When I taught you how to make your own Nutella in my previous post on the weekend, there was rumour of a hazelnut shortage. Well, now, four days later IT’S TRUE! Get to the store and hoard the hazelnuts as they’re predicting the cost of Nutella to rise dramatically due to flooding in Turkey, where 70% of the world’s hazelnuts are grown. I also learned recently that we have hazelnut farms here in British Columbia, so the next time that I make to the Coast, I’m going to have to go and check one out!
Now that I’ve added to the hazelnut panic, I’d like you to go and make some homemade Nutella, and use it to make this cheesecake. This is one of the most delicious, amazing, drool-worthy cheesecakes I have ever eaten, never-mind made. Being that the cheesecake is a no-bake recipe, the layers remain light and fluffy once they are set. I also tried a baked version of this recipe, and I felt that this one was far better. I definitely prefer a light cheesecake over a heavy, dense one.
I went with a traditional cheesecake crust for this and used graham crackers. I think that an Oreo crumb crust would be amazing as well, but I felt that the graham cracker crust made the Oreo cookies stand out more than they would have if the crust was all Oreo’s as well. This no-bake cheesecake is also amazing without the additions of the Oreo’s and the Nutella. I made them into cute Cheesecake in a Jar a couple of months ago, so if you prefer a plain cheesecake, you’ll definitely love the basic recipe.
Thank goodness Oreo’s aren’t threatened, or this cheesecake would be bound for the endangered species list.