White Chocolate Cheese Cake with Strawberry Sauce

I wanted something a little different for dessert this Easter. I hadn't made a cheesecake for a while and thought white chocolate added to my cheesecake recipe would be yummy. Strawberries are in season now so a sauce made with them would really kick it up.

36 graham crackers crushed
1 1/2 sticks butter melted
16 oz sour cream
2 8 oz bricks of cream cheese
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup cream
2 cups white chocolate chips(get a good quality white chocolate)
juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Press into bottom and sides of a greased springform pan using the sides of a measuring cup.
Bake at 300 for 10 minutes. Remove and cool.
In a small sauce pan, heat the white chocolate and the heavy cream over low heat. Stir continuously until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour it into a small bowl to cool. In a mixer put sour cream and start mixing. To that add cream cheese, sugar, eggs, yolks and vanilla in that order. Mix until well blended, scrapping down the bowl. To that add the cooled white chocolate and the lemon juice. Mix until well blended. Pour into crust.
On the bottom rack of your oven, place a large rectangular cake pan. Pour a full tea kettle of boiling water into it. On the top rack, that you have moved to the middle of the oven, place the cheesecake. Lower oven temp. to 250 and bake for 1 hour. Turn off the oven, crack oven door for 1 minute, close door and leave cheesecake inside the warm oven for 1 more hour. Remove from oven and chill for 6 hours before serving. Garnish if desired and serve.
Note: Pan of water in the oven is a must because it creates a steamy environment that will keep your cake from cracking on the top. The cake will jiggle when you remove it from the oven but will firm up in the frig.
8-10 servings

You could easily substitute fresh raspberries and raspberry jam for the strawberries in this recipe if desired.

Strawberry Sauce
1 quart of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced in half
1/2 cup of good quality strawberry jam
juice of one small lemon
3 teaspoons corn starch
1/4 cup cold water

Place the strawberries in a small sauce pot and mash with a potato masher. The berries will release their juice and the berries will be chunky. Turn on the heat and add the jam. Stir until the jam melts and combines with the berries. Add the lemon juice and bring to a low boil. At this point taste for sweetness. If the berries seem too tart add a spoonful of sugar if they taste too sweet add some more lemon juice. Mix the cornstarch in the cold water. Add a little at a time until the sauce has reached the desired thickness. Let the sauce come back to a boil to check for desired thickness before adding more. Spoon over the entire cheesecake and let it set up in the frig before cutting. Or you can spoon some of the sauce over each slice before serving.