“It’s… green.” It was the first and only thing I could say and I stared at the picture of Creme de Menthe Cheesecake.

“Let’s make that!” My husband had exclaimed. My husband’s job was to pick the dessert that we would bring to his family dinner. Easy or complicated. Simple or incredibly fancy. He just had to find something that he wanted. And he picked an 8,000 calorie neon green cheesecake. The reasoning behind his choice quickly became clear as I scanned the ingredients… the cheesecake was loaded with one of his favorite candy, Andes mints.

I’m very much a visual person. Or maybe I have the eating habits of a 3 year old… Either way, if it doesn’t look good, you’re going to have a really hard time convincing me to try it. And if you put a slice of green cheesecake in front of me, I’m not going to eat it. Green cheesecake screams, “I’m loaded to the gills with mint.” We’re a house divided: I’m a Caramel deLites girl and he’s a Thin Mints guy.

I sucked it up, made a few changes, and after discussing the psychological ramifications of green cheesecake ad nauseum, we finally agreed to leave out the non-essential food coloring. After all, that’s the only reason the cheesecake was green. And then we made fun of me being the picky one.

There were two slices left after dinner. The cheesecake got rave reviews and even I enjoyed the few bites that I stole off of my husband’s plate. It was less Creme de Menthe Cheesecake and more Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Andes Mints. Tomato, tomahto. At least it wasn’t neon green.

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Creme de Menthe Cheesecake

Creamy cheesecake with a hidden layer of chocolate-mint candies in the middle.

Ingredients

• 16 Oreos
• 4-8 oz blocks of cream cheese, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream, room temp
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 packages (4.67 oz each) Andes creme de menthe candies, divided
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cups heavy cream

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325. Spray the sides and bottom of a 9 or 10-inch springform pan with baking spray. Finely crush the Oreos in a food processor and press the crumbs into bottom of the pan. Bake 8 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let cool.
2. Place cream cheese, sugar, 3 tbsp flour, and vanilla into the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix on medium for 3 minutes, until well blended. Add eggs one at a time and mix on low for 2 minutes. Split and scrape the beans from the pod. Add vanilla beans and sour cream and mix on medium until smooth.
3. Reserve seven candies for the topping. Unwrap and cut the remaining candies in half crosswise and toss with remaining flour. Shake off the excess flour. Pour half of the filling into the pan. Arrange candies over the filling, slightly overlapping. Pour remaining filling on top. Bake 55-60 minutes or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken (the center will firm as it cools). (I didn't bother with the water bath this time because I knew I could hide any cracks with the ganache topping... and I did!) Remove from oven and cool completely, about 3 hours.
4. Place chocolate, cream, and reserved candy into the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring until melted and smooth. Spread topping over center of cheesecake. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight before serving. (I made it two days ahead.)

Notes

Yields: 16 servings

Adapted from The Pampered Chef

Estimated time: 5 hours