Layered Chocolate Cheesecake for an Italian Holiday Feast

An Italian Holiday Feast is a marvelous idea for your holiday dinner menu when you gather with friends and family! And my dessert recipe for a stunning, decadent layered chocolate cheesecake will put the finishing touches on your holiday meal. 

An Italian Holiday Feast 

Italians celebrate Christmas in the true spirit of the season, sharing their love of magnificent food with their families. Many will observe the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. Before Midnight Mass, a wonderful meal featuring at least seven seafood dishes is served. We non-Italian Catholics, along with the Italians, abstain from meat on Fridays of Lent, but it’s also common in many Italian-American homes to also abstain before the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve when the Christ child was born.

My carnivore family tends to eat a pork roast or tenderloin on Christmas Eve, but this pasta with sausage and cream recipe, chock-full of Italian sausage, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and spices, would be a delicious entree for our Italian Holiday Feast. I used Colavita spinach nests, artichoke heart, and olive oil to whip up this easy, flavorful pasta. As a bonus, this picture-perfect pasta echoes the classic Christmas colors of red and green! Perfect for an Italian Holiday Feast!

Layered Chocolate Cheesecake 

Besides categorizing my family as carnivores, they’re also bona fide chocoholics. A truly decadent chocolate dessert is a MUST for all holidays. When I was sent both white and bittersweet Perugina chocolate bars, I knew I’d have to create an uber chocolaty dessert featuring them both for this Italian Holiday Feast.

A double-decker cheesecake fit the bill, starting with a chocolate cookie crust, then a dark chocolate followed by a white chocolate cheesecake layer. I  could not resist gilding the lily with Perugina Baci, exquisite hazelnut filled chocolate bonbons. The perfect way to end a holiday feast. If you love chocolate mousse, this layered mousse cake is another divine dessert!

More Holiday Feast Recipes:

• Honey Brined Turkey
• Classic Prime Rib Recipe
• Rack of Lamb
• Homemade Cheesecake Recipes
• Cheesecake Filled Carrot Cake
• Apple Crisp Cheesecake
• More Holiday Recipes

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The Recipe:

Layered Chocolate Cheesecake

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 53 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 23 minutes

Yield 12 servings

A chocolate lover's cheesecake with both a white and dark chocolate. Inspired by Celebrate the Rain.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 package of chocolate wafers (9 ounces)
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Cheesecake:

• 8 ounces Perugina Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped
• 6 ounces Perugina White Chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 packages cream cheese (8 ounces each), at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon hazelnut liqueur (I use Frangelico)
• Perugina Baci), to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325º. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray and wrap bottom with two sheets of heavy duty foil. Set aside.
2. Pulse the cookies in a food processor to make crumbs. Add melted butter and sugar and pulse to mix. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan and about 1-inch up sides of the pan. Bake for about 8 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely.
3. Melt the bittersweet chocolate gently in the microwave, using 30-second increments, stopping to stir before restarting, till melted. Repeat with white chocolate. Set aside.
4. In your mixer fit with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar till well mixed and fluffy. Mix in the flour, then the eggs, one at a time. Add the cream and vanilla.
5. Add 2 1/4 cups of the cheesecake batter to the white chocolate and stir. Mix hazelnut liqueur into white chocolate mixture; set aside. Add the dark chocolate to the remaining cheesecake batter and mix to combine.
6. Pour the dark chocolate batter over the crust and bake for 50 minutes. Place in a water bath if desired to minimize cracking. Cool for 5 minutes.
7. Carefully spoon dollops of white chocolate cheesecake mixture over top of cheesecake. Smooth with an offset spatula. Return to oven and bake 35 minutes till the center is set. Let cool completely on wire rack. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
8. To serve, run a knife around the perimeter of the pan and release sides. Garnish with Baci and whipped cream if desired.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 305Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 109mgSodium: 173mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 0gSugar: 26gProtein: 4g

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The Recipe:

Pasta with Sausage and Cream

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Yield 6 servings

Pasta with Italian sausage, artichoke hearts, tomatoes and a cream sauce

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Premium Italian
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound mild Italian sausage links, cut into slices while partially frozen
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (plus more to taste--mine needed more)
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes
• 1 jar Colavita Artichoke Hearts, drained and cut in half
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 pound Colavita Spinach Tagliatelle Nests
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided
• Fresh parsley, to garnish

Instructions

1. Melt butter with olive oil in a large skillet. Add onions and saute till golden. Add garlic, sausage and basil, red pepper flakes and fennel and cook till sausage is browned on both sides. Drain if there is excess oil in the pan.
2. Add wine and turn up the heat till most of the liquid evaporates. Add tomatoes, artichoke hearts, salt, and pepper and let simmer a few minutes. Add cream and simmer till sauce simmers slightly. Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
3. Cook pasta in well-salted water until al dente. Drain, saving a little pasta water to thin the sauce if needed. Place pasta in a serving bowl and top with sauce and 3/4 cup of the Parmesan. Toss to combine. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and garnish with parsley if desired.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 596Total Fat: 44gSaturated Fat: 21gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 24gCholesterol: 114mgSodium: 1165mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 4gSugar: 5gProtein: 25g

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