I likes me a good cheesecake. And here's the thing (for me, anyway)...if you are going to eat dessert, then eat dessert and don't worry about making it low fat, low calorie, etc. Just eat the darn thing, make it with real ingredients, and enjoy it. Nobody has ever gotten fat from eating the occasional full calorie dessert, piece of pie, or slice of cake. And you won't either. Now, if you want to eat nothing BUT dessert for 3 weeks, well, hey, more power to you, but don't expect to remain your slim ol' self. Capice?
I made this one for dessert on Mother's Day, and it was delicious. It got lots of compliments, both on taste and presentation. It's a pretty cheesecake, and doesn't take an artist to swirl it all fancy like. Just don't swirl it TOO much, or you won't have any swirl factor, just really a pink cheesecake.
Couple things here...I'm not so much into the melting chocolate in a double boiler. I use the microwave. Do whatever makes you happy here, but I honestly don't think that it matters which way you melt it. And I like that (a) the microwave is quicker and (b) I don't have 2 extra pots to wash. Also? I used frozen strawberries, because, hey, we had them, and they get cooked down, so I'm not sure it matters all that much.
You really need to make this the night before because it needs overnight chilling time. But that's okay with me, because then that's one less thing to do if you are also making dinner. You can wake up in the morning and have already accomplished something! OOoo---dessert for dinner is DONE already. Whoo HOO! How often does that happen?
Oh, and my husband would like there to be more crust..it's kind of a thin crust. So, if you like a heavy crust on your cheesecake, then go ahead and double the crust recipe.
I didn't add anything else to this, because really, truly, it's enough. I suppose you could add some sliced strawberries fanned out on the plate to make it even more fanciful; but the chocolate crusted cheesecake on the bed of strawberry sauce is plenty pretty enough for me.
White Chocolate Cheesecake with Strawberry Swirl
(Cuisine at home, June 2003, Issue 39, p. 39)
Makes: One 9" cake
Total Time: 60–80 Minutes + Chilling
For the Sauce—
10 oz. fresh strawberries, hulled, quartered
3 T. sugar
2 T. strawberry preserves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 T. water
2 t. cornstarch
For the Crust:
7 chocolate wafer cookies, crumbled
3 whole graham crackers, crumbled
2 T. sugar
Pinch salt
3 T. unsalted butter, melted
For the Cheesecake—
8 oz. white chocolate, chopped (or white chocolate chips)
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
Juice of 1/2 lemon S
Process berries, sugar, preserves, and lemon juice for the sauce in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth; whisk into berry mixture. Simmer to thicken slightly, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and chill until cold.
Preheat oven to 300° with rack in the center. Coat a 9" springform pan with nonstick spray. Process cookies, crackers, sugar, and salt for crust in a food processor until fine. Add butter as machine is running. Pat crumbs on bottom and up sides of pan. Melt chocolate for the cheesecake in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Remove from heat before totally melted—it'll smooth as it sits; set aside. Blend cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl periodically. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Blend in melted chocolate, vanilla, and lemon juice. Pour batter into prepared pan, then drizzle with 1/4 cup strawberry sauce. Swirl sauce into batter. Drag a skewer or knife tip through the sauce to create a marbled pattern. Don't over swirl you'll get a pink cheesecake.
Place pan on a baking sheet and bake until edges are set and puffed but center is still jiggly, 60–80 minutes; do not overbake. Turn off oven, crack door open with a wooden spoon, and cool cake inside 1 hour. Remove from oven and cool completely. Cover cake with a towel and chill overnight.
Slice cheesecake and serve with remaining strawberry sauce.
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