Chinese Five Spice Cheesecake

What you need:

Crust:

1 cup crushed up Fortune Cookies

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons water

Cheesecake filling:

2 pounds (4 packages) softened cream cheese

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

6 ounces Baker's white chocolate, melted

1 ½ teaspoons Chinese Five Spice mix plus 1 pinch for sprinkling

Garnish:

Caramel

Fortune Cookies

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Use a food processor or by hand, mix the crushed fortune cookies, sugar, and salt in a bowl. 

Add the butter pieces and mix until it resembles small pea size pieces. 

Add the yolk and vanilla, and mix until it forms a ball. 

Add the water to help dough come together. 

Form the dough into a disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Press the dough into the bottom of a springform pan and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown, remove from oven and set aside. 

For the filling, use a mixer with a paddle attachment. 

Cream the cheese with the sugar on low speed. 

Add the eggs 1 at a time until smooth making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. 

Add the vanilla and Chinese Five Spice. 

Slowly pour in the melted white chocolate and mix until well combined. 

Pour the mixture into the springform pan. 

Sprinkle 1 pinch of Chinese Five Spice on top of the cheesecake.  

Wrap aluminum foil around the base of pan and up side to protect from water bath. 

Place pan on sheet pan or pan with high sides and fill with 1/3 water. 

Bake cheesecake for 45 - 60 minutes. (Depends on the size of your cheesecake pan, the thickness will be different) 

Cheesecake is done when the center is set, turn off the oven and leave cheesecake inside till cooled.  Take out of oven, to finish cooling.  

When completely cooled, wrap the top with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. (To avoid cracking, do not open oven door when baking or cooling)

When ready to serve, unwrap plastic wrap.  

Release from springform and place on serving platter.  

Drizzle with caramel, place 3 Fortune cookies in middle of cheesecake and serve.  

Xiǎngshòu!  (Enjoy!)