Put graham cracker crumbs and salt in a bowl and pour in the melted butter
Stir together and then pack into an 8-inch springform cake pan
Make the Cookie Dough
If you want to, heat treat the flour before you begin by heating it in the microwave for 50 seconds. This is not necessary but some may prefer not to use raw flour. Sieve after heating
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy
Add vanilla and beat in
Add the flour and salt slowly and stir until doughy
Add the milk and beat until soft and creamy
At this point, put half the cookie dough in a bowl and cover with cling wrap (we'll use this later for the topping)
To the remaining cookie dough, add the chocolate chips and stir in
Make the Cheesecake
Put the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water to soak
Whip the cream until stiff, transfer into another bowl and set aside
whip the cream cheese, caster sugar and vanilla until combined and creamy (no need to clean the bowl after the cream)
Lift the gelatine leaves out of the water and pour out the water from the bowl, but do not squeeze the excess water from the gelatine. Melt the gelatine in the microwave until completely melted and not grainy (about 30 seconds)
Pour into the cheesecake mix immediately and whip it into the mix
Fold the whipped cream into the cheesecake mix gently until totally combined
Add the chocolate chips and stir through the mix
Assemble the Cookie Dough Cheesecake
Put a few spoonfuls of cheesecake into the pan over the cheesecake base and spread out
Take the cookie dough and roll it into small balls and place all over the cheesecake layer
Add another layer of cheesecake, followed by another layer of cookie dough balls and finish it off with a final layer of cheesecake. This should be exactly enough to fill an 8 inch cake pan perfectly
TIP: Don't put any cookie dough right in the middle of the cheesecake as it will make it difficult to cut neat slices if there is dough at the centre point
Put the cheesecake in the fridge to set for at least two hours
Decorate
Once the cheeesecake has set, remove from the cake pan
To make the ganache heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat until scalding (just before boiling, small bubbles starting to form)
Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate chunks, stir until smooth and glossy
Pour or pipe the ganache over the cheesecake in whatever pattern you like (or just solidly over the top. I just did a simple back and forth line over the cheesecake, but I cut it into slices first as I wanted to have the chocolate drip down the side slightly. Either way is good!
Take the reserved cookie dough mix from earlier and pipe it into swirls on the cheesecake, it's best to add the chocolate chips on top of the swirls after piping so that the chocolate doesn't clog up your piping bag