White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake

  
    May I begin by saying that there is no ailment cheesecake cannot cure? Smooth, tangy, cheesy, creamy goodness. Whatever bad mood you're in, it just seems to warm your heart. And hey, if it's good enough for the Golden Girls, it's good enough for me!


       I do prefer a buttery graham cracker crust, but this particular recipe calls for an Oreo crust, which is - not so surprisingly - deeelicious. I purchased the ready-made Oreo crust, but you could make it yourself as well, or experiment with other chocolate cookies. Or just use graham crackers :P 
    For the cheesecake, you melt some white chocolate with half and half, blend it with eggs and cream cheese and bake in the crust. Top with some raspberry pie filling/topping and out comes probably the most tasty cheesecake you'll ever try! Here's a recipe - use with caution: this is extremely addictive.

White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake

1 pre-made Oreo pie crust (or 2 c. cookie crumbs and 1/4 c. butter)

2 packages cream cheese, 8 oz. each (softened)

1 package white chocolate chips, 11 oz. or 2 c.

1/2 c. half & half

3 whole eggs

1 can raspberry pie filling, 21 oz.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. 

If making homemade pie crust, melt butter in microwave. Crush cookies in a bag with a rolling pin, or in a blender. Mix together cookies and butter.

In a medium size saucepan, fill 1/4 of the way full with water, bring to a boil. Melt white chocolate and half & half in a glass bowl above saucepan. DO NOT let water touch bowl. Cook with the steam. (I suppose you could also melt the chocolate and half & half in the microwave - it's probably easier.) 

In a separate bowl, blend soft cream cheese with eggs. To make positive there are no lumps, you could use a blender.

Temper the eggs by spooning a small amount of the melted white chocolate into the cream cheese mixture. Slowly pour the rest of the white chocolate into the cream cheese mixture. Pour into pie crust.

I'd recommend a bain-marie (water bath). In an oven pan, fill 1/4 or 1/3 full with hot water. Cover bottom and edges of pie crust pan with foil. Place in center of bain-marie pan and bake.

Bake for 40-60 minutes, until set. Cool and cover with raspberry filling.