Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Ferrero Rochers, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover’s paradise! 

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!
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I adore cheesecake.

I mean, who doesn’t? (Besides my nephew, he’s four, he doesn’t count.)

The creamy smooth texture, the explosion of flavours… the perfect cheesecake is just a little tart, and not too sweet, and definitely a whole lot of delicious. Surprisingly, I had never tried to make it myself. I think I had just heard somewhere that they were ridiculously hard, even for pros, and just kind of made it something to try ‘one day’.

And of course, I ADORE Nutella. We would get (and still get) a jar of it in our stockings every Christmas, and while I will just eat it with a spoon, it’s great for pies too!

Well today was that day. And of course, never having made one before and making up my own recipe from the various recipes I had seen, I had to make two. One for testing (and subsequent devouring), and one for realz. Now just a heads up, I’m kind of following a basic cheesecake recipe that I saw in several places before making it my own. As someone who had never made a cheesecake before, I really appreciated all the tips in this video from Every Day Food, which shows how to get a crack-free cheesecake!

Both cheesecakes had vanished within a day. They were just so freaking delicious, and the second one – the real one – was even better than the first!

And it wasn’t hard. No, really. I don’t know who told me that, but they were dead wrong.

The two pieces of advice I have to give are:
1) Give yourself lots of time. You should make this the day before you need it.
2) EVERYTHING should be room temperature. Eggs, cream cheese, sour cream, the whole shebang. It makes for a much more stable mixture that won’t separate.

Mix butter and chocolate cookie crumbs with some hazelnuts:

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!

Pat them into a greased spring-form pan, smooshing (I believe that is the correct culinary term) them against the bottom and the sides firmly. I’ve seen some recipes that recommended tossing it in the freezer, others baking it. I baked mine for 10 minutes while my oven was heating to 350°.

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!

Beat your cream cheese until it’s smooth, then add the rest of your ingredients (ESPECIALLY the Nutella!) except for the eggs, and beat on the lowest speed just until they’re combined. You do NOT want to overmix your cheesecake, or incorporate a lot of air.

Then add your eggs one at a time, again, mixing until just incorporated. Pour that right into your spring-form pan!

I've seen some recipes that recommended tossing it in the freezer, others baking it. I baked mine for 10 minutes while my oven was heating to 350°. 

Now comes the tricky part. You will immerse your pan in a water bath. This will help regulate the temperature. One problem though… your spring-form pan is probably not tight enough to keep the water completely out. If you have one of those fancy cheesecake silicone pans, yay for you! If not, wrap the whole thing very tightly and carefully in tin foil.

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!

Full disclosure: water got into my cheesecake BOTH times. More the first than the second, even though I was so careful! I just ended up draining it as it cooled and they turned out fine (after a minor heart attack). So be careful when wrapping!

The water should come to at least 3/4 of the way up the cheesecake, as close as you can get it to the top without going over.

Pop that baby in the oven for 50-60 minutes. It will not look done and a toothpick will not come out clean when you’re finished, like a cake. It will still wiggle! But that’s okay. That’s supposed to happen.

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!

Cool to room temperature, and then put it in the fridge overnight (or at least 6-8 hours).

Then pull back out and decorate! Drizzle some ganache over the top, crumble some hazelnuts and Ferrero Rochers, and ooooooh my goodness.

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!

I mean, just LOOK at it!

Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!

The perfect, creamy smooth chocolate hazelnut cheesecake. Not too sweet. Just a little tart. You’ll want to savour every bite!

Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake
Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise! Please note that this recipe has to sit in the fridge OVERNIGHT, so make it the day before you need it! The ingredients also need to be ROOM TEMPERATURE for this recipe to work correctly.
Course: Dessert
Servings: 1 10-inch Cheesecake
Author: Cristina
Ingredients
Crust
  • 2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • OPTIONAL: 1 Tbsp ground hazelnuts
Cheesecake -
  • PLEASE NOTE: ALL INGREDIENTS SHOULD BE ROOM TEMPERATURE!
  • 3 blocks cream cheese (~750g total, or 26.4oz.)
  • 1 jar (725g or 25.5oz) Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread (Note: you can use less but it is a very subtle flavour that may get lost if you reduce it too much. I would not go below 500g.)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 5 eggs (med or large)
Ganache
  • 28 g (1oz.) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces.
  • 28 g (1oz.) heavy cream
  • Decorate with crushed Ferrero Rochers , hazelnuts, and ganache!
Instructions
Crust
  1. Heat oven to 350°.
  2. Mix cookie crumbs, melted butter and ground hazelnuts, and press into the bottom of a springform pan, going up the sides.
  3. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, and then remove from the oven and set aside.
Filling
  1. Cream the cream cheese until smooth and soft, about 1 minute.
  2. Add the Nutella, sour cream and vanilla, and mix just until combined. Do not overmix!
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, again, mixing just until incorporated.
  4. Pour the mixture into the spring form pan, on top of the slightly baked crust.
  5. Wrap the cheesecake tightly with 2-3 layers of tin foil. It should be completely waterproof! Place in a larger pan with high sides. Fill the pan with water, at least 3/4 of the way up the cheesecake. This will help moderate the heating and cooling of the cheesecake.
  6. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the sides are firm. It will still be a little wobbly in the centre, this is okay! Remove from the oven, and let cool on the counter until room temperature.
  7. Remove from the water bath, strip away the tin foil, and move cheesecake to the fridge to cool overnight, or at least 6-8 hours.
  8. Then decorate!
  9. Heat the cream on the stove or in a microwave just until steaming. Do not let it boil!
  10. Pour it over the chopped chocolate, stirring until they are completely combined.
  11. Let cool until just above room temperature. It should still pour off the spoon.
  12. Cover the top of the cheesecake, then add Ferrero Rochers, chopped hazelnuts, whatever you would like!

 

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Indulge yourself with this ridiculously smooth and creamy Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. Made with a full jar of Nutella and topped with crumbled Fererro Rocher, it is a chocolate-hazelnut lover's paradise!

About the author

Cristina

An avid lover of all things East Coast and delicious, Cristina blogs at I Say Nomato, a site dedicated to exploring and inventing allergy-friendly food. When she's not experimenting in the kitchen, she can be found curled up with a good book or planning her next adventure.