I Heart Dessert

Happy St.Patrick’s Day!

One of my earliest memories was making rice krispie treats in preschool (yay Kindercare!). And I distinctly remember that we made green rice krispie treats, probably for St.Patrick’s Day. I’ll never forget how fun it was. I think what I was probably most excited about was the fact that they were green. Anyway, as an tribute to my preschool days at Kindercare, I decided to make green rice krispie treats for St.Patty’s Day. I didn’t even need to wear green today because my fingers were green from all the food coloring haha. Sometimes, I cook like I still am in preschool…

It took me more than just a few drops (17 to be exact) to get the prefect green I wanted.

I made one four leaf clover! I was too lazy to make more…

I never thought I’d be saying this, I made cheesecake. For those of you who don’t know, cheesecake is not my dessert of choice. I had a bad experience once and ever since then I can’t eat it…just brings back those bad memories. But, I found that I can get by with eating cheesecake that’s flavored and helps mask that strong cheesecake taste. Anyway, I decided to make a White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake and this was by far one of the most difficult items I’ve baked. There’s so many things that can go wrong with baking cheesecake…cracks, sinking, and it’s hard to tell when its done. Luckily, mine came out perfect. I really had to baby it the entire process. Although it was quite a bit of work and pretty nerve wracking, I really enjoyed making it and as Carla from Top Chef says, “It’s all about the love”.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups crushed Oreo Cookies
• 1 Tbsp. white sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 6 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream
• 3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together crushed Oreos, 1 tablespoon sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a microwavable bowl, melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth. In another microwavable bowl, microwave 6 tablespoons of raspberry jam for 30 seconds.
   
3. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate. Pour half of batter over the crust. Spoon 3 tablespoons of raspberry jam over batter. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and spoon the rest of the raspberry jam (3 Tbsp.) over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect.
4. Wrap foil around the bottom of the spring form pan to help prevent leakage. Place spring form pan on a cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet with spring form pan in the oven and fill the cookie sheet with water (this technique will help prevent cracks). Bake for 60 minutes and then turn of oven and let the cheesecake sit in the oven for another hour (this will help prevent the cheesecake from sinking in the middle). Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before removing from pan.
5. To remove cheesecake from pan, run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Slowly remove the spring form pan. Decorate with fresh raspberries and enjoy!

Cheesecake ready to be placed in the oven. I love the marbling effect!

All done, no cracks and no sinking! I’m so proud of myself 🙂

Decorated and ready to eat!

An inside look.

So, how did it taste? It was great and I think everyone who loves cheesecake would really enjoy it. However, I thought it could use a little more raspberry jam (personally, I’d rather have a more raspberry and less cheesecake taste), so next time I’ll probably double the amount of jam, just cause I love raspberry.