Tuesday, May 11, 2010

No-Bake Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

Today I'm sharing a recipe I received years ago from a good friend of the family -- so close she's practically a relative. She's elderly now, but at the time she was probably upper middle-age, and always came up with the best desserts for holidays, birthdays, or just let's-get-together days.

I was pretty young when I fell in love with one of her cheesecakes (that recipe will come another time) and when I asked her for it, she misunderstood, and gave me this one instead. My good luck because this one is fabulous too! My family loves cheesecake of all kinds -- what's not to love, though? Cheesecake is creamy and sweet, but not overly so. It has substance and a great "mouth feel." Add in chocolate, and seriously? How much better can you get?

This one is very easy. No bake. Really. I made it for Mother's Day and took it over to my m-i-l's house. It had been years since I made this one (my youngest daughter didn't remember ever having it) and so it qualified as a "Julie's Surprise." I'm lucky that they're used to me... and keep sampling my "surprises" even though some of them don't exactly work out as planned. This one, however, worked out just fine!

I have to also add that it was this cheesecake that got me to love the combination of orange and chocolate. Up to that point, I really preferred to keep those flavors separate. But this worked for me. The orange flavor is subtle, but there's a decided citrusy tang. If you prefer, you can probably leave the orange juice out of the recipe, but if you do, you may want to increase the amount of chocolate you add.

Interesting tidbit: You can tell this recipe has been around for a while. It calls for a 6 oz can of frozen orange juice. I could not find orange juice in 6 oz containers anywhere. I could only find 12 oz. Now, maybe that's just a local thing... but I remember those smaller cans. Now that I think of it, I haven't seen them in a long time. For this recipe, I melted all 12 oz, then made juice with the leftover concentrate.

Here goes:

No-bake Chocolate Orange Cheesecake


8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz) condensed milk
4 oz melted chocolate (I used semi-sweet)
1 cup evaporated milk
6 oz frozen orange juice concentrate - allowed to melt to a liquid consistency
9-inch ready prepared graham cracker crust


Beat the cream cheese with the condensed milk until combined. Add the melted chocolate, then the evaporated milk, and mix well. Add the melted orange juice concentrate, and mix until blended. Pour into the prepared pie crust, cover, and freeze for at least 2 hours.

That's it. Honest.

Because it had been a long time since I'd made this, I pulled it out of the freezer when we were halfway through dinner thinking it would need the time to thaw. Mistake. It was still good, but it really did not need to be pulled out early. I should have kept it in the freezer until we were ready to serve. The consistency was just a little bit too gooey. So, word to the wise - keep it frozen until just before you're ready to serve.

Enjoy!
Julie

Author of Grace Under Pressure - first in the new Manor of Murder Mystery series.
www.juliehyzy.com

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And now a bit of Contest News...

Congratulations to Stacy from Louisville!
You've won Riley's Williams-Sonoma’s Ultimate
Grilling Rub Collection!!! Way to go!!!!!!

AND

Here's your chance to enter
Julie Hyzy's May Contest!



Julie’s first book in the Manor of Murder Mystery series, Grace Under Pressure, debuts June 1st! To help launch the book and to celebrate its release, she's running a very special contest: Pre-order Grace Under Pressure any time before May 31, 2010, and you're eligible to win a $25 gift certificate from Mystery Lovers Bookshop! (and if you've already pre-ordered, you just need to let Julie know!) No receipts required. Just email Julie at JulieHyzy@gmail.com with the date that you pre-ordered and the name of the bookstore you ordered it from, and your name goes in! (Please put "CONTEST" in the subject header. Thanks!)

Here are a few helpful links to get you started:
Independent Bookstore List: here
- Mystery Lovers Bookshop (free shipping on book orders over $10!) - Centuries & Sleuths (Julie's local mystery bookstore) - Barnes & Noble - Amazon.com


And while we're here...

Avery is offering FREE BOOKMARKS on her website. Click this FREE BOOKMARK link to send her your information.

She also has a "fan club" contest (separate from Julie's) that is running until this FRIDAY. Click this CONTEST link to see how to enter. Hint: the instructions are in the last paragraph of the newsletter.
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10 comments:

  1. Julie, this sounds wickedly good! And I love the idea of "no cook" because it gets so HOT here and sometimes I just can't stand turning the oven on. Thanks for sharing this one. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert!

    Riley/Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  2. This sounds so good and who doesn't love cheesecake. Combined cheesecake and chocolate and you definitely have a winning combination.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  3. Elizabeth - it's a perfect warm-weather dessert. Cold and creamy and with that citrus tang... I really enjoy this one. Easy to make, even easier to enjoy LOL

    Mason - I know! Cheesecake is the dessert of choice around here. I have another really good one to share in the coming weeks, but that one is a lot more involved. Thanks!

    Julie

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  4. Chocolate and orange are a great flavor combo. I love the story of how your friend passed this recipe on to you. This is a wonderful recipe for the start of summer - no bake is always a great idea on a hot day!

    ~ Cleo
    Coffeehouse Mystery.com
    Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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  5. Julie, chocolate and orange are just such a classic combo -- this has to be delicious!

    Funny about the 6 oz can. I thought they had stopped making the small cans of frozen lime juice because I couldn't find them anywhere. I finally found them in a small local grocery store. Just another sign of us super-sizing everything I guess!

    ~ Krista

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  6. Chocolate and orange together -- YUM.
    I'm still waiting for the Creamsicle people
    to figure out that they need to make one with
    chocolate ice cream. In the meantime, this will tide me over. It looks amazing! Thanks for sharing it!

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  7. Sounds really good, Julie. I had to laugh at your observation about the 6 oz. can of orange juice. I come across those things more often than I care to admit. I would like to attribute it to the recipes being old, but then if I remember those particular ingredients, what does that say about me? :-) Thanks for the recipe!

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  8. Thanks Cleo, Krista, and Jenn...Ooh, a chocolate dreamsicle. That's a million dollar idea. Go sell it to them, Jenn!

    Tony - thanks for stopping by. Yeah, you, me, and Krista are all still looking for those 6 oz cans. LOL I wonder what other things I'm missing and I don't even know it yet!

    Julie

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  9. Congrats to the winner-I am envious.

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  10. Chocolate cheesecake is delicious-please enter me for this book.

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