In a large mixing bowl, whisk your crushed Oreo crumbs with your melted butter. Make sure all the crumbs are moist and there aren't any dry patches.
2 cups Oreo cookies, 1 stick unsalted butter
Pour the crumbs into a 9" spring form pan. Use a rubber spatula or the bottom of a measuring cup to press the crumbs down into an even layer, you should have the crumbs going up slightly at the sides of the pan. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Cheesecake filling
In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or using a hand held electric mixer, whisk the cold heavy cream for about 5 minutes until you have stiff peaks. Set aside.
2 cups heavy cream
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream on medium speed until completely smooth - you don't want any lumps at all.
16 oz cream cheese
Add in your sifted confectioners' sugar, melted white chocolate, sour cream and peppermint extract. Beat on medium-high until incorporated and smooth.
¼ cup sour cream, 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 4 oz white chocolate, ¾ teaspoon peppermint extract
Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in your whipped cream, being careful to not deflate the cream.
Pour the filling into your chilled crust. Use a small offset spatula to smooth out the top. Cover in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge overnight. 12 hours is best. Take out of the fridge and remove the sides of the springform pan.
Peppermint Bark
Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer over medium-low heat. Once it begins to simmer, turn off the heat and pour over the chopped chocolate.
½ cup heavy cream
Leave the cream and chocolate to sit for 2 minutes, then use a rubber spatula to mix until smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract.
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
Take the ganache out of the fridge and remove the springform pan. Pour the chocolate ganache over the cheesecake, using an offset spatula to cover the top of the cheesecake evenly. Sprinkle over your chopped candy canes.
3 candy canes
Whipped Cream
Just before serving, place your heavy cream in a medium mixing bowl. Use a hand held mixer or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk until you have stiff peaks.
1 cup heavy cream
Carefully put the whipped cream in a piping bag fitted with a tip (I used the Wilton 1M) and pipe all along the sides of the cheesecake. Sprinkle over extra crushed candy canes if you wish!
Notes
My recipes have been developed and tested in cups and metric grams. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way.Heavy Cream: If you're based in the UK, use double cream.Room Temperature: make sure the cream cheese and sour cream are room temperature before starting this recipe.Cream Cheese: If you're based in the UK, Europe, or your cream cheese comes in tubs, then the cream cheese you are using has a higher moisture content than North American cream cheese. Just before starting the recipe, place your cream cheese in a bowl and place a piece of kitchen roll on top of it, gently squeeze the cream cheese with the paper towel to remove excess moisture. Crushing Candy Canes: You can either crush these in a food processor or place them in a ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin.Peppermint Bark Swirls: to get the swirls on the cheesecake topping, I used a cake turntable. Once you've poured the ganache on top, place the cheesecake on the turntable. Use a small offset spatula and turn the cheesecake creating a spiral effect. Peppermint Extract: make sure you are using peppermint and not just mint. Mint extract can almost taste like toothpaste! Storage: Keep your cheesecake in the fridge for up to 5 days. It does not freeze well.