Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake

Hannah and family fun 1101Jacobs birthday cake.jpg

I asked my DS what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. After much hemming and hawing and thinking he told me he wanted a cheesecake, but somehow wanted ice cream on or in it. We brainstormed and I looked up recipes on Allrecipes.com. I found one I could with and it worked out very well. The recipe that follows has been tweaked to our tastes and I didn't even have to turn on the oven. Thank you for reading, trying and enjoying.

This should also be titled "The Hurry up and Wait" Cake. It takes all day or if you want to separate the steps a bit, 2 days. Definitely worth the wait. I planned for 2 days, but I took a 3rd to finish.

Please forgive the use of the stock photos. I used mostly store or generic brands, but a couple of items were name brands.

"This easy frozen cheesecake is fun to make and will taste like a rich peppermint ice cream."

Original Recipe Yield 1 (9-inch) cheesecake. Tweaked recipe leaves a little extra for the cook.

Gathering Ingredients and Preparing the Pan

Ingredients

2 cups chocolate wafer cookie or sandwich cookie crumbs (used WhoNu? cookies)
1 12oz bag of mini chocolate chips
¼ cup granulated sugar (Considering the sweetness of the cookies themselves and sweetness of the other ingredients you could possibly leave this out.)
¼ cup butter, melted
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
2 cups whipping cream, whipped
8 oz Soft peppermint candies crushed. You shouldn’t need all of them just depends on how much you like peppermints. Any brand will do so use your favorite.
Red food coloring (optional) any color or combo. I have been asked to make this again, but with a rainbow effect.
Softened vanilla ice cream (you will need about a 2/3rds container)
Rest of the bag of mini chocolate chips
1 Tbsp coconut oil
Line 9-inch round cake or springform pan with foil making sure foil extends above the pan by a couple of inches.

Directions- Making the Cookie Crumb Layer

Combine cookie crumbs, 1 cup mini chocolate chips and sugar. Add butter; mix well. Press 2 cups crumbs firmly on bottom and part way up sides in prepared pan. Sprinkle about a 1/3 of the candies over the bottom. Chill.

Adding Cream Cheese Layer

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Stir in extract and food coloring, (optional); mix well. Fold in whipped cream. Pour filling into pan. Freeze for a couple of hours then add another 1/3 of the candies. Cover; freeze another 4 hours or until firm.

Adding Ice Cream Layer

After about 2 hours check your cake. If it is firm enough add the next layer. Have your ice cream softened and ready to spread on top. Scoop out 1/3 of the container and spread around. If it looks good put it back in the freezer. If not add another 1/3 of the ice cream smoothing it neatly. That should definitely be enough. Place it back in the freezer to freeze solid.

Chocolate and Peppermint Layer

Melt the chocolate chips and add the coconut oil stirring well. Meanwhile, remove the cake from the pan and put it on a nice plate. Depending on the effect you want you can either drizzle a lattice pattern over the top or if you are like me pour the whole amount of melted chocolate over the top to form a complete cover. While the chocolate is still warm sprinkle the rest of the peppermints over the top and place back in freezer until ready to serve.

Ready to Eat.

Depending upon the heat, bring out the cake about 15 minutes before you are ready to serve. This can be difficult to cut especially if you poured the chocolate all over the top. LOL Store leftovers (if any) covered in freezer.

If there is too much of the cookie crumbs, batter and peppermints to use in the cake itself, feel free to do a mini version as a special treat for the cook. I did, I used a plastic dish with a lid, but I didn’t add the ice cream or chocolate. It was still a very good midnight (sneak) snack.