G-F White Chocolate Cheesecake

Easter G-F White Chocolate Cheesecake.  YuM!

Here is the creamy, delicious, "the best cheesecake I've eaten in a while" recipe.  That's what my husband's cousin said two parties ago.  There was no caveat, even when I asked, "Is it the best G-F..."

"NO!"  She insisted that "It's the BEST of any I've ever eaten!"

So here it is.  Third time baked in a week and I promise, it's the best cheesecake eaten.  It's not hard to bake either.

I think cheesecake crusts are a pain, crunching, mixing, pressing, baking.  NONE OF THAT!  Just crumble a few cookies and spread about 3/4 cup into the bottom of the pan.

Preheat 350  and procure a 10 inch springform pan with a cookie crust at the bottom.  My cookie crust is a whole other story, "the failed almond/apricot cookie fiasco," but failures makes great cookie crumbs!

Use any g-f cookie you have--pulverize it for wasting all your time and turning out to be a failure then sprinkle a good layer at the bottom of the pan.  The crust is only there to make it easier to get out of the pan anyway.  Tell the truth-- cheesecake is not really about the crust.

Blend slowly--so it won't fluff too much,

• 4 eight oz packages of cream cheese (I used neufachel--1/3 fat)
• 1/2 cup sugar  

When blended well, add

• 4 eggs (blended up)
• 1 tablespoons g-f flour (I used my healthier g-f mix)
• 8 oz. white chocolate (melted  carefully in microwave--stirring often) I mixed some of the other ingredients slowly into the chocolate to help keep it from seizing up before I incorporated it back into the rest of the mixture.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

AND

• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used light and it tasted great.)

Woops!  I forgot that last ingredient when I wrote this out for the party goers yesterday.

 I mixed it all up, poured it into a ten-inch springform with a cookie crust at the bottom and then baked it in the oven, above a water bath (a cake pan with 3 inches hot water) for about 45-50 minutes.  Smaller pan, longer time--just until most of the cake doesn't jiggle, when it's joggled.

Perfect cheesecake tips:

•  Leave it in the oven to cool and turn it off.  Cool about an hour then finish cooling outside oven and refrigerate until serving.  
• If you run a knife around the edge after the bake time, it might help keep it from cracking.  I forgot, but it only cracked a little.  (Legend says the  crack is essential because that's where all the calories flow out.) 

Last night, the party began with roasted tomato basil hummus, served with chips, veggies, and crackers, then we dipped goat-cheese strawberries in balsamic vinegar.

We ate grilled lemon chicken, quinoa tuna salad, OK baked beans, pepperjack mashed cauliflower and finished it all with the piece de resistance, g-f white chocolate cheesecake.  The family brought bacon-wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers and OK caviar and we feasted.

Delicious all, and I'll be days finishing the leftovers!

Reality Bite:  Baked it for the Easter Party, for the Missionary Dinner and for a birthday.  I need a Spring cleanse.  Uggghhhh, I'm full.

Dia's edition: only 2 packages of cream cheese, make up for it with sour cream. Worked fine!