On Wednesday, while Grace was taking a nap (she’s been quite sick), Allie and I made a s’mores cheesecake to bring some of our favorite flavors together.
I had a new cheesecake recipe to try out, and we haven’t had a campfire in a while to get our s’mores fix, so it seemed like a good combination.
Was it ever a good combination! That is the understatement of the year.
Every bite of this rich cheesecake was loaded with the sticky goodness of marshmallows and the rich sweetness of my homemade hot fudge, and it was – dare I say it? – way better than a regular old s’more.
I’m so not kidding.
This particular cheesecake recipe has a lot of ingredients, but it comes together fairly easily once you have everything gathered.
Allie was a big help to me in measuring and putting the ingredients together. The only thing she couldn’t help with was the hot fudge sauce, as that was made directly on the stovetop.
Try to stick with the name brand ingredients, because the quality of your ingredients will make a huge difference in your finished cheesecake.
S'mores Cheesecake with Hot Fudge Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups white sugar
- 12 ounces evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 packages honey graham crackers this is 2/3 of a box, not 2 boxes
- 3/4 cup white sugar divided
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 3/4 cup butter melted
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 16 oz cream cheese softened {do NOT go low fat here, you will regret it} (if you forget to soften the cream cheese ahead of time, heat it in the microwave in 30-second increments until it's soft enough to blend)
- 12 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 16 oz mini marshmallows
- 16 oz marshmallows
- 4 HERSHEY'S bars broken into rectangles
Instructions
- Prepare the hot fudge sauce by combining butter, cocoa, sugar, and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Heat mixture until boiling. Continue to boil for 7 minutes.
- After 7 minutes, remove from heat and immediately stir chocolate chips and vanilla in. The chocolate chips should melt and the mixture should be smooth. (If your hot fudge sauce is lumpy, you can put it in the blender for a couple of minutes, but I didn't find that to be necessary.)
- Preheat the oven to 325.
- Next, prepare the cheesecake crust. Crumble 2 packages of graham crackers. I did this by pulsing the graham crackers in my blender. 10 or so 2-second pulses made quick work of the graham cracker crumbs.
- In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, sugars, and cinnamon. When this is well blended, stir in the graham cracker crumbs and mix until the crumbs are evenly moist.
- Press crust mixture into a 9-inch springform pan, making the crust smooth across the bottom and slightly up the sides. Sprinkle with a thick layer of mini marshmallows and top with a drizzle of hot fudge sauce.
- Using a stand mixer (if possible, this would work with any mixer or even a whisk but would be much more difficult), blend cream cheese, milk, vanilla, and eggs until just combined. (You never want to over-blend a cheesecake as this will cause it to crack as it cools.)
- Pour 1/2 of batter over the fudgey marshmallows and crust. Top with more marshmallows and more hot fudge sauce and then spread the rest of the batter over top.
- Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes. It is finished even though the center is still soft and jiggly.
- Remove the cheesecake from the oven and top with full-size marshmallows. Pack them in so that none of the cheesecake shows through. Return cheesecake to the oven for 5-10 minutes to toast the marshmallows. Watch carefully as marshmallows go from toasted to burnt in about four seconds.
- Cool the cheesecake in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
- To serve, remove the sides of the springform pan. Crumble additional graham crackers over the top of the toasted marshmallows, if desired. Stick chocolate bar segments in the marshmallows.
- Drizzle entire cheesecake with additional hot fudge sauce.
- Serve cold.
This s’mores cheesecake is so sweet and so decadent that you won’t be able to eat more than a small slice.
At least, I couldn’t.
I actually cut myself a big old hunk and had to put half of it back in the fridge for later.
That is a sign of an amazing dessert.
A free cookbook? Yes, please!
Get 10 of my favorite Instant Pot recipes in my free cookbook, Instant Pot Made Easy! Click the button below to download. If for some reason, the button doesn’t work for you, leave a comment below, and I’ll email it to you.
© 2015 – 2020, Tara Ziegmont. All rights reserved.
Leave a Reply