Lou Anne's Christmas Cheesecake...w/a little help from her friends

I have had the filling recipie for years. It is my favorite! I didn't think to make cheesecake for Christmas untill I ended up with a batch of cookie dough from recipie on a box that I didn't like. While discussing it on another thread with a Gather food guru ( Shannon..you all know her...you all love her) she suggested"maybe a cheese cake crust" when I was trying to figure out what to "do" with it( cookies were out)!

This filling will make 2 large cheese cakes( and I mean tall and rich). I cut it down by a little more than half for the one I made( my original intention was to make bars but I went with the springform).

Use your favorite crust. I pressed the unbaked cookie dough into the bottom of the pan lined with parchment and wrapped in foil and baked it for about 5 minutes.

 Poured in the filling and baked for aprox an hour at 325 degrees.

I then mixed up about a cup of sour cream with 1/4 cup sugar and one egg. Spread that on top of the cheesecake. crushed up the previously baked cookies( from the recipie I decided I didnt like) and mixed that with another half cup of white chocolate chips and disbursed that on the top of the sour cream an baked for another 7 minutes.

Cooled it. Wrapped it. Froze it.

I took it out today to cut portions( well and give it a test taste...lol).

YEAH...it worked! Thanks for the idea Shannon!

cheesecake filling:

3 lbs cream cheese softened

1 lb 2 oz butter softened

1 lb 2 oz granulated sugar

 10 large eggs

vanilla and flavoring to taste( ie...lemon zest , or other extracts)

Combine the cream cheese and butter and blend on low in mixer till smooth. Add in the sugar and continue to blend on low till smooth again. Add in eggs one at a time till completely incorporated into batter.

Pour into crust in your spring form pan and bake with a small pan of water stationed on a lower shelf.

Gve it a giggle to check for doneness, center should be relatively solid but still a very soft touch.

Cool completely before storing. This can be made way ahead and frozen air tight.