Ingredients:
- 32 ounces Cream cheese (4 8-ounce packages)
- 1 cup Splenda (or low carb sweetener of choice
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 3/4 cup Sugar Free Peanut Butter (smooth or chunky)
- 4 Eggs, plus 1 Egg Yolk
- 2 tablespoons Heavy Cream
- 3 Squares of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar, melted in double boiler
Preparation Instructions:
Bring all cold ingredients to room temperature. With an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and Splenda at slow to medium speed, scraping sides often. Add the vanilla and heavy cream. When completely mixed (with no lumps), add the eggs and egg yolk (one at a time), beating very slowly until eggs are fully incorporated.
Take one cup of batter and set aside. Add the peanut butter into the rest of the batter. Blend just until peanut butter is blended in ... do not over mix. To the one cup of separated batter, add the three squares of melted chocolate and blend.
Add half of the chocolate batter to the bottom of a well-greased springform pan. Gently add the peanut butter batter, and then cover with remaining chocolate batter and spread to cover the top. No peanut butter batter should show through. The idea is to create a "peanut butter cup" look to the cheesecake with the chocolate batter at the top and bottom.
Place the pan on a very large piece of aluminum foil, and fold the foil up around the pan to create a watertight barrier around the cheesecake. Then place the springform pan in an even larger pan and fill the larger pan halfway with water. This is called a water bath. It is a gentler way to cook the cheesecake.
Place the entire water bath containing the cheesecake in a 300 degree pre-heated oven. Cook for 1 hour. Then reduce heat to 200 degrees and cooke for 1 more hour. Turn oven off and leave cheesecake in until the oven is completely cool. The cheesecake can even be left overnight at this point. Let it set up for several hours in the fridge, preferably overnight.
Garnish with Russell Stover Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cups. Cut these cups into quarters and placed on top so that each slice gets a peanut butter cup.
