until it is easier to stir. The caramel also might have firmed up and can be heated in the microwave 10 seconds at a time until thin enough to drizzle
• Drizzle the caramel and ganache over the top of the cheesecake, pipe on whipped cream and decorate with candy halves. Serve immediately or chill again until ready to serve. Enjoy!