30Oreos or chocolate sandwich cookies,filling discarded
½tspcoarse Kosher salt(if using table salt, use half the amount)
½cupunsalted butter,melted
Cheesecake Filling
1 ½cupscold heavy whipping cream,divided
1envelope (1/4 oz)unflavored powdered gelatin
1lbcream cheese,softened to room temperature
¾cuppowdered sugar
¼cupDutch-processed cocoa powder
2tspvanilla extract
3ozgood-quality chocolate,melted
Cherry Sauce
1lbpitted cherries,fresh or frozen
½cupgranulated sugar
2tbspcorn starch
1tbsplemon juice
Instructions
Crust
Scrape the filling out of the Oreos or chocolate sandwich cookies and discard the filling. Finely crush the cookies in a food processor.
In a bowl, combine the crushed cookies with the salt and melted butter, until moist and crumbly.
Press the cookie crumbs evenly and firmly against the bottom and up the sides of your springform pan. Set aside.
Cheesecake Filling
In a microwaveable glass measuring cup or bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the heavy whipping cream with the gelatin. Let stand for 5 minutes.Microwave on high for 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds, to dissolve the gelatin.Set aside while you make the filling. If any small lumps of undissolved gelatin remain in the warmed cream/gelatin mixture, pour it through a mesh strainer.
In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and cocoa powder, scraping the bowl several times, until there are no lumps of cream cheese.
Gradually beat in the remaining 1 cup of cream. Beat in the vanilla extract, melted chocolate and warm cream/gelatin mixture.
Immediately spread the cheesecake filling into the crust. Refrigerate for about 4 hours, until chilled and set.
To serve the cheesecake, slide a sharp knife around the sides to loosen the crust from the pan, then remove the sides of the pan.
Cherry Sauce
In a saucepan, combine the cherries, sugar, corn starch and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the cherries become very juicy. Continue to cook until the mixture comes to a boil and starts to thicken (stir constantly at this point), then boil for 1 full minute to activate the corn starch.
Scrape the cherries into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until well chilled.
Serve slices of the cheesecake with the cherry sauce.