White Chocolate & Malteaser Cheesecake

When it comes to baking, I tend to stick with what I know, mainly cupcakes and cakes of some sort as the flavours are so easy to mix up and decorating is always fun. But for Christmas I wanted to try out something a little different, as I'm personally not a fan of the usual Christmas dessert options like mince pies, Christmas pudding or Christmas cake. Having not made a cheesecake in years, I thought it was time to try one out again This recipe is super easy to follow and make, mainly consisting of just mixing up ingredients, whacking them in a cake tin and leaving them to set. No baking involved whatsoever!

This is the perfect cheesecake for any white chocolate and Malteaser fan and can be adjusted according to what you want or any extras you might fancy. Firstly I took a simple white chocolate cheesecake recipe from BBC Good Food and adapted the recipe slightly to incorporate the Malteasers within the base and topping. First you need to make the base in order for it to set, for this you will need:

400g digestive biscuits

100g Malteasers 

a few knobs of melted butter, I used around 100g

1. Blitz your digestive biscuits and Malteasers together in a food processor or with a rolling pin in a sandwich bag. 

2. Put your base mixture into a bowl and slowly add in your melted butter, mixing together until it comes together ever so slightly. It's best to start off slowly here and add more as you see fit. Too little butter and the base will be too crumbly. 

3. Spoon the mixture into a cake tin and pat down flat, then put this into the fridge for at least half an hour to set slightly while you make the topping. 

While you wait for the base to set, it's time to make the topping! For this you will need the following:

300g cream cheese (full fat makes for the best flavour)

250g mascarpone cheese

300ml double cream

600g white chocolate

130g Malteasers (you can use as much as you like, this was just what I had left of the bag)

1. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of water on a low heat, making sure to stir occasionally to avoid any sticking. (Try and resist eating it too, difficult, I know)

2. Mix the cream cheese and mascarpone together until well combined. 

3. Then add the double cream and mix again. 

4. Add your melted chocolate and stir well to combine. Keep mixing until you have a smooth consistency, if it looks curdled, just keep mixing and it will become smooth.

5. Crush the Malteasers in a sandwich bag as you did with the base and stir these into the mixture. 

6. Finally spoon your cheesecake mixture over the base and put back into the fridge to set. I left mine overnight and it was perfectly set by the morning. 

You can then decorate as you please. Strawberries or some other form of fruit would be nice. I used another 230g bag of Malteasers. 

I'll be making this cheesecake again for my Christmas dinner this year, it's so tasty! What will you be having for pudding on Christmas day?