Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake

..because Butternut Squash Chocolate Cheesecake doesn't sound as good! That's right, butternut squash made another appearance in a dessert.

Cheesecakes still remain a bit of a mystery to me, but I am getting it a little more figured out....reading up on them helps a lot. To make this cheesecake (which was supposed to be lighter than some...), I started by crushing 1 1/2 c of chocolate wafers (a little more than half of a 9 oz package) in my food processor. I transfered the crushed wafers to a bowl and combined 2 T brown sugar and 2 T melted butter and mixed well. I pressed the wafers into the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan and up the sides about an inch or so. I set this aside until later.

For the cheesecake, I pureed 3 c low-fat (not non-fat) cottage cheese in the food processor until it was smooth. I then added 12 oz cream cheese at room temperature, 1 1/4 c sugar and 1/4 c cornstarch and pureed until smooth. I poured this into a mixing bowl and added 2 beaten eggs, 2 t vanilla, and 1/4 t salt and then beat (with an electric mixer). I removed 1 1/2 c of the cream cheese batter and put it in a separate bowl for later. To what remained in the mixing bowl, I added 1 1/2 c of cooked, pureed butternut squash (or pumpkin), 1/4 c brown sugar, 3/4 t cinnamon, and 1/8 t ground nutmeg and mixed well.

In the bowl I had set aside, I stirred in 1 c melted chocolate chips and 1/3 c cocoa powder and mixed until it was thoroughly blended.

I poured the pumpkin mixture into the crust-lined pan and then spooned in the chocolate mixture on top (I tried to spread it out, but it ended up really close together). I swirled everything together gently with a knife, being sure not to mix the two together but to just leave streaks of chocolate through the pumpkin. I baked in a preheated 325 degrees oven for 60 - 65 minutes or until just the edge of the filling was set. I turned off the oven and left the cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes with the oven door closed. Then I removed it from the oven and let it cool on rack at room temperature for 3 hours. Then, I finally covered and refrigerated over night before serving. All of this gentle cooling is supposed to prevent cracks on the top. I have yet to achieve a cheesecake without cracks, but maybe this helps.