Luck O' the Irish Cheesecake

Layered Irish Cream & Guinness Cheesecake with a Chocolate Shortbread Crust and Jameson Chocolate Syrup

CRUST
6 TBS butter, softened
1 c. flour
1/3 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/3 c. Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Gocoa

FILLING
3 - 8oz packages of Neufchatel cream cheese, softened
1 c. plain non-fat Greek yogurt
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. flour
3 large eggs

1/2 c. Irish Cream Liquor

2 TBS Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Cocoa
1/4 c. Guinness Stout

JAMESON CHOCOLATE SYRUP TOPPING
2 1/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Cocoa
1 1/2 TBS flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 c. milk
2 TBS Jameson Irish Whiskey

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 325. Place one rack on bottom level, one in center. Lightly butter the bottom & sides of a 9-in. springform pan. Place on a double thickness square of heavy-duty foil. Securely wrap foil around bottom & sides (about 1/4 inch up) of pan.

In a small bowl, soften butter (do NOT melt); add the flour, brown sugar and cocoa; mix with fork until crumbly. Gently press onto the bottom of prepared springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven & set to cool slightly on wire rack.

Pour water into an 8-inch metal pie pan until half full. Place on bottom rack of oven after baked crust is removed. (This will keep the cheesecake from cracking when it bakes.)

WHILE CRUST BAKES:
In a large electric mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and yogurt on medium speed until smooth & creamy. Add sugar & flour, beat until well combined & smooth. Add eggs one at a time; beating on low speed of mixer until well blended.

Remove 1 & 3/4 c. batter to a small mixing bowl; set aside.

Add Irish Cream to remaining batter & beat until even consistency.

To reserved batter, gently whisk in 2 TBS cocoa until evenly incorporated. Slowly pour in Guinness & whisk gently until evenly combined. Batter will be thinner than the Irish Cream batter.

Gently pour Irish Cream batter evenly over warm crust; do not attempt to spread. Slowly pour Guinness batter over Irish Cream layer, starting in center, allowing batter to spread evenly. Smooth very gently with the back of a spoon if necessary to make batter reach the sides.

Place cheesecake pan on center rack of oven. Bake at 325° for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until center is just set and top appears evenly dull. The top of the cheesecake should be at an even height & turning just lightly golden around the edges.

Remove cheesecake from oven & set on a wire rack to cool. Loosen sides from pan with a knife; cool 1-1/2 hours.

Refrigerate several hours or overnight until cheesecake is well chilled, allowing flavors to develop.

Make syrup while the cheesecake cools:
Place sugar, cocoa, flour & salt in a medium saucepan, stir to blend. Add 1/2 c. of the milk, and whisk until a thick paste forms. Add the remaining milk and whisk until thoroughly combined. Put saucepan on medium heat & bring the mixture just to a boil, whisking often. When sauce boils, immediately reduce heat & simmer gently for 7 minutes, whisking often. Remove from heat, whisk in Jameson Irish Whiskey until well combined. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Keeps up to 2 weeks.

Carefully remove sides of springform pan. Serve with Jameson Chocolate Syrup.