Shelly's Recipe

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE

Category: Cheesecake

Crust
18 vanilla wafer cookies
Melted unsalted butter
1 cup toasted almonds

Filling
1 oz chopped white chocolate
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, room temp
3/4 tsp grated lemon peel
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup fresh raspberries unsweetened, thawed and drained

Topping
1 (8 oz) container sour cream
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 (1/2 pint) baskets raspberries or 1 pint strawberries
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350. Place large piece of foil on large baking sheet. Crust: In a food processor, finely grind the cookies and almonds. Add enough butter and blend until mixture forms moist crumbs. Pressing crumb mixture firmly on bottom and up 2 inch of the side of pan. Bake until golden, approximately 10 minutes. Cool.

Filling: Melt chocolate. Mix together next 4 ingredients until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beat just enough until combined. Beat in chocolate. Spoon half of batter into crust. Top with 3/4 cup berries. Spoon remaining batter over. Bake until edges of cake are set but center 3 inch still moves when cake is shaken, approximately 45 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes. Maintain oven temperature. Using fingertips, press down gently on edges of cheesecake to flatten slightly.

Topping: Whisk sour cream, sugar and extract. Spoon over cake, spreading to edge of pan. Bake 5 minutes. Transfer cake out of pan to cooling rack. Run small knife around sides of cake. Cool completely. Chill cake overnight. Cover cake with berries. Bring jam to a simmer in a small saucepan, mixing often. Gently brush jam over berries.