There’s not a heck of a lot to say about this dessert other than it’s chocolate. It’s a cheesecake. It’s got malt in it. What could be bad?
Unlike most cheesecakes this recipe doesn’t call for sour cream. I’m not sure if that’s a virtue or a vice considering the sweetened condensed milk that goes in it.
In case you’re wondering what malt actually is (as I was when I started this post) wonder no more. Malting is the process in which grains of barley are soaked in water so they sprout. Growing is then arrested via blasts of hot air and roasting. The resulting conversion of starch into sugar gives malted grains, i.e. malt its distinctive flavor.
Anyway my colleague Carol says of her recipe, “It’s a big cake, it yields 16-20 servings. Or if you eat like us, about half that.”
I’m with the Stuckhardts on this one.
CRUST:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
FILLING:
3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
3/4 cup chocolate malt powder
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Combine crust ingredients while the butter is still hot. Mix well so that all the crumbs are moistened. Butter the sides of a 10″ spring form pan. (Do not butter the bottom; this makes it easier to remove.) Pat crumbs halfway up the sides of the pan. Run your fingernail or a spatula along the top of the crumbs to make a neat edge. Pat the remaining crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Press it all down well. Chill.
2. To make filling beat cream cheese until fluffy. With the beater running on low speed, beat in the condensed milk and vanilla. Beat in the eggs and malt powder. Beat in the melted chocolate last, stopping while it is still a little streaky.
3. Pour filling into the prepared crust. Place on the middle rack in a pre-heated 300º oven. Place a cookie sheet on the rack below catch any butter drips from the bottom of the pan.
4. Bake at 300º for 65 minutes, or until the filling moves only slightly in the center when you jiggle it. Some bounce and wiggle is good, but past the rippling top stage.
5. When done, turn off the oven. Open the door 6″ – 8″ and let the cake cool in the oven. This will prevent it from cooling too fast, which can make the top split open.
6. After about an hour or so, remove the cheese cake to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cover with wrap or foil and chill through in the refrigerator.
7. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar. Some strawberries are nice too — shown here are thawed frozen berries that have been tossed with sugar. Nothing could be easier.
It’s a big cake, it yields 16-20 servings, or, in Carol’s words, “If you eat like us, about half that.”
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