#readcookeat recipe : No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

I've been making lots of #readcookeat recipes inspired by Sgt Windflower lately, but they have all been savoury ones. You could say I've been saving the best till last because I'm now moving on to the sweet dishes and I knew we'd be in for a treat because Sgt. Windflower certainly loves his desserts ! One of his favourites seems to be Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake, which gets many a mention, including this one :

p13  Windflower finished [the washing-up] in record time and was soon sitting next to Sheila on the couch with half of his dessert, the fabulous chocolate peanut butter cheesecake from the Mug-Up Café, already gone. He barely breathed as he finished it off. 'Mmmm,' was his only response.

Cheesecake is open to so many interpretations so I had a look around online and was tempted by Nigella Lawson's baked peanut butter chocolate cheesecake. Then the kids wanted to go out with the dogs so I decided to go for a quick no-bake option which was totally delicious but really quick and simple to throw together. Sgt Windflower, I salute you !

 No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

ingredients :

3 cups digestive biscuits/Graham crackers/cereal

4tbsp butter

150g cream cheese

1/2 a jar of peanut butter

8tbsp marscapone (or double cream)

4tbsp Greek yogurt

4tbsp icing sugar

1 heaped tbsp chocolate spread

1 bar (200g) milk or dark chocolate

Crush the biscuits with a rolling pin. As someone had eaten all the remaining digestive biscuits that I'd earmarked for making cheesecake, I had to improvise and used up some cereal that the kids weren't eating. I whizzed it in the food processor and added a teaspoon of cinnamon to give it some oomph. Make sure you don't make it too fine - you want a rough crumb.

Melt the butter and mix it into the crumbs. Add a little more if it's too dry.

Line a springform tin with foil and press the crumbs into the base. Don't press then too hard but make sure they are compact enough to stay together.

I had a rummage in the cupboards and found two ends of jars of peanut butter. Both were crunchy which I was dubious about but it worked fine once it was mixed with the other ingredients and still gave a creamy, smooth finish.

Mix the peanut butter into the cream cheese until smooth.

Add the marscapone and Greek yogurt.

Add icing sugar to taste. This also helps thicken it up if it's a bit too runny. 

I had a jar of chocolate spread in the cupboard so I decided to stir some through the mix for a marbled effect.

Don't overstir if you want a pretty pattern !

Spoon over the crumb base and use a spatula to smooth the top.

Break the chocolate into a bowl and melt in the microwave. Go for very short bursts to avoid burning it. Drizzle over the top of the cheesecake.

Leave in the fridge for a few hours to firm up before serving.

Cut into pieces and serve immediately.

It's not the firmest cheesecake I've ever made but it was delicious nevertheless and the kids gobbled it up !

As this is yet another recipe inspired by Mike Martin's Sgt Windflower mystery A Long Ways From Home (click through to read my review), I'm linking this up to the #readcookeat challenge over at Chez Maximka.

This also used up some ends of jars of peanut butter and some cereal that nobody was eating so I'm adding it to this month's #KitchenClearout linky.