White Chocolate Malteser Cheesecake

Ok folks, hold onto your waistlines, because the recipe I am sharing today is for White Chocolate Malteser Cheesecake.  While this cheesecake may not exactly be good for your diet, it is good for your soul, and I am coming round to the belief more and more as I get older that having a little bit of what you fancy really oils the wheels of life.

Frankly, what is not to love here - white chocolate, Maltesers, cheesecake, with a chocolate ripple biscuit base.  I mean - how delicious does that sound?  And this cheesecake delivers on its promise.

I made this cheesecake not once, but twice.  My mother told me about the recipe in her local newspaper, The Toowoomba Chronicle, so I tracked it down.  Then, when I went home to visit my mum, she had bought the ingredients to make it.  Cheesecake #1.  I returned to my place, where I had also bought the ingredients to make this cheesecake, and there we have it.  Cheesecake #2.

I decorated my cheesecake with edible flowers from my very own balcony garden, which continues to defy my neglectful gardening habits.

Here is cheesecake #1, made at mum's:

This cheesecake is smooth, creamy, surprisingly not too sweet, and the base is lovely and dense and chocolatey.

The recipe for this cheesecake, if you dare to try it, is as follows:

Base

250g packet chocolate ripple biscuits
12 pitted medjool dates
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter
180g walnuts

 Grease and line the base of a 9" springform pan.  Blitz the chocolate ripple biscuits into crumbs, then add the dates, walnuts and coconut oil (or butter), and blitz until combined.  (Make sure your food processor has a decent capacity and plenty of grunt.)  Pour the crumb mixture into the prepared springform pan and press evenly over the base and up the sides of the pan.  Refrigerate while you make the filling.

Filling

500g cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar (I reduced it to 1/2 cup without incident)
200mls thickened cream (I used light cream, also with no ill effect)
400g white chocolate, melted
250g Maltesers, halved
1/4 cup boiling water
3 teaspoons gelatine

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together in a stand mixer until smooth.  Add the cream and beat until well combined.

In a small cup, add the boiling water to the gelatine and stir until smooth.  Add the gelatine mixture to the cream cheese mixture, and beat until thoroughly mixed in.

Stir the white chocolate and Maltesers through the cheese mixture, then pour into the chilled base.  Refrigerate the cheesecake until set (I found that three hours was plenty, but to be safe, leave it overnight).

Eat and enjoy the fuel for your soul.