White Chocolate Cheesecake

One of my friends brought this to my house a few years ago and I was blown away (because I'm actually not a big fan of cheesecake). The white chocolate is a game-changer! I love it with the raspberry preserves swirled in but today I improvised and used cherry pie filling because that's what I had in the cabinet. Equally as delicious!

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

Ingredients:

• 16 Graham Crackers (original recipe calls for 8 but I used 16 because crust is everything!)

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

• 4 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 2 pkg. (6 sq. each) Baker’s White Chocolate, melted, slightly (or 2 cups Ghiradelli chips)

• 1 tsp. vanilla

• 4 eggs

• 3 Tablespoons strawberry or raspberry preserves (or cherry pie filling)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Mix crushed graham crackers and butter, press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan (line bottom with parchment paper and spray sides with Baking Pam). Bake 10 minutes.

2. Beat cream cheese in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add sugar, melted white chocolate and vanilla, mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust. Drop spoonfuls of preserves over batter, swirl with a knife several times for marble effect. (Note: If topping with cherry pie filling, add after pie has completely cooled, prior to refrigerating.)

3. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake, cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.