The holidays are quickly approaching. Holiday meals mean great deserts. Who can pass up the desert table at a holiday dinner?

Some of our favorite deserts are chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake and pie. This recipe combines the best of all three deserts into one rich, creamy, chocolaty dish! Take this dish to your next family gathering and watch it disappear.

Young children and grown adults both are attracted to chocolate chip cookie dough. There is just something about eating cookie dough that feels like rebellion and defiance. Remember mom telling us not to eat raw cookie dough?

That os because most cookie dough contains raw eggs. Experts warn us against eating raw eggs due to the danger of e coli. Mom listens to the experts. This recipe avoids that concern by leaving the eggs out of the cookie dough.

The eggs act as a binding agent when you are baking cookies. Since we are not baking this cookie dough, the eggs are not necessary. So, no worries Mom.

Cookie Dough Cheesecake 

1 chocolate graham cracker crust
1 (17 oz) package chocolate chip cookie mix
1 stick (8 TB) butter
1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 TB milk

Prepare the cookie dough mix by adding melted butter. Do not add eggs. Spread in bottom of graham cracker crust. Cut cream cheese into chunks, place in microwave safe bowl and soften in microwave for one minute. Add powdered sugar and milk to bowl and mix with electric beater until blended smooth. Spread cream cheese over cookie dough. Chill for 2 hours in refrigerator. Serve drizzled with chocolate syrup.

Make it a meal:  Serve as desert with a cup of coffee.

Approximate Nutritional Value per serving: Servings per Recipe: 8, Calories: 461, Fat: 30g, Cholesterol: 59mg, Sodium: 307mg, Total Carbs: 48g, Protein: 3g.

Variations: Top with chocolate sprinkles instead of syrup. Exchange chocolate chip cookie mix for peanut butter cookie mix and top with chopped peanuts.

This is a very rich and sweet dish. I slice the pie into eight portions as a little bit goes a long way. If you want to make your crust from scratch (using crushed chocolate wafer cookies), you could use a muffin pan to make individual serving sized cheesecakes.

Since there are only two of us at home these days, a rich desert lasts a while. I place single slices on saucers and freeze them. Once the slices are frozen, I wrap them in plastic wrap and seal inside a zip top bag. This makes desert quick and simple on another night. This desert keeps well in the freezer up to 6 weeks. To thaw, place in refrigerator the day before you want to serve the pie.

Reader Feedback: Last week’s recipe for Spiced Cracker Spread  yes it can be served chilled. While I like it best served warmed, it does spread well enough to be used straight from the fridge. In fact, it is a nice spread on a toasted bagel for breakfast!

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