White Chocolate Raspberry Refrigerator Cheesecake: Resolutions Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends theme collaborations. Each month a group  of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about this partnership is that it’s not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crafts projects, book review and/or a technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is Resolutions.

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

I made White Chocolate Raspberry Refrigerator Cheesecake. 

Say what now? 

White Chocolate Raspberry Refrigerator Cheesecake

Whenever I think of New Year's resolutions, I'm reminded of what my son once told me, back when he was in high school. He belonged to a local gym and he used to tell me that he hated going to the gym in the beginning of January. I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise that due to all of those New Year's resolutions, you could never find a parking space the first few weeks of the month. But by the end of the month he was back to parking at the door.

I don't have to worry about breaking resolutions since I don't make them. Oh, I always plan to eat healthier, exercise more, be more patient, not sweat the small things. I suppose I could say those are my resolutions, but this year, in view of this post, I gave it more thought. And I sort of came up with the opposite. Yes, I'll try to make healthier eating choices, but here's something else I'm going to do. I'm going to let it go on occasion too. Enjoy the treats and refuse to feel guilty. Because I show my love through the foods I serve, the thought I put into developing recipes I know my family will love, through seeing the looks on their faces when they try something for the first time that I've made with them in mind. 

And those moments have become few and far between as my grown children go their own way. So here is my resolution: when they are home, I resolve not only to make special treats for them, but to let go of the guilt when I have a slice too. Whenever we're together I'll make their favorites, and I'll enjoy every bite along with them. I'm going to cook healthier meals, and I'm going to cheat. And I intend to enjoy the hell out of those cheats.

My younger son went back to school 2 days ago. But while he was home, I made this new dessert. It was easy to make, as another resolution is to spend less time in the kitchen and more time engaging with the boys when they are here.

For this refrigerator cheesecake I chose vanilla wafers for my crust.

Not a lot of ingredients are needed. For the first layer, cream cheese, sugar, white chocolate chips and raspberry jam.

This recipe calls for a pint of raspberries. I buy raspberries in the summer when they're cheaper and freeze them for recipes like this one. If you can't find fresh raspberries and you haven't frozen any yourself, you can buy them frozen.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar, add the melted chocolate, then remove about 1/3 of the mixture and add the jam.

 

Spread that layer into the crust.

Prepare the top layer, fold in the fresh raspberries, add to the pan, garnish the top and refrigerate.

Resolve to enjoy during this new year. And a White Chocolate Raspberry Refrigerator Cheesecake is a good place to start.

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:

Jules of The Bergham Chronicles shares New Year, Same Me. 

Tamara of Part-Time Working Hockey Mom shares Tips to Stick to your New Year's Resolutions.

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares Revamped Pizza Poppers.

Melissa of My Heartfelt Sentiments shares Invest in Yourself and Others in 2018.

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Creative Therapy, Embracing my Inner Crafter.

Rabia of The Lieber Family Blog shares Five Ways to Keep Your Resolutions.

Be sure to stop by again next month for more theme based projects.

White Chocolate Raspberry Refrigerator Cheesecake

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 box vanilla wafers
4 TBSP melted butter

2 8oz blocks cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 pint raspberries

Directions:
*Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave until smooth when mixed. Set aside.
*Set aside a few of the raspberries for decoration.
*Lightly grease a springform pan.
*Place the vanilla wafers into a food processor and process to crumbs. Mix with the melted butter. Press into and partially up the sides of the pan. Refrigerate.
*Beat the cream cheese, sugar and melted white chocolate chips. Remove about 1/3 of this mixture, whisk in the raspberry jam and spread into the crust.
*In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks hold.
*Beat the whipped cream mixture into the remaining cream cheese mixture. Fold in the raspberries. Spread into prepared crust. Decorate with the remaining raspberries.
*Refrigerate at least 2 hours before removing from pan to serve.