Creme de Menthe Cheesecake

I have spent almost every moment the past few weeks in the kitchen.  I prepared treats for our Holiday Party that we had on December 11th and made enough to take home for Christmas to share with our families.  I got up really early one Saturday morning and  baked the Creme de Menthe Cheesecake.  This is only the 2nd cheesecake I've ever made.  It was pretty easy but next time I'll probably crush the creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies a bit more.  My crust didn't seem very solid before I put the filling in but it turned out really good. I'll be sharing my other baking recipes in the next week or so.  Enjoy!


Creme de Menthe Cheesecake
from the Pampered Chef, Ltd.

Crust and Filling
14-16 creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (1 1/4 cups finely crushed)
4 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 tsp Double-Strength Vanilla
4 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
8-12 drops green food coloring (optional)
2 pkg (4.67 oz each) crème de menthe chocolate candies, unwrapped, divided (about 56 candies total)

Topping
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 1/2 cups thawed frozen whipped topping
7 crème de menthe chocolate candies (reserved from filling)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. For crust, lightly spray sides of a springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line sides of pan with two 3 x 15-in. pieces of parchment paper. Press cookie crumbs onto bottom and slightly up sides of pan. Bake 8 minutes. Remove pan from oven to a cooling rack.
2. For filling, place cream cheese, sugar, 3 tbsp of the flour and vanilla into 4-qt. mixing bowl; beat on medium speed of electric hand mixer 3 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs; mix on low speed 2 minutes. Add sour cream and food coloring, if desired; mix until smooth.
3. Set aside seven of the candies for topping. Cut remaining candies in half crosswise and toss with remaining 1 tbsp flour. Pour half of the filling into crust. Arrange candies, slightly overlapping, over filling; gently spoon remaining filling on top. Bake 55-60 minutes or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken (center will firm as it cools). Remove from oven to cooling rack; cool completely, about 3 hours.
4. For topping, place chocolate morsels, whipped topping and reserved candies into a microwave safe bowl on HIGH 1 1/2-2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring after each 30-second interval. Spread topping over center of cheesecake using Small Spreader. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Yield: 16 servings