Pam's Wedding Cheesecake

The butter should be at room temperature and sliced into bits. Put everything in a food processor.  Spin the steel blade until a dough ball forms.  It shouldn't be sticky, if it is add more flour.  If it won't form a ball, add a few drops of water.  Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate it at least half an hour.  Then roll it out 1/8 inch thick between 2 sheets of waxed paper to fit the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan.  For an exceptionally good result, cover the bottom with wax paper, pour in dry rice to keep the bottom weighted down, and bake in a 375 F. oven until golden.

The Filling:

1 1/2 cups ground hazelnuts (Hazelnut flour is best and is available from Festive Foods in Springfield, VA.  But you could blanch, roast and grind your own nuts in a food processor - but be very careful not to make hazelnut butter!)

2 lb cream cheese, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs at room temperature

Beat the cream cheese in a mixer until absolutely smooth, be sure to scrape the sides & bottom of the bowl.  Add sugar and mix well.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat only enough to blend each one in.  DO NOT OVERBEAT.  Stir in the ground
nuts with a spatula, making sure the nuts are mixed in evenly. Pour into the springform that you have lined the sides and bottom with the sweet pastry.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Carefully wrap the sides and bottom, but not the top, of the springform with several layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, to make it watertight.  Put a large shallow roaster pan in the preheated oven, put the springform into the roaster pan, add very hot water to the roasting pan until it comes about halfway up the side of the springform.  This will help the cheesecake bake more evenly. Bake the cake for 1 1/2 hours or until the top of the cake is a rich golden brown.  Depending on your oven, you may need to turn the cake once or twice so that it bakes evenly.  When done remove the cheesecake from the water-bath and cool on a rack for a few hours.  When the cake is cool top with the icing.

The Icing:

You can either make a soft or a firm white chocolate icing. The soft icing is a bit more lush, but does not freeze well. The firmer icing freezes very well.

For the Firm icing:
Very slowly in a double boiler, sitting over, NOT IN, HOT water, (the water should only be the temperature of hot bath water) melt about half a pound white chocolate and 2 to 3 oz unsalted butter.  Stir constantly until melted.  Pour over completely cooled cake and spread to smooth.

For Soft icing:
Very slowly in a double boiler, sitting over, NOT IN, HOT water, (the water should only be the temperature of hot bath water) melt 6 oz white chocolate, stirring until it is smooth. Slowly stir in 1/4 cup whipping cream that is at room temperature.  Stir until smooth.  Stir in 1 Tablespoon brandy or a liqueur that you like.  Pour over completely cooled cake and spread to smooth.

You can serve as soon as the icing has cooled or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  The cake also freezes very well.  To freeze, wrap in several layers of plastic freezer wrap, then in several layers of aluminum foil.  Let thaw in a refrigerator, still wrapped, for a day before serving.

Serve using a very sharp long knife, wiping the blade with a damp towel between slices.

[The recipe "increases" very well, which you need to do if you are baking in a different size springform.  A 10 inch springform will take 1 1/2 recipes.]