Peppermint Cheesecake
Ingredients
| Crust | |
|---|---|
| 1 | 9-oz box chocolate wafer cookies or oreos |
| ¼ | cup sugar |
| ½ | cup unsalted butter, melted |
| Filling | |
| 2 lbs | cream cheese, room temperature |
| 1 cup | sugar |
| 4 | large eggs |
| 4 oz | baker’s white chocolate, melted |
| ¼ | cup half & half |
| 1 tsp. | vanilla extract |
| 1 tsp. | peppermint extract |
| 1/3 cup | peppermint candies or candy canes, crushed |
| Topping | |
| 1½ cups | sour cream |
| 3 Tbsp | sugar |
| ½ tsp. | vanilla extract |
| ¼ tsp. | peppermint extract |
| Additional peppermint candies and/or fudge to drizzle on top. | |
Preparation
FOR CRUST:
- Finely grind cookies with sugar in a food processor.
- Add butter, process to blend.
- Press mixture onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan.
- Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
FOR FILLING:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Beat cream cheese in large bowl until smooth.
- Add sugar and beat until well blended.
- Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.
- Add melted white chocolate, mix well.
- Beat in half & half, then vanilla and peppermint extracts.
- Stir in crushed peppermint candies.
- Pour filling into crust.
Bake cheesecake until filling is set in center and edges are puffed, about 50 minutes.
Transfer to rack and cool 10 minutes.
Maintain oven temperature.
FOR TOPPING:
- Stir sour cream, sugar and extracts in small bowl to blend.
- Pour mixture over hot cheesecake, covering completely.
- Return cheesecake to oven and bake until top begins to set, about 8 minutes.
- Transfer to rack, cool completely.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Using a small knife, cut around sides of pan to loosen cake, remove pan sides.
- Garnish with hot fudge (or Hershey’s syrup???) and/or peppermint candies (optional).
Enjoy!!
