White Chocolate Blackberry Cheesecake with Blackberry Sauce

I got to taste this one! Can we say "yum?" The original recipe (modified below) called for a very little bit of blackberry sauce in the cheesecake, and none to go on the individual slices. Sacrilege! I doubled a sauce recipe and now have enough for the cheesecake, pancakes for breakfast, and ice cream in between. I might have over done it. A little.
Cheesecake
Ingredients:
* 1 cup pecans
* 1 1/2 cups graham crackers
* 3 tbsp sugar (for crust)
* 6-8 tbsp butter, melted
* 1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries, or unsweetened frozen blackberries, defrosted and drained
* 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
* 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
* 8 oz. white chocolate, chopped (Callebaut or Baker's Premium preferred)
* 2 lb. (32 oz/907g) cream cheese, softened
* 2 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
* 4 large eggs, room temperature
* 2 tsp. vanilla extract
* 1/2 tsp. almond extract
* 2 tablespoons whipping cream
* 1 cup fresh blackberries for serving with the cheesecake (optional)

* blackberry sauce (see following recipe)

Instructions:
Wrap the outside of the 9-inch springform pan with a large piece of heavy aluminum foil and place in a large baking pan with at least 2-inch high sides. The springform pan will be watertight. Preheat the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (180 C).

For crust: Blend nuts, graham crackers, and sugar together in a food processor until fine. Add melted butter until you can pinch the crust together slightly. Pat into bottom and sides of your springform pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Puree the blackberries in a food processor. Use the back of a spoon to press the blackberries through a strainer to remove the seeds. Measure 1/2 cup strained puree into a small bowl and mix with 1 tablespoon sugar and the lemon juice. Set the sauce aside and save any additional puree for another use.

Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Place the white chocolate in a non-reactive ovenproof container and melt it in the oven, 8 to 10 minutes. As soon as the white chocolate is melted, remove it from the oven and stir it smooth. Set the white chocolate aside to cool slightly while you mix the cheesecake. Put the cream cheese in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until the mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar and mix until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Mix in the flour. Add the eggs, 2 at a time, mixing the batter smooth before the next addition of eggs and again after all of the eggs are added. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl twice during this mixing. Mix in the vanilla and almond extract. Mix in the whipping cream. Stir in the melted white chocolate.

Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan. Use a small spoon to drizzle the blackberry sauce over the batter, leaving a 1-inch plain edge. Dip the spoon gently into the batter and swirl some of the sauce into the batter, leaving some swirls of sauce on top of the batter in a marbleized pattern. Do not disturb the crumb crust. Put the cheesecake in the oven and pour hot water in the large baking pan to reach 1-inch up the sides of the springform pan. Bake about 1 hour or until you give the cheesecake a gentle shake and the top looks firm (mine actually needed 1:30.) Cool the cheesecake in the water bath for 1 hour on a wire rack covered loosely with paper towel. Carefully remove the cheesecake from the water bath. Remove the paper towel and cool 1 hour more. The cheesecake should feel cool to the touch. Cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, at least 6 hours or overnight.

Blackberry Sauce
* 2 pints blackberries (frozen or fresh)
* 1/2 cup water
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Crush the raspberries with water in a saucepan. Add sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Push through a foodmill or strainer.

To make this quicker/easier, you can just make more of the blackberry puree for the cheesecake, and apply the sauce recipe to the excess. It's worth it!