It’s been 3 years since I posted a new cheesecake recipe. And it wasn’t even a real cheesecake. It was a swirly twirly number by the name of pumpkin cake cheesecake. Today we’re visiting the swirly twirly cheesecake atmosphere again. We’re trading pumpkin for peanut butter, chocolate, Snickers, and caramel. Let’s take a second to think about what this Snickers cheesecake means.
A layer of Oreo crust which is BUTTER and OREOS. A peanut butter cheesecake (similar to these peanut butter pretzel cheesecake bars). A chocolate cheesecake. Salted caramel liquid gold. Salty peanuts + Snickers bars.
In other words, calories. This all really means: calories. If you clicked on Snickers cheesecake today and expected something other than a mountain of delicious calories… you may be backwards.
Let’s review each layer inside the Snickers cheesecake.
Oreo cookie crust: Is there really an alternative that can live up to an Oreo cookie crust? All you have to do is pulse Oreos into a crumb (the entire cookie), mix with melted butter, and press into your springform pan. Make sure you pre-bake the crust for about 10 minutes. It’s the same crust we use for cookies & cream pie and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars. Chopped Snickers: Remove the warm Oreo crust from the oven and sprinkle some chopped Snickers on top. This is the base of your Snickers cheesecake. I love the Snickers chunks inside! Cheesecake: The cheesecake portion is my go-to cheesecake. Creamy, luscious, and thick… I never stray from this basic cheesecake batter. You’ll need brick-style cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and sour cream. You’ll divide the cheesecake batter in half. There’s about 7 cups total, so 3.5 cups each. Half will be chocolate flavored, half will be peanut butter flavored. *I reduced the amount of sour cream down to 3/4 cup from my blueberry swirl cheesecake recipe. Because we’re adding chocolate and peanut butter to the batter, I wanted to reduce something down to avoid overflowing. Here’s how to do it. Melt 4 ounces (about 115g) of pure chocolate, let it slightly cool, then stir into half of your cheesecake batter. TIP: Since you have to wait for it to cool, I usually melt the chocolate at the beginning of the recipe so it has a chance to cool down as I pre-bake the Oreo cookie crust. The other half of cheesecake batter is peanut butter flavored. Super simple stuff here: just beat 1/3 cup (85g) of creamy peanut butter into the batter. See the picture below? Left: peanut butter batter. Right: chocolate batter. Layer and swirl both batters on top of the Oreo cookie crust. Then BAKE!
Cheesecake Water Bath
I promise a water bath is nothing complicated. All you’re doing wrapping your springform pan in aluminum foil and placing it in a roasting pan, filling it with hot water, and baking. What’s the point, you ask? I actually have an entire post and video tutorial for How to Make a Cheesecake Water Bath. You see, cheesecake loves a humid environment. The steam from the hot water will lift the cheesecake up slowly and evenly, reducing the risk of cracks on the surface. Additionally, this slow and even baking method helps prevent the cheesecake from sinking back down as it cools. Taking a few extra minutes to prepare a water bath for this cheesecake recipe is well worth it. Make sure you plan ahead because this cheesecake has a few stages. First, cheesecakes are notorious for taking awhile to bake through. Second, it must sit in the oven after baking as the oven cools down— this is another trick to avoid cheesecake cracks. Third, once the cheesecake is room temperature, you must chill it. Because of all these steps, this is a great recipe to begin the night before. After cheesecake has chilled in the fridge, take that sucker out and decorate it. I obviously kept things simple, can’t you tell? 😉 I loaded it up with salted caramel, peanuts, and more Snickers bars. Decorate the Snickers cheesecake however you’d like, but I definitely wouldn’t leave off that caramel. If your cheesecake ended up cracking (it still happens no matter what you do!), the caramel can cover it all up. Magic. More Snickers recipes to try!
Another version of Snickers cheesecake in Sally’s Candy Addiction Snickers cheesecake bars Snickers cupcakes Caramel Snickers 7 layer bars
If you love cheesecakes, be sure to try my peanut butter Butterfinger cheesecake and caramel turtle cheesecake, too!
