Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

I love bringing in desserts to my job, whether it be for someone's birthday or just because I feel like baking.  It's also a good thing because then I don't have to eat those delicious, yet fattening desserts by myself.  I recently bought a new stand mixer so I thought I'd try making a delicious cheesecake with plenty of chocolate.  This cheesecake couldn't have turned out any better.  It was so rich and creamy and perfect.  The girls at work raved about it as soon as they had the first bite.  Since the cake turned out so well, I am definitely motivated to try making more cheesecakes in the near future.

Source:  Annie's Eats, originally from Ghirardelli

Ingredients:

2 cups chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs
6 tbsp. butter, melted
24 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

For the crust, crumble the sandwich cookies into a food processor or blender. Grind into fine crumbs. In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs and melted butter. Mix well with a fork. Spoon the mixture into a 10-inch springform pan. Using your fingers or the back of a spoon, pat the mixture into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Freeze prepared crust 15-30 minutes while preparing cheesecake filling.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°. Blend cream cheese and sugar 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Turn mixer down to lowest speed; add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each. Scrape sides of bowl. Add whipping cream and vanilla; beat on medium-high for 3 minutes. Pour ¾ of the cream cheese filling into crust. Sprinkle chocolate chips over batter, then pour remaining cream cheese filling over chips.

Bake cheesecake for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 325°. Turn off oven; leave cake in oven with door closed for 1 ½ hours. Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving.