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Raspberry White-Chocolate Cheesecake

Practical ideas for heart and hoe on Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.comEach Friday we’re featuring a practical idea from a team of creative women who will provide fabulous DIY projects, recipes, money-saving strategies, decorating ideas, holiday activities and even spiritual growth tools that will help you to live your priorities and love your life. We hope it will give you some helpful weekend projects to do alone or with a friend or two.

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17834841628_748de38706_o (1)What a treat for me to introduce to you Laurelin. She’s one of our #LoveYourLifeFriday contributors. More importantly, she is my niece. :-) Her mother, Thais, is the sister-in-law so many of you prayed for last fall while she was in hospice. She’s going to share with you her mom’s famous cheesecake recipe. It is the richest, most amazing cheesecake you’ll ever taste. And the great news, it’s so amazing you’ll only need a little piece to meet your cravings, and you’ll have lots left to share with your friends and family.

Now, before she walks us through making this amazing dessert, I wanted to give you a little more info on Laurelin and her husband Travis. They are all approved for adoption and waiting for a baby to love forever. So, I thought I’d put the word out in case any of you know a woman in a crisis pregnancy who is unable to care for her baby and looking for a loving home. Travis and Laurlein’s profile can be found by clicking here. {And you can rest assured that when they do adopt, that child will be properly spoiled by their Great Aunt Karen!}

Now, here is Laurelin {and her mom’s famous cake!}

The best raspberry cheesecake EVER! On #LoveYourLifeFriday at karenehman.com

Growing up, this was my mom’s World Famous Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake! This cheesecake is legendary. It made appearances for each family member’s birthdays and my mom was even featured in the newspaper with this lovely dish.

When my mom passed away last fall, I knew I wanted to carry on this delight, and have this tradition be a part of my home as well. So for Mama’s first birthday in Heaven this February, the family got to enjoy her famous cheesecake. The coolest part? I have the original hand-written, well-worn, food-stained recipe in one of her picture frames in my kitchen. So, when it came time to whip something crafty up for this blog, I knew my mom would be proud to be featured.

Mom recipe

recipe frame

Then Kenz's birthday party wouldn't be complete without a white-chocolate cheesecake made by Aunt Thais.
An Ehman birthday party just wasn’t  complete without a white-chocolate cheesecake lovingly baked by Aunt Thais.

Be warned, everyone will ask you to make this! And when they do, make sure you know in advance, it does need to be baked at least a day before you plan to eat and share. Although there are many steps to this recipe, I assure you most of the time is down time while it is baking. Which means, you can read, go running, cuddle with your dog….. or whatever makes you love your life.

Thais’ Raspberry White-Chocolate Cheesecake

Prep time: Approx. 30 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours 20 minutes

Chill time: Overnight

Ingredients and recipe

Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbs granulated sugar

½ cup butter (softened)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut crust ingredients together like pie pastry and pat into the bottom of a 9” springform pan. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. While baking, move on to making the cheesecake.

Baked crust

Cheesecake:

2 lbs. cream cheese

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

1 ¼ cup whipping cream (not whipped)

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

10 oz melted white chocolate

Cream cheese and sugar

adding eggs, etc

after adding eggs, etc

 

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add whipping cream, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until smooth.

melted chocolateStir in melted chocolate. (You can melt your chocolate on the stovetop in a bowl on top of boiling water – like pictured – or, you can melt in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds or so, as not to burn the chocolate.) Set aside and make the raspberry swirl.

Raspberry Swirl:

10 oz frozen raspberries

3 tsp cornstarch

Place in small saucepan and cook on low until thickened. Approximately 5 minutes.

raspberry sauce

thickened raspberry sauce

To make cake:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Pour ½ cheesecake batter into pan with crust. Swirl in ½ of the raspberry sauce. Add remaining cheesecake and remaining raspberry sauce and swirl. Springform pan will be very full! Bake 10 minutes at 425 degrees. After 10 minutes, reduce heat to 225 degrees and bake for one hour.

After one hour, turn off the oven (fight the urge – do not open the oven door!) and leave in closed oven for at least two hours. After two hours, check to see if center is cooked and only slightly jiggly. If not, leave in closed turned off oven for additional time. Cheesecake will firm up when chilled. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Once room temperature, place in refrigerator and chill overnight.

pre baking

after baking

finished cheesecake

final product

Cheesecake can be made up to two days ahead, and will last for several days in the refrigerator. Garnish with raspberries!

Enjoy!

Laurelin and the teddy bear I had made for her baby shower from a blazer of her mother's.
Laurelin and the teddy bear I had made for her baby shower from a blazer of her mother’s.

Laurelin is a School Psychologist and Special Education Supervisor in West Michigan. She  and her husband Travis have been married nearly a decade and live near Lake Michigan. Travis is a Supply Chain Manager at a furniture manufacturing company. They love living close to a Great Lake and enjoy all outdoor activities including spending time with the most adorable pup in the world (not that they are biased), Rooney. They also enjoy traveling and experiencing the world together. They are anxiously waiting to expand their family through adoption, and can’t wait to share their love with a little one (or two)!

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2 Comments

  1. Hi Karen and Laurelin,

    Thank you Karen and so much for sharing your story. The cheesecake looks amazing! Blessings to you and your family!

    Gratefully,
    Heather

  2. Laurelin, what a sweet tribute to your momma and her recipe. I will have to try this out (I’m not much of a cook but I’m BIG on sentiment!). I will pray for the baby God has planned for you!!!

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