White Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cheesecake

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. Ours was really great, lots of time with family and friends, and oh so much delicious food! Santa was very good to us – he left me several of the cookbooks that were on my wish list, a ton of baking ingredients and lots of other toys to use in the kitchen. Shane is off from work this week so I’m really looking forward to spending time together and just relaxing, such a nice way to end the year. Today we’re off to see the new Mission: Impossible movie, and since the theater is at the mall, it also means we’ll be braving the after-Christmas crowds. Wish us luck 🙂

Remember the cheesecake project I mentioned the other day? I promised if it turned out well, I’d share today and let me just say, “well” would be a serious understatement.

Even though Christmas is over, maybe you’re still searching for the perfect dessert for a New Year’s Eve party? Make this cheesecake – you won’t be sorry. The base is an Oreo crust, which is topped with a white chocolate peppermint cheesecake that is studded with pieces of homemade peppermint bark candy. As if that weren’t decadent enough, a layer of white chocolate mousse sits on top and, if you want, crushed candy canes and chocolate shavings for garnish. I’ve never been a huge cheesecake fan; I like it, but it wouldn’t be my first choice in a dessert spread. This one, though, blew me away – a great combination of holiday flavors with the white chocolate and peppermint, and the perfect creamy texture. The cheesecake received rave reviews all around at our Christmas celebrations – I was lucky to snag one piece to bring home and photograph 🙂

My favorite thing about this recipe is that the baking instructions were so easy. One of the reasons I rarely make cheesecake is because I hate guessing when it’s cooked perfectly, and never take much comfort in the “until barely set” or “jiggles slightly in the center” instruction. This recipe has a two-step process – first the cheesecake is baked (in a water bath) in a moderate oven, and then the oven is turned off while the cheesecake remains in there. I followed the suggested baking times exactly and the cheesecake was cooked to perfection, it seriously couldn’t have been more simple.

If you simply can’t bear the thought of yet another sweet treat right now – I get it, trust me. If that’s the case, bookmark this recipe and make it one of your first priorities when December rolls around next year!

You can find the recipe here over at Baked by Rachel.