No-Bake Chocolate Nutella Cheesecake

You might not recognize this dessert as cheesecake. For starters, it doesn't look anything like a cake. I did, however, take the classic components of cheesecake—that is, a crust and cheese-based filling—and layered them into individual glasses, technically making what's known as verrines.

I didn't stop there, though. I wanted more than just a basic cheesecake filling. I wanted chocolate. And nuts. Building on that layering idea, I decided on two different strata of cheesecake filling: one pure chocolate, the other with Nutella for a hit of hazelnut flavor.
These cute no-bake chocolate and Nutella cheesecakes are a chocoholic's dream come true. An intense dark chocolate filling is spooned on top of a crumbly Oreo crust and topped with a creamy, rich Nutella filling. They don't really look like a traditional cheesecake, but does that matter?

Before you start, make sure to use regular cream cheese, not one that's been "whipped" or boasts of being "spreadable," since those have had air incorporated and will throw off the ratios in the recipe.

Each of the three main components of this recipe is easy; you'll get a bunch of mixing bowls dirty, but that's about it. The crust is a simple mixture of crushed Oreos with some butter, which I pack into the bottom of each glass before topping with the layer of Nutella cheesecake, which I make by whipping heavy cream with some sugar and beat room-temperature cream cheese (this is important, since cold cream cheese won't cooperate with being whipped—until fluffy) before beating in the Nutella right after that. I fold the whipped cream into the Nutella and cream cheese mixture, and it's all set.

For the chocolate filling, I start by melting chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave and let it cool a bit. Then I whip more cream with sugar and set it aside before beating even more cream cheese until it's fluffy. I then fold in the melted chocolate along with cocoa powder, which gives the dessert a stronger chocolate flavor. I fold that with most of the whipped cream.

At this point, I check the texture of my chocolate filling, since it can sometimes have lumps from the chocolate. If it does, I pass it through a fine-mesh strainer to remove them before folding in the rest of the whipped cream.

Some of you may be wondering why I don't just whip one big batch of whipped cream and sugar at once, then divide all of it between the Nutella and chocolate layers. The reason is because they're sweetened to different levels: The chocolate layer needs more sugar than the Nutella layer, given the bitterness of the chocolate in it.