Chocolate Beer Cheesecake With A Pretzel Crust

Place one oven rack in the middle position of your oven, with one rack below. Preheat oven to 350 F.

For the crust:
In a food processor add the graham crackers, brown sugar and the pretzels and process until it’s the consistency of crumbs. Then remove the stopper from the lid and slowly add the melted butter and process until it resembles wet sand.

Coat the inside of a 9-inch springform pan with butter. Pour the crust mixture into the springform pan. Using the bottom of a heavy, flat bottom glass, press the crust very well into the bottom of the pan until well compacted.

For the filling:
In a pot over medium high heat, add the beer and the chocolate, stir until melted and remove from heat. Allow to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the cream cheese and the sugar and mix until smooth. One at a time, add the eggs, scraping the bottom of the bowl between additions. Pour the cooled chocolate into the mixer and beat until well combined. Lift the head of the mixer and sprinkle the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt over the batter, then stir on low speed until just combined.

Pour the batter into the pan over the crust.

Place the pan in the oven in the middle position. Place a baking dish on the rack below the cheesecake, and fill the dish with water.

If you have experience with a water bath, feel free to use that technique. In my experience, the water leaks into the cheesecake pan, making the crust soggy. Placing a basin of water below the cheesecake has a similar effect without the soggy crust.

Bake the cheesecake until the center no longer jiggles when you shake the rack, about 45-50 minutes. This isn’t a situation where a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean, you just need the center to set and it will continue to set as it cools. Remove from oven.

For the sour cream topping:
Add the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until well combined. Top the cheesecake with the sour cream topping and return to the oven for 8 minutes. Remove cheesecake from the oven then chill it in the pan (in the refrigerator) until ready to serve, at least 3 hours.