Snickers Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 10" springform pan with cooking spray and place it on a baking sheet.

Process the Oreos in a food processor until you have uniformly small crumbs. Combine the crumbs with the melted butter in a small bowl. Press the crumbs onto the bottom and about a half inch up the sides of the prepared springform pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let cool.

In double boiler, melt and stir the white and semi-sweet chocolate until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the heavy cream until combined well. Add the eggs, one at a time until each is incorporated. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla and continue to mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Fold in the Snickers pieces by hand with a spatula.

Pour filling onto cooled crust (still on baking sheet.) Bake for 65-75 minutes or until filling is set. It will still be a little jiggly in the middle. Cool cheesecake on cooling rack for 10 minutes. Run a thin knife between the pan and the cheesecake. Let cheesecake cool completely then cover the pan with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.

For the ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

In a small heavy sauce pan heat the cream to boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate pieces. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Cool slightly before pouring over the top of the cheesecake. Garnish with diced Snickers, if desired. Refrigerate for an hour or two before serving so the ganache has time to set. Alternately, you could do as I did in the above photo and spoon ganache over individual slices of cheesecake and top with diced Snickers.