Hazelnut Cheesecake

Wow it has been too long since I last posted! I have been ridiculously busy of late, mostly because last week was my BIRTHDAY!! I had a bit of a shindig with most of my family and D's family making the trip up north and some friends partied with us too. I made. so. much. food. I had been baking a freezing things in the week leading up to my party and the sad thing is that I didn't get to take photos before the night :(.

Because I was making a birthday cake for the party I decided to make just a small one for my actual birth day. I was already planning on making mini hazelnut cheesecakes for the party so I just decided to make a medium cheesecake for my birthday at the same time. It was quite delicious! Ferrero Rocher anyone?

Hazelnut Cheesecake

Recipe adapted from Australian Good Taste Magazine April 2013

What you will need

250g Nice biscuits
150g hazelnuts, roasted and skins removed
100g unsalted butter, melted
500g cream cheese
300ml sour cream
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
320g nutella
Pinch of salt
Ferrero Rochers to decorate

What you will need to do

Process the biscuits and hazelnuts until finely crushed. Add melted butter and process until combined. You can make one large cheesecake in a 23cm spring form tin or about 18 mini cheesecakes and 1 medium 4 inch cheesecake. If using tins, line the bottom with baking paper and spray the sides with canola spray. If making minis, you can line muffin tins with cupcake papers, or if you have silicone cupcake trays just leave as is. Press the biscuit mix into the bottoms of your tins/ trays. Press in firmly and put in the fridge to chill.

Preheat the oven to 160*C. Process the cream cheese, sour cream and sugar in the food processor until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time and process until well combined. Take out the bases and pour the cream cheese mixture into each tin/ tray evenly. Heat the nutella in the microwave for 20 seconds then spoon a bit over each cheesecake. Take a knife and swirl the nutella through the cheesecake slightly. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Cooking time will vary on the size of the cheesecakes, one big cheesecake may take an hour, the smaller ones will only take about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and they will be done when the middle is still slightly jiggly.

Once cooled, remove from tin/tray and decorate with Ferrero Rochers.