Deliciously rich and creamy White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
- 300 grams (3 cups) Digestive biscuits or graham crackers, roughly broken into pieces (see notes)
- 145 grams (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 500 grams (2 and 1/2 cups) full fat cream cheese, softened
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) full fat sour cream, room temperature
- 100 grams (2/3 cup) white chocolate, finely chopped
- 125 grams (1 cup) fresh raspberries, torn in half
- Zest of one lemon, finely grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Grease and line an 8-inch square pan with baking or parchment paper, ensuring two sides overhang.
- Add biscuits to a food processor and whiz briefly until finely crushed. Alternatively, place biscuits in ziplock bag and bash them using a rolling pin. Transfer crumbs to a large mixing bowl.
- Heat butter in the microwave until melted and smooth – reserve 1 tablespoon of butter. Pour butter over crumbs and mix well. It should resemble wet sand. If it looks a little dry, add extra tablespoon of butter.
- Place crumbs into prepared pan and press down gently using the back of a dessert spoon to form one even layer. Place in the fridge.
- In large mixing bowl add cream cheese. Beat using an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add caster sugar and vanilla and beat again. Then add your eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.
- Add sour cream and mix until combined. Then use a spatula to stir through white chocolate chunks, raspberries (reserve a couple of raspberries for decorating) and lemon zest – try not to over mix.
- Pour cheesecake filling over crust and smooth the top. Add a few extra raspberries on top.
- Bake cheesecake for approximately 40-45 minutes minutes or until it no longer wobbles in the middle. Try not to over bake it as it will continue to cook as it cools. Leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar (with the oven turned off) for at least one hour.
- Remove and leave to cool slightly on a cooling rack before transferring to the fridge. The cheesecake is best left in the fridge for 3-4 hours (or overnight) until it cools completely and becomes nice and firm before slicing.
Notes
Digestive biscuits: I use Digestive biscuits for the base of this cheesecake. However, you can really use any plain, sweet storebought biscuits you like. Graham crackers or Arnotts Granita will also work. Some biscuits will just require a little more or a little less melted butter to combine. You want enough butter so the biscuits appear like wet sand.
Cream cheese: Good full fat cream cheese is the foundation of food cheesecake. Don’t use light cream cheese or spreadable cream cheese. Try and get hold of the brick-style or block cream cheese for best results. I use Philadelphia cream cheese.
Sour cream: The key to a creamy and light cheesecake is sour cream. If you cannot get hold of sour cream, a full fat Greek yogurt would be the next best thing.
White chocolate: I prefer to use a block of white chocolate that I have chopped by hand. You can use white chocolate chips or chunks. Or you can leave out the white chocolate.
Raspberries: Fresh raspberries work beautifully in this recipe. Blueberries would also work. You can use frozen raspberries – simply add them in frozen. Do not thaw them first. Alternatively, you can leave them out for a simple lemon white chocolate cheesecake.
Storage: Keep cheesecake bars in the fridge in an airtight container. You can also freeze them and bring them back to room temperature to serve.
To slice: Once chilled, these cheesecake bars will be easy to slice into neat squares. Use a large straight-edged knife and wrap it using paper towel or a tea towel in-between each cut.
