Peanut Butter Cup Cheesepake

No, that’s not a typo. Remember my obsession with pake, the pie-cake hybrid? Well, the love continues with this cheesecake in a pie crust. Behold the cheesepake!

This one is special, folks. While I say I don’t like to play favorites with my desserts, this one is too good for me to lie about. It’s ridiculous. If you’re a peanut butter and chocolate addict, making this cheesepake is not even optional. Get into your kitchen. Now!

So I have a little confession: the cheesecake base is skinny. But honestly, you won’t even notice. The filling is nice and thick and tastes completely sinful. You see, I have this philosophy about dessert. Whenever I go to one of those self-serve frozen yogurt shops (okay, I go all the time), I always get fat-free or low fat frozen yogurt and then I cover it with peanut butter cups, chocolate chips, Snickers pieces, and brownie bites. See? Balance. And the same philosophy applies to this cheesepake.

Because, dear partners in crime, mixed into this healthier base is joy. I mean, peanut butter cups. Lots of them. And then the cheesepake is topped with more peanut butter cups and hot fduge sauce. Mmm. And the best sneaky part is the graham cracker crust, into which I melted peanut butter chips to give the base an extra peanut butter kick. To make things even crazier, I always use brown sugar in the crust. It gives the base a caramelized edge. I have been known to eat the crust by itself because it’s kind of like an awesome cookie bonus. Woohoo!

Sorry. Ahem. I’m just so worked up about this. I love cheesecake. I love pie. I love peanut butter cups. It’s like magic has just exploded onto my plate. How could I not be excited?

I’m not going to say anything else about this. I’m a woman of action, and I need to act right now and eat this thing before someone else gets to it. So pardon me and enjoy the recipe!

Crust:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips (I used Reese’s)
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1  cup graham cracker crumbs

Filling:

• 16 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese (you can use regular, but not fat-free)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt
• 2 egg whites
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 package mini Reese’s (the unwrapped kind)

Topping:

• hot fudge sauce
• 8 snack-sized Reese’s, cut into trianges of varying shapes/sizes

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a pie pan with cooking spray.

Melt the butter and peanut butter chips in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir until smooth, and then mix in the brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs until the mixture is moist and crumbly. Press the crust firmly into the pie pan, working the crust up the sides.

Bake the crust for 5-10 minutes until set.

While the crust is baking, prepare the cheesecake filling. Beat the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth. Add the egg whites, egg, yogurt, vanilla and lemon juice and beat once more until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fold in the mini peanut butter cups and peanut butter chips.

Pour the cheesecake filling into the pie crust and bake for 45 minutes. Do not open the oven while baking or cracks will appear on the surface.

Remove the cheesepake from the oven and allow to cool. Sprinkle the chopped peanut butter cups evenly over the surface and then drizzle with hot fudge sauce.

Chill for three hours (or preferably overnight). Slice into wedges and serve!