Chocolate Mint Anniversary Cheesecake

I can hardly believe it’s been 2 years since I started blogging and sharing recipes on Tampa Cake Girl. In honor of my anniversary, I decided to make a chocolate cheesecake and with keeping in the holiday mood, it’s chocolate mint.  And let’s kick this party up a notch by putting chocolate whipped cream on top!

  
Ingredients for Crust:

28 Oreo cookies, separate and scrape out the filling

2 Tablespoons of sugar

4 Tablespoons of butter, melted
In a ziplock bag, place cookie halves inside. Seal tightly, press the air out and roll the cookies with a rolling pin until the cookies are fine crumbs.  In a bowl, combine crumbs with sugar and melted butter. Press into a 9″ springform pan and place in freezer while making cheesecake batter. 

  
Ingredients for cheesecake:

4 8-ounce blocks of cream cheese room temperature 

1 2/3 cups of sugar

3/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder, I used Ghiradeli’s 

2 Tablespoons of corn starch

3 eggs, room temperature 

1/2 cup of sour cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or mint extract, I used vanilla

I bag of Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Bits

  
 
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 
Whip cream cheese until fluffy. Add sugar and unsweetened cocoa mix blend well. Add cornstarch and mix. Add eggs one and a time. Combine sour cream and extract of your choice (vanilla or mint) and blend. Stir in Andes baking chips and pour into Oreo crust. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes and run a knife around the edge. Let cheesecake come to room temperature and place in refrigerator. Overnight is best but a minimum of 3 hours.  Garnish with chocolate whip cream and Andes Candies if desired. 

Garnishments:

Chocolate Whip Cream, optional

Andes Candies, optional
Chocolate Whip Cream:

8 ounces of heavy whipping cream

4 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature 

1/4 cup unsweetened chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 – 1/2 cup of powdered sugar or more to taste

Place mixing bowl and attachment in refrigerator for a minimum of 20 minutes or more. Whip cream cheese until fluffy. Add chocolate and combine. Add vanilla and whipping cream. Mix on slow and once the cream starts to thicken, increase the speed of your mixer. Stop mixing after the cream is in stiff peaks. Pipe onto cheesecake and garnish with Andes Candies if desired.  Enjoy!