Description
Decadent creamy cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust and fresh raspberry sauce.
Ingredients
Raspberry Sauce
12 ounces frozen (or fresh) raspberries (note: you may want a few extra fresh, for garnish)
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons water, divided
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
Crust
2 1/2 cups chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs (about 25-ish oreos)
6 tablespoons butter, melted
Cheesecake
1 Cup white chocolate chips
3 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup sour cream
Fresh raspberries, for garnish
White chocolate curls, for garnish (see note for a tip)
Instructions
- For the sauce: Place frozen berries, sugar, and 2 tablespoons water in a medium sauce pan on medium heat. Stir occasionally, mashing berries with your spoon until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook about 5 minutes. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon water with cornstarch in a small bowl and then add mixture to sauce. Stirring consistently, allow to simmer for about 1 minute until slightly thickened. pour sauce through a fine-mesh strainer to remove seeds. Set aside. This sauce can be made several days ahead of time and stored in the fridge.
- For the Crust: Combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter. Press the mixture onto the bottom and about 1 inch the sides of a 10-inch springform pan. (Different sized cheesecake pans, from 8-12 inches are fine, it will just change the thickness of your cheesecake and you may need to adjust baking time accordingly.)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- For the Cheesecake: (*If your eggs aren’t at room temperature already, simply place in a bowl of warm water for about 5 minutes right now). Place the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
- Beat cream cheese and sugar in a separate mixing bowl until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add extracts and sour cream, mixing just until combined, and then add flour and mix until combined. With mixer running at low speed, slowly drizzle in melted chocolate.
- Pour half the cream cheese mixture over the cookie crust and spread evenly. Drizzle 2 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top and use a knife to gently swirl into the filling. pour remaining filling on top and drizzle another 2 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top. Use a knife to swirl into batter.
- Place the springform pan on top of 2 layers of heavy-duty foil. Wrap the foil up the sides of the pan to prevent water from leaking into the pan. Place the foil-wrapped pan into a larger shallow pan, such as a large roasting pan, and place in the oven. Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to reach about 2/3 way up the sides of your cheesecake pan. Bake 70-80 minutes or until the cheesecake is set on top and very lightly golden around the edges. Cheesecake should have a slight jiggle when gently shaken.
- Remove both pans from the oven and let cheesecake sit in the water bath for 30 minutes. Gently remove pan from the foil. Place the pan on a cooling rack until cooled to room temperature. Cool and refrigerate for 6-8 hours, or overnight.
- When ready to serve, gently remove the sides from the springform pan and cut cake into 10-12 slices. Serve with remaining raspberry sauce drizzled on top and garnish with fresh berries and white chocolate. curls, if desired.
Notes
Tip: the secret for good white chocolate curls is temperature! A cold bar of chocolate will simply crumble and break. I like to place my chocolate bar somewhere slightly warm, such as the top of a fridge for 5-10 minutes to just slightly raise the temperature without melting. Then use a vegetable peeler and peel down the long side of the chocolate bar.