Chocolate Cheesecake

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. To make crust: Place chocolate wafers, Grape-Nuts, cocoa and sugar in a food processor; using an on/off motion, process until you have fine crumbs. Add oil and water; process until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom and about 1 1/2 inches up the sides of the prepared pan.

3. To make filling: Melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water or in a microwave oven at medium (50 percent) power. Let cool slightly.

4. Dissolve instant coffee in the 1 tbsp. boiling water and set aside. Place cottage cheese in a strainer lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth. Gather up the cheesecloth and squeeze out moisture from cottage cheese. Put the pressed cottage-cheese solids in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add cream cheese, sugar, egg, egg whites, sour cream, cocoa, cornstarch, salt, vanilla, the melted chocolate and the dissolved coffee; process until smooth. Pour into the crust-lined pan.

5. Bake until firm around the edge but still shiny and slightly soft in the center, about 1 hour. Run a knife around the pan to loosen edges. Let cool in the pan on a rack. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 8 hours or for up to 2 days. Remove sides. To facilitate cutting, dip a sharp knife in hot water and wipe dry before cutting each slice.