Buffalo Chicken Wing Cheesecake

Yes, you read that right. Andy, one of my fellow writers over at So Good mentioned this as an object of disgust on Twitter just before the big game. The inspiration for his disgust was this recipe at FoodBeast.
After reading through it I could see why his initial reaction was revulsion. There is absolutely no reason to include sugar or vanilla in a savory cheesecake. If my experience with lobster cheesecake has taught me anything it is that dessert cheesecake and savory cheesecake are completely different animals.

I knew I could do better. So I decided to adapt the lobster cheesecake recipe and transform it into buffalo chicken wing cheesecake. Please note my measurements on blue cheese and hot sauce are approximate  I used less of each on the first try and it was not enough to really bring the chicken wing flavor I wanted so I increased them here.

Ingredients:

For the Crust
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 cup crushed Fritos (about 3 cups of chips)
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter

For the Chunky Bits
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

1 pound (about 2 cups) chicken, roughly chopped
3-4 tablespoons Buffalo wing sauce (feel free to make your own, though the bottled sauce was perfect because it doesn't separate and get greasy)

For the Cheesy Bits
1 3/4 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
4 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup crumbly blue cheese
3-4 tablespoons Buffalo wing sauce.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Add in a 9 x 13 baking dish of water to the lower rack.

In a mixing bowl, combine the Parmesan, Fritos, and butter, blend thoroughly. I always cut a disk of parchment paper to line the bottom of my pan, then spray with non stick spray. Press the mixture into the bottom of your prepared 9-inch springform pan.

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and the celery. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for 6-8 minutes, set aside in a bowl.

In the same pan add your chicken and any additional olive oil needed. Cook through and then add the buffalo wing sauce to coat. Remove form heat and set aside to cool. You don't want it piping hot when you add it to the cream cheese mixture.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. With the machine running, add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in the cream, blue cheese, and sauteed vegetables until fully incorporated, about 2 minutes. Fold in the chicken. Pour the filling into the prepared crust then drizzle the buffalo wing sauce on the top and swirl into the filling with a metal or bamboo skewer. Alternately you can just add the hot sauce to the mix before pouring but I wanted a swirl rather than a uniform pink color.
 Bake until almost firm, about 50 minutes. Turn off the heat and crack the oven door, let sit for another 20 minutes. At that stage it should be fully set and pulled away form the edge of the springform pan.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. If you refrigerate the cake before serving, allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Serve with more crumbled blue cheese, wing sauce and finely chopped celery .