This recipe will never leave you wanting for any cheesecake in a restaurant. It’s amazing.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cookie Crust

• 3 Tbls Unsalted Butter
• 10 Deep Dark Chocolate Fudge Cookies (or other dark chocolate cookies)

White Chocolate Cheesecake Filling

• 18 oz White Chocolate, broken into 1 oz pieces
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 3/4 lbs Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 6 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Chocolate Ganache

• 1/3 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 Tbls Unsalted Butter
• 1 Tbls Granulated Sugar
• 3 oz Semisweet Chocolate, broken into 1 oz
• pieces

Instructions

Chocolate Cookie Crust

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Coat the inside of 9×3 springform pan with 1 tablespoon butter.
3. In a food processor, chop cookies. Pulse each batch until all cookies are in crumbs (this should yield about 2 1/2 cups crumbs), 10 to 15 seconds.
4. Transfer the crumbs to a stainless steel bowl. Combine the cookie crumbs with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Mix by hand until the crumbs bind together. Press the crumbs around the buttered sides of the springform pan, then on the buttered bottom of the pan.
5. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes.

White Chocolate Cheesecake Filling

1. Heat 1 inch of water in a double boiler over medium-high heat. Place the white chocolate and 1/2 cup heavy cream in the top half. Tightly cover the top with plastic wrap. Allow to heat for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir until smooth. Set aside.
2. Place the softened cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and salt in a bowl. Beat with electric mixer on low for 1 minute and then on high for 1 minute.
3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again for 1 minute.
4. Scrape down the bowl, add the eggs, 2 at a time, beating on medium for 15 seconds after adding and scrape down the bowl after each addition.
5. Add the vanilla extract and the melted chocolate mixture, and then beat on medium for 15 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish mixing with spatula until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Baking the cheesecake

1. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the prepared springformpan, spreading evenly.
2. Place a baking sheet with sides partially filled with 4 cups hot water on bottom rack of the oven.
3. Place the springform pan on the center rack of the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
4. Lower the temperature to 250° and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Lower the temperature to 225° and bake for 15 minutes.
6. Lower the temperature to 200°, and bake the cheesecake until the internal temperature of the filling reaches 170°, about 2 hours and 45 minutes.
7. Turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to remain in the oven undisturbed for an additional 2 hours.
8. Remove from the oven and cool at room temperature for 1 hour. Refrigerate the cheesecake for 12 hours (do not remove the cake from the pan).
9. After the cheesecake has been refrigerated for 12 hours, prepare the chocolate ganache…

Chocolate Ganache

1. Heat 1/3 cup heavy cream, 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon sugar in a 1 1⁄2 quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil.
2. Place the semisweet chocolate in a stainless steel bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir until smooth.
3. Pour over the top of the chilled cheesecake. Use a rubber spatula to spread the ganache evenly over the top of the cake, being careful not to spread it over the edge and down the sides of the cheesecake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.
4. The cheesecake can now be released from the springform pan. To do this, wrap a damp, hot cotton towel around the sides of the pan and hold it around the pan for about 1 minute. Carefully release and remove the springform pan. Use a serrated knife to trim the crust so that it is level with the ganache (trim the crust away from the cake so that is does not fall into the ganache.