Pretty Please with Strawberries on Top!

White Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake 

If you've ever seen my "Sweets" album on facebook, you probably already have guessed that cheesecake is my favorite dessert to work with. It's simple to make, and there's so many ways you can change it up. My favorite way to do that is with fruit. Out of all of the cheesecakes that I 've made in the last year, this is, by far, my favorite one :-). I found a recipe for an "Orange Chocolate Cheesecake" but since I had already done something similar to that I decided to put my own spin on it. My dad proposed I make a cherry cheesecake, buuuttttt I hate cherries so I picked strawberries. Unfortunately, fresh strawberries suck in November so I had to use frozen ones. Anyways here's how I did it:

Ingredients

• 2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (about 60 wafers)
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 
  FILLING:
• 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 4 eggs
• 10 ounces white baking chocolate, melted
• 1/2 cup of sweetened frozen strawberries (thawed and pureed)
• 
  TOPPING:
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon strawberry extract
• 2 cups of sweetened frozen strawberries (thawed)
• Cool Whip

Directions

• Combine the first three ingredients; press onto the bottom and 1-1/2 in up the sides of a greased 10-in. springform pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes; cool completely.
• In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, puree and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate. Pour into crust. Place pan on a baking sheet
• Bake at 350° for 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until center is nearly set. Cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. (Be careful not to let it bake too long, or it will crack when it sets)
• Combine the sour cream, sugar and extract; spread over filling. Bake at 450° for 5-7 minutes or until set. Chill, uncovered, 1 hour. Arrange strawberries on cheesecake. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 12-16 servings.
• A little before planned serving time, put cool whip on the cake as desired.

"We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are." 
--Adelle Davis

• Bon Appétit!