Nobody Needs Cheesecake, But Who Cares

Daughter No. 1 came home over the weekend, although she doesn't call it "home" anymore. I remember those college days when I started calling my dorm room "home," and the house I grew up in became "my parents' house." I still say she came home, though. She has become interested in baking, so we made a cheesecake together using my favorite cheesecake recipe—white chocolate with a cookie crust.

I decorated it with chocolate curls, although you can see from the picture that I have trouble making those. I melted chocolate and spread it in a thin layer on a plastic cutting board. After chilling it until it was solid again, I used a spatula at an angle of about 45˚ to push the chocolate into curls. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

I also made a raspberry sauce by stirring a bag of frozen raspberries in a saucepan over moderate heat. I added an unmeasured amount of sugar (not quite a cup, I bet) and stirred until the sugar melted and blended with the raspberries. I would normally add about a half cup of orange juice, but because there was barely any in the fridge, I used some sparkling grape juice instead. Odd that we would have that but not orange juice. Anyway, after the mixture boiled for a few minutes, I strained it through a metal sieve, wiped out the pan, and returned the strained sauce. I whisked in at least a tablespoon of corn starch and stirred until it was thickened. The sauce is great—not too sweet so it isn't overwhelming when drizzled over something like cheesecake.

Here is the cheesecake recipe. Enjoy.

White Chocolate Cheesecake
Crust:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour

Filling:
4 8oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
12 oz. white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

Preheat oven to 325˚
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour, mixing at low speed until blended. Press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Prick with fork. Bake 25 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing at low speed after each addition, just until blended. Blend in melted chocolate. Pour over crust.

Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knit or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake. Cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with chocolate curls and powdered sugar.

Tip: when baking cheesecakes, it's important to keep the oven moist. When preheating the oven, place a 13 x 9-inch baking pan half filled with hot tap water on the bottom rack. Bake the cheesecake on the middle rack above the pan of water. Avoid over baking—the center should be soft and moist and will firm during cooling.