Mint Chocolate Cheesecake

This was my dessert in honor of St Patricks day, but I got REALLY lazy and I'm just barely getting around to posting it.

Mint Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust

30 fudge mint cookies, crushed (about 1 3/4 cups)

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Filling


3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons mint extract

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

green food coloring

In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of a greased 9-in. springform pan.


In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in the extract and food coloring if desired. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into crust. Place pan on a baking sheet

Bake at 325° for 50-60 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Refrigerate leftovers.

I had a feeling that this cheesecake was going to crack because I forgot about not beating the mixture a lot until I was done, AND, I had a pan of water underneath the cheesecake, but I had the temp too high still AND this was my first time cooking cheesecake in a conventional oven instead of a convection oven.

Excuses, excuses...as long as it tastes good, right?