You Had Me At Chocolate and Coffee

It was in my Southern Living cookbook of desserts so I KNEW it was going to be good
IT WAS

We do desserts every Wednesday (for dinner with the inlaws)  Even though hubs and I are still hitting the gym and 3/4ths of the time watching what we eat....(still down 40lbs)  we indulge once a week for sweets!

If I'm eating something sweet then it better be worth the extra 15 mins of cardio! ha

Chocolate-Coffee Cheesecake w/ Mocha Sauce

I suggest you make this the day before you serve it.  You know cheesecake is ALWAYS better the day after.  I even poured the mocha sauce over it and it was even better the next day too!

Now this was a lightened cheesecake that I didn't lighten, I used full strength of everything...(crazy)

Ingredients

2 cups crushed chocolate graham crackers (about 18 crackers) I used Chocolate Teddy Grahams

1/3 cup reduced-fat butter, melted  

Vegetable cooking spray  

4 (8-oz.) packages reduced-fat cream cheese, softened  

1 cup sugar  

1/4 cup coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua) 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules  

4 large eggs  

4 (1-oz.) bittersweet baking chocolate squares

Preparation

1. Stir together crushed graham crackers and melted butter; press mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray.

2. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

3. Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add liqueur, vanilla, and coffee granules, beating at low speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition

4. Remove and reserve 1 cup cream cheese mixture. Pour remaining batter into prepared crust.\5. Microwave chocolate in a medium-size, microwave-safe bowl 1 minute or until melted, stirring after 30 seconds. Stir reserved 1 cup cream cheese mixture into melted chocolate, blending well. (Mixture will be thick.) Spoon mixture in lines on top of batter in pan; gently swirl with a knife.

6. Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until almost set. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven, with door closed, 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven, and gently run a knife around outer edge of cheesecake to loosen from sides of pan. (Do not remove sides of pan.) Cool 1 hour on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.

7. Remove sides of springform pan. Serve with Mocha Sauce.

Mocha Sauce

1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels 

1/4 cup half-and-half 

2 teaspoons butter 

3 tablespoons strong-brewed coffee

Cook first 3 ingredients in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring often, 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in coffee. Serve warm. *I would recommend doubling or tripling this for extra

The hardest part of this was waiting for it to cook and cool ....