This Chocolate Chip Cheesecake is a simple but beautiful show stopping dessert! A golden graham cracker crust underneath a smooth cream cheese cheesecake filling, sprinkled with chocolate chips, you’re not going to believe how easy this cheesecake is to make.
We’ve been baking a lot in our household lately! We’ve really been enjoying making cheesecakes and I think we just nailed the perfect baked chocolate chip cheesecake!.
If you’re looking for more of my family’s favorite desserts, try these ones: Chocolate Chip Blondies, Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich, and Oreo Ice Cream Sandwich.
Why You’ll Love This Easy Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Recipe
- So easy – since it only requires 10 ingredients, you’re more than likely to have everything in your kitchen already. We especially always have chocolate chips so this is a great recipe to use up chocolate chips.
- Freezer friendly – if you have leftovers, you can freeze them to enjoy later.
- It’s kid-friendly – it’s the perfect kid-friendly dessert. And since it doesn’t contain any nuts, this chocolate chip cheesecake is great for school bake sales as well!
What You’ll Need to Make the Homemade Cheesecake
For the graham cracker crust
- Graham crackers – crushed. You can crush the graham crackers by hand or with a food processor.
- Butter – unsalted
- Sugar
- Salt
For the cheesecake filling
- Cream cheese
- Sugar
- Eggs – at room temperature
- Heavy cream – at room temperature
- Vanilla extract – opt for real vanilla extract and not artificial vanilla extract
- Chocolate chips
How To Make Chocolate Chip Cheesecake at Home
Prep the oven and pan – Preheat your oven to 350F and spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick spray and wrap the outside tightly with foil.
Make and bake the crust – In a bowl combine the crushed graham crackers, melted butter, sugar, and salt and mix until fully combined. Then firmly press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan before baking the crust for 9-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Prep the oven again – Heat the oven up to 450F.
Prepare the cheesecake filling – In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth then add the sugar and beat until fully combined and smooth. Next, add in one egg at a time to combine before adding in the heavy cream and vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips last before pouring the filling into the prepared pan with the crust.
Make a water bath – Place the cheesecake into a deep pan. Pour boiling water into the pan, stopping halfway up the springform pan.
Bake the chocolate chip cheesecake – Place the pan on the center rack of your oven and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 225F for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 35 minutes, or until only the center of the cheesecake jiggles slightly.
Chill before serving – Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to rest on the counter for an hour or until room temperature. Transfer the cheesecake to the fridge to chill overnight.
Why bake the cheesecake in a hot water bath?
Baking cheesecake in a water bath helps prevent cracks from forming on the top when done. It also prevents the cheesecake from rising too much and then deflating afterwards.
Other things to do to avoid cracks on a cheesecake
- Avoid over mixing your cheesecake filling as that can create air bubbles and cause cracks when baking.
- Similar to macarons, give your cheesecake pan a quick tap on your countertop to pop any air bubbles that may have formed.
- No matter how tempting, do not open the oven door until the cheesecake has finished baking!
How to Store Leftover Cheesecake
Place leftover cheesecakes in a container before storing in the fridge. Enjoy within the week.
How to Freeze Cheesecake
When freezing cheesecake slices, you have to wrap each slice in plastic wrap before storing in an airtight bag or container. Cheesecake slices will last for a month frozen in the freezer.
When freezing a whole cheesecake, again wrap it up and store in an airtight bag or container. A whole cheesecake can be frozen for up to 2 months.
How to Cut Cheesecake Neatly
Clean your knife and run your knife under hot water between slices to keep cheesecake slices clean. Alternatively, you can use dental floss to slice your cheesecake. Just make sure it is not a flavored floss.
Recipe Variations
- Add in some cacao powder to turn this into a chocolate cheesecake
- Swap the chocolate chips for other types of chips such as butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, mint chocolate chip, white/chocolate swirled chips
- Top with fresh berries and whip cream for a different flavored topping.
- Mix in sprinkles to make the cheesecake a little more colorful!
- Top with milk chocolate icing.
- Drizzle caramel or salted caramel sauce on top of the cheesecake.
More homemade desserts you may like
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
- Nutella Ice Cream
- Quick No-Bake Chocolate Cake
- Gingerbread Christmas Tree Cookies
- Double Chocolate Chip Muffins
I hope you enjoy all the recipes I share with you, including this delicious Chocolate Chip Cheesecake recipe. I hope you try it, enjoy it, rate it and share it with your friends and family!
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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Ingredients
For Crust:
- 10 graham crackers crushed
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For Filling:
- 4 8-oz blocks cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 4 eggs room temperature
- ½ cup heavy cream room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
For Crust:
- Preheat your oven to 350°. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick spray and wrap the outside tightly with foil.
- In a medium bowl combine the crushed graham crackers, melted butter, sugar, and salt. Mix until fully combined. It should be the texture of wet sand.
- Firmly press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake the crust for 9-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely while you prepare the filling.
For Filling:
- Preheat your oven to 450°.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until fully combined and smooth.
- Add the eggs one at a time, combining fully and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition.
- Add the heavy cream and vanilla and beat until just combined. Fold the chocolate chips into the mixture.
- Pour the filling into the prepared pan.
- Place the cheesecake into a deep pan. Boil enough water to fill the pan up to halfway up the cheesecake pan.
- Pour the boiling water into the pan, stopping halfway up the springform pan.
- Place the pan on the center rack of your oven.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 225° for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 35 minutes, or until only the center of the cheesecake jiggles slightly.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to rest on the counter for an hour or until room temperature. Transfer the cheesecake to the fridge to chill overnight.
Omgosh! This was the best cheesecake I have ever eaten, and I’m 53yrs old so that’s a lot of timeto taste cheesecakes. Also, this recipe seemed really easy to make, to me. This is the only recipe I will follow to make cheesecake from now on. Why search for any other when I’ve found perfection. Thank you!
Thank you Crystal for the review. Glad you enjoyed it!