Happy Birthday Josh!

I don't usually do a lot of special cooking for Josh; he prefers eating out to home cooking. But, he did like it last year (I think) when I made him a dessert he loves to get at The Cheesecake Factory -- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake. Well ... things didn't go as planned today. I woke up this morning, pulled the cream cheese from the garage fridge and then noticed our Internet was down. The recipe I used was adapted from one at Recipezaar.com. Both Internet and TV were down all day, going back on just as I was heading out the door to pick Matt up from college. I'm still hoping to make this for him tomorrow. I guess better late than never.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH CHEESECAKE

Crust
1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie (Oreo) crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Cookie Dough
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
1 cup (Nestle) chocolate chips

Filling
3 packages (Philadelphia) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Topping (Optional)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Crust: Mix cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter and press firmly into bottom of 9" springform pan.
3) Cookie dough: Cream butter and sugars together til creamy (several minutes). Add vanilla and salt. Then add flour and mix just til combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
4) Filling: Mix together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla til creamy. Add one egg at a time.
5) Pour filling into prepared crust and drop 1 teaspoon portions of cookie dough into filling, pressing down.
6) Bake 45 minutes or until set.
7) Cool. If using topping, mix together sour cream and confectioner's sugar and pour on top of cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate at least 3 to 4 hours or overnight.