Easiest. Cheesecake. Ever.

I'm on a nutella kick. I'll eat it with everything--graham crackers, on toast, or best yet, out of the jar with a spoon. (I tried making nutella and banana paninis for dessert one day--that didn't go so well.)

In any case, I searched for recipes that used the goodness-in-a-jar, and found a few different cheesecake recipes. Most of them were no-bake, which I'm not such a fan of, so I changed it a bit to make it the easiest cheesecake ever. Seriously.

Easy Nutella Cheesecake

Note: Since I chose to make a brownie crust instead of a traditional graham cracker crust, I prepared boxed brownie batter for a 13x9 pan. Then, I used some of it to make this crust, and used the remainder to bake brownies in an 8x8 pan.

Springform Pan (I used a 10 inch, because that's all I had)
Prepared brownie batter (I used Duncan Hines, I think)
1 egg
1 tbsp. vanilla
16 oz. cream cheese (I used 8 oz. low fat and 8 oz. regular Philadelphia)
1 13 oz. jar nutella

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of the springform pan (I used about 1 tsp. of vegetable oil, and wiped off the excess with a paper towel.) Pour a small amount of brownie batter on the bottom of the pan, and use a spoon or spatula to just cover the bottom. (I used about 3/4 cup for a 10 inch pan.) The more batter, the thicker your crust. Bake for about 7-10 minutes, or until it starts to look done.

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese. When almost smooth, add the egg and vanilla. When well combined, mix in the nutella, and spread over the brownie crust.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool, then place in refrigerator for at least 6 hours. (The longer you leave it, the stiffer it will be.)

Done!

Now, this cheesecake is really rich. I love rich cakes, and even I can only eat a sliver of it at a time. So, when I make it again, I'll probably purchase a smaller springform pan (maybe a 6 inch) so I don't eat it for weeks. Because really, I've been eating it for over a month now. It's also not too sweet, as the only sugar is from the nutella and in the brownie crust. I like it that way, but if you only like super sweet desserts, you might want to add some sugar into the cream cheese mixture.

Enjoy!