White Chocolate Mocha Cheesecake

Hello hello everyone! Hope ya'll had an amazing Thanksgiving and ate way too much food.

I certainly did! This year we had Thanksgiving at home, so it was just me, my brothers, my parents, and my uncle. 6 in all.

We ended up making enough food for 3x that many people.

It's Thanksgiving so why choose just a couple of different side dishes? Why choose between fried or roasted turkey? Why not have all?!

This is my families logic, and hey it works for me!

We had the traditional green bean casserole, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, walnut raisin bleu cheese salad, fried and roasted turkey, squash casserole, rolls, dressing, cheese grits, macaroni and cheese, cranberry sauce, and this white chocolate mocha.cheesecake!

Yeah... We didn't go hungry.

We hardly put a dent in any of that food but it was all so delicious! 

(Me and my amazing mom in the kitchen)

I was especially excited this year because I helped out a lot in the preparation of all the food. Well some of it anyway, the cheesecake and macaroni and cheese were my designated to-do dishes, and all the other casseroles me and my mom prepared together. My dad and brothers made the turkeys, and it all came out beautifully!

This Thanksgiving was fun and I have so much to be grateful for. My family is number one, they are my best friends and I am so blessed to have them.

White Chocolate Mocha Cheesecake

(Recipe adapted from Wilde In the Kitchen)

Ingredients

Crust

16 Graham crackers

1/2 stick butter

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

Filling

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 lb cream cheese, at room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

8 oz white chocolate, melted

¼ cup heavy cream

½ cup sour cream

2 tbls espresso powder

Garnish

2 ounces white chocolate

caramel sauce

Directions

Heat oven to 325. Mix graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter together. Press into the bottom of a 9” springform pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes, until slightly browned. Let cool slightly on a wire rack. Put a teapot of water on stove to boil

Whisk eggs in a small bowl. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla, mixing until well beaten. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add flour. Next, add half the eggs. Mix until combined and add the rest of the eggs. Add melted white chocolate, combine. Finally, add heavy cream, sour cream and espresso powder and mix until no more swirls of white are present.

Prepare the springform pan by wrapping it with foil at least halfway up the sides. Pour cream cheese mixture into the springform pan, put the cheesecake pan in a roasting pan and put into the oven. Fill the roasting pan with one boiling water about halfway up the sides, not going over the foil. Do not open the oven door to check on it! After an hour gently jiggle the pan, it will probably still jiggle but will firm up later on. Cheesecakes are very misleading and can be overcooked easily.

Take out of the oven and cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Take cheesecake out of the roasting pan, remove the foil from the pan and let cool for 1 more hour. Cover with plastic wrap and cool in the fridge for at least 6 hours before serving!

Pour your favorite homemade or store bought caramel sauce over the cheesecake, melt the white chocolate over a double boiler, and drizzle on top!