White Chocolate Cheesecake

This was a fabulous recipe from Nigella Lawson that I found on line, in the search for a new flavour cheesecake.   It was amazing!  So easy to make, and so utterly delicious - creamy and delicate with smooth white chocolate.  I took Nigella's suggestion and sprinkled pomegranate and pistachio onto it, as it makes it look so pretty.    She used gingernut biscuits, but I prefer the Lotus Biscoff ones.  Alternatively, use gluten free biscuits - ginger, hobnob or digestive.

White Chocolate Cheesecake

White Chocolate Cheesecake

6oz/175g Lotus Biscoff caramelised biscuits, crushed to crumbs (Nigella used ginger biscuits)

2oz/5g butter

7oz/200g cooking white chocolate, roughly chopped

10oz/300g full fat cream cheese, at room temperature, liquid drained

10 floz/300ml double cream

1tsp lemon juice

1tsp vanilla extract

Handful of pistachio nuts

Small quantity of pomegranate seeds

Line an 8” spring clip tin or a loose base cake tin with parchment.   Melt the butter in a bowl, add the biscuit crumbs, mix well and spread them over the base of the tin.  Chill in the fridge until set.     

Gently melt the white chocolate, either in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave, stopping frequently to see how it’s getting on.   Stir the chocolate and allow it to cool (as otherwise it goes stiff when you add the cream). 

Beat the cream cheese with a spoon in a large bowl until soft.  Fold in the white chocolate.   Half whip the cream and fold it into the mixture.  Add lemon juice and vanilla.  Pour the mixture into the tin and level it, making sure that it goes right to the edges.   Allow to chill for several hours, preferably overnight.  

Before serving, remove from the tin, by running a knife or thin spatula around the edge so that, when you remove the clip or push up the base, you don’t lose a lot of the cheesecake on the sides of the tin (though that’s a cook’s bonus!).  Decorate with the pistachios and pomegranates.   This is best served not quite chilled.