White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

If you've got time and you love to bake, then this dessert is for you. Allow  yourself a full hour to prep this lovely dessert for the oven. Add an hour to bake, another hour and a half to rest at room temperature, and you're looking at three and a half hours before the cheesecake is ready to go into the refrigerator. Bake this the night before so that it has time to chill and set. This is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

14 Oreo cookies
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
10 ounces fresh or frozen raspberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
11 ounces (2 cups) white baking chips (aka white chocolate chips)
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Open the Oreo cookies and scrape the stuffing into the garbage, reserving just the chocolate wafers. Combine wafers, 3 tablespoons sugar and melted butter in a food processor; pulse until crumbly and combined. If you don't have a food processor, then crush the wafers into crumbs by placing them in a large Ziploc and rolling over them with a rolling pin. Then combine the wafer crumbs with sugar and butter in a bowl. Press the cookie crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Refrigerate the pan while preparing the remainder of the recipe (refrigeration will allow the crumb mixture to firm up a bit).
In a medium saucepan, combine raspberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, and water. Over medium-low heat, bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to rest.
In a microwaveable bowl, combine white baking chips and half-and-half. Use a low microwave setting (10% - 30%) to melt the chips, stirring every 30 seconds (in my microwave, the mixture takes about 90 seconds to melt). Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in reserved white baking chips/half-and-half mixture and vanilla extract. Scrape the sides of the bowl; mix until thoroughly blended.
Returning to the cooled raspberry sauce, set a fine mesh strainer over a bowl, and pour sauce into the strainer to remove seeds. Use a spoon to press the sauce through the strainer. 
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Optional: if you have a roasting pan or casserole dish that is large enough to accommodate the springform, then I recommend using a water bath method to bake the cheesecake. If using this method, you also need aluminum foil wide enough to completely go under and up the sides of your springform, so that no water can seep in during baking. The water bath method is not required, but it does help the cheesecake cook uniformly.
Pour half the cream cheese mixture over the crust in the springform pan. Use a spoon to drizzle three tablespoons raspberry sauce over the batter. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into the pan, and again drizzle three tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top. Use the tip of a butter knife to swirl the top of the batter, creating a marble effect. Reserve remaining raspberry sauce for later. 
Place the springform pan on a sheet of foil that is large enough to go up the sides. Next, place the springform pan into the roasting pan or large casserole pan, then pour boiling water up to the halfway point of the springform pan. (Again, using the water bath method is optional. Skip these steps and put springform pan directly into the oven, if desired). When oven is heated to 325F, carefully place cheesecake and its water bath into the oven.  Bake for 45 minutes. The cheesecake should be lightly browned around the edges, but it should still jiggle. It will firm up more when resting at room temperature. If it looks liquid in the center, then it needs more time to bake. Depending on your oven, it should bake for 45-60 minutes.
Remove from oven; remove from water bath and foil. Allow to set at room temperature for 30 minutes. Loosen the cheesecake from the sides of its pan by running a thin metal spatula around the inside rim (this will prevent the top from cracking while it cools). Allow to cool one more hour at room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least a few hours, or preferably overnight.
Serve each slice with a large drizzle of reserved raspberry sauce on each plate.