White Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

This cheesecake is truly to die for (if you are a fan of cheesecake). I have found that it is not too hard to make and everyone loves it. Even my grandmother, who doesn't particularly like sweets, loves it! Here are a few key points to making any cheesecake:

1. Always have your eggs and cream cheese at room temperature

2. Always add your eggs last, adding them one at a time and stirring just until mixed. (If you over beat the eggs you run the risk of having your cheesecake crack.) With this particular cheesecake (or any cheesecake that calls for candy chips) you can add the white chocolate chips after the eggs and just stir until mixed (about 5-10 seconds).

3. Always bake your cheesecake in a water bath. For those of you who don't know what a water bath is you take a casserole dish (preferably the biggest one you have) and set your spring-form pan inside it. Then you fill up the casserole dish with water until the bottom of the spring-form pan is settled in the water. I am not positive why this prevents the cheesecake from cracking, but I suspect that it distributes the heat more evenly.

Everytime I have made cheesecake and followed these three rules I have had success! Happy baking!

White Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

Cream Cheese Filling:

5 (8 oz) packages cream cheese

1 ¾ C sugar

3 Tbsp. Flour

1 Tsp. Grated Orange Rind (or Lemon)

1 Tsp. Vanilla

¼ Tsp. Salt

6 eggs at room temperature

¼ c. Heavy or whipping cream

1 Bag of white chocolate chips

Crust:

1 ½ c. finely ground graham crackers

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1/3 c. sugar

1/8 Tsp. salt

Grease springform pan. Mix cream cheese, and everything but eggs, until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat until just combined. Pour into crust that has already been pressed into pan and baked for about 10 minutes at 350˚. Bake Cheesecake for 10 minutes at 500˚ until top browns slightly. Turn temperature down to 300˚ and bake for about 50 minutes more. Let cool for 30 minutes and then place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours. It’s best to make the cheesecake one day ahead so that it has ample time to cool and firm up.

Before serving melt white chocolate in the microwave and drizzle on top of the cheesecake for a nice finish.