Muddy Buddy Cheesecake?! Have I lost my mind?! Perhaps, but it’s in a much better place now that it’s had this cheesecake. This recipe was concocted in honor of Pi day, which is March 14th, just in case you less nerdy people weren’t aware. I wanted to make some sort of pie or round dessert that day, but I wanted to come up with my own recipe for something really good. So I thought to myself that I love muddy buddies, so why not a muddy buddy pie? But what was I going to do, just get a pie crust and fill a pie with muddy buddies? No, that would be weird. So I thought maybe I could use the chocolate mixture from muddy buddies for something. I eat that stuff straight all the time, but it’s a little much to make a whole pie out of. So then the idea of mixing it with a regular cheesecake mixture to tone it down came. And thus was this recipe born!
The next question was about crust. Graham cracker crusts are good and all, but not super fitting of a muddy buddy cheesecake. You can’t just make a crust out of Chex cereal either. So I figured maybe a muddy buddy crust wouldn’t be so bad. Sure it was a little extra work to make muddy buddies and then a cheesecake, but it was definitely worth it! The crust even got a caramelized flavor during the baking. And then the crushed muddy buddies on top are up to your own discretion. Put however many you want on there. All of the muddy buddies add a nice crunch to what is typically a very smooth, one texture wonder dessert. It was a nice change when eating cheesecake to have a crunch.
This makes quite a big cheesecake, so tell all your friends and family to get ready to indulge! If you don’t want such a large serving, this recipe can be scaled down however much you want to make even just a little ramekin sized version. If doing a ramekin size, take the bake time down to 30 to 40 minutes.
Enjoy!
Muddy Buddy Cheesecake
For the Crust:
About 6-6 ½ Cups Muddy Buddies divided (if making them fresh, that’s making half of a batch from my Muddy Buddy recipe)
For the Cheesecake:
1 Cup Sugar
3 (8 ounce) Packages Softened Cream Cheese
1 Cup Plain Greek or Homemade Yogurt (can be replaced with sour cream)
2 Tsp Vanilla
4 Eggs
1 and 1/2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
3/4 Cup Peanut Butter
6 TBS Butter
-Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F
– Take about 5 to 5 ½ Cups of the Muddy Buddies and spread them on the bottom of a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. Using the palm of your hand or the bottom of a cup, and just crush the muddy buddies enough that they feel pretty packed together. You can try to mold some of the crust on to the sides as well.
– Put crust into the freezer.
– Mix cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.
– Mix in yogurt and vanilla.
Tip: if your cream cheese wasn’t softened enough, and there are lumps that won’t mix out, put your mixture in the blender and blend until smooth. It’s worth getting the lumps out!
– Add in eggs one at a time just until mixed in. Set aside.
– Melt and mix chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter together in the microwave.
– Pour chocolate peanut butter mix into cheesecake mix and either hand mix it in or mix on slow speed.
– Pull Muddy Buddy crust out of freezer and pour in cheesecake mixture.
– Crush remaining Muddy Buddies with your hand or the bottom of a cup and sprinkle over the top of your cheesecake.
– Put your springform pan on a baking sheet, and bake for 90 minutes. You can also pour a cup of water into the baking sheet for a little water bath if you want.
– Let cool. Run a butter knife around the edge of the cheesecake before removing sides of pan.
– Store in the fridge or freezer (the freezer keeps the Muddy Buddies crunchier).
