New York Style Nutella Cheesecake

By srumbel

Thick and creamy, this New York Style Nutella Cheesecake will completely knock your socks off! It's extra tall, extra chocolatey and extra delicious because I include caramel whipped cream. True love!
from laurenslatest.com

Ingredients

• For the crust-
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• For the filling-
• 5 8-oz. packages softened cream cheese*
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature**
• 1 13-oz. container Nutella
• 1 cup heavy cream {liquid; not already whipped}
• For the caramel whipped cream-
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon caramel extract***
• Hershey's chocolate syrup + pecans as garnish {optional}

Details

Preparation time 540mins
Cooking time 620mins

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Lightly spray 10-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

Stir melted butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs in small bowl until moist, similar to wet sand. Pour into springform pan and press evenly into the bottom and up the sides about 1 inch using the bottom of a dry measuring cup {with a flat bottom}. Fingers work just as well too :) Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir cream cheese together soften completely and ensure its all the same temperature. Stir in granulated sugar until well incorporated. Add in room temperature eggs, incorporating one at a time. Scrape edges of bowl and stir again. Lastly, add in Nutella and heavy cream. Scrape sides of bowl and stir again to ensure a completely uniform, smooth, chocolatey filling. Pour into prepared springform pan. It's going to be super full. Like REALLY full. You might want to leave about 1 cup of batter out of the pan to ensure your cheesecake doesn't overflow and destroy your oven. But that's completely up to you. Don't say I didn't warn you. Ahem.

Anyways. Place cheesecake onto a cookie sheet and bake for 80 minutes even in the middle of your oven. After 80 minutes, turn oven off completely and DO NOT open the oven. Leave cheesecake in the hot oven for 6-8 hours or until it's cooled off completely. Overnight is perfect. Cooling the cheesecake in the oven and bringing its temperature down very slowly is the secret to ensuring it doesn't crack. Who knew, right?

Once the cheesecake is cooled, remove from oven, run a butter knife around the edges and remove the outer edge of the springform pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill completely.

To make the caramel whipped cream, place all ingredients into a large bowl. Whip until stiff peaks form.

Cut chilled cheesecake into pieces****, top with caramel whipped cream, chocolate sauce and pecans. Enjoy!!

*it's really important that your cream cheese is completely soft at room temperature. This will ensure a completely smooth cheesecake filling {no lumps!}
**if you forget to pull your eggs out to be room temp, submerge them into lightly warm water for 10 minutes.
***I used Watkin's brand caramel extract, found at Walmart and Target stores.
****to get super smooth slices, dip your knife into hot water and slice away! Be sure to wipe any cheesecake off of the knife every few pieces.

yield: 16 SERVINGS