White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake
Are you one who thinks peppermint and candy canes are only for Christmas? Well, I am one who believes that they stretch a tad further than December 25, all the way to December 31, possibly even further.
I found peppermint crunch candies as I was wondering the stores, uncertain of what I wanted to make. The candies are similar to peppermint bark, which works out well, because I really do not like rock hard candies inside my desserts. Some are pink and white, others are not. After tasting one, I didn’t care which color scheme was used; but I knew exactly what I would include in my New Year’s Eve desserts.
The question then became what else I should make. After much hemming and hawing, I decided that a cheesecake was in order. A White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake to be exact.
Mixing a couple of drops of peppermint oil into melted white chocolate and pouring this over the chocolate cookie crust insured that the minty taste would be present throughout the cheesecake. The delicious peppermint candies were chopped and included in the cheesecake.
The final touch was drizzling more melted white chocolate/peppermint oil on top of the cheesecake and decorating it with miniature candy canes. The key to working with white chocolate is to melt it very slowly and only add a few drops of peppermint oil so that the white chocolate does not seize or harden/thicken/get grainy to the point where the chocolate is not usable. This really isn’t an issue though, because peppermint oil packs a wallop of mint in each drop.
I took a White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake to a party last weekend to get some more opinions. If your friends are anything like my dessert loving friends, I can pretty much guarantee that your New Year’s Eve party is going to be sensational!
Watch it:
| White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake | Print |
- Crust:
- 1 package chocolate wafers
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- White chocolate layer:
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips
- 2 -3 drops peppermint oil
- Cream cheese filling:
- 4 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
- 1¼ cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 7 ounces peppermint crunch candies or peppermint bark, chopped
- Decorative topping:
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips
- 2 -3 drops peppermint oil
- 12 miniature candy canes
- For the crust:
- Preheat the oven to 325°. Grease a 10" springform pan, line the bottom with parchment paper and set aside.
- Combine the chocolate wafers and sugar in a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until it is the consistency of powder. Add the melted butter and pulse on/off until well mixed. Transfer the cookie mixture to the pan and pat evenly onto the bottom. Set aside.
- For the white chocolate layer:
- Melt the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Do not let the bottom of the double boiler touch the water. Remove from the heat and stir in the peppermint oil.
- Pour onto the middle of the crust and gently spread over most of the crust. Set aside.
- For the cream cheese filling:
- Beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down as needed. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to mix until smooth. Add the cream. Fold in the chopped peppermint crunch.
- Pour the filling into the pan and bake at 325° for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
- Release the springform and remove the side of the pan. Gently slide the cheesecake onto a serving plate. Prepare the topping.
- For the topping:
- Melt the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Do not let the bottom of the double boiler touch the water. Remove from the heat and stir in the peppermint oil. Spoon into a small plastic freezer bag and cut off a small piece from one of the bottom corners.
- Squeeze most of the topping out over cake in a swirl pattern. Place the candy canes around the edge of the cheesecake, picturing the numbers on a clock. Drizzle the remaining white chocolate over the top.
- Betsy's tidbit:
- The candy canes will run a bit as they sit in the refrigerator. This will not impact the flavor.
