Contest-Winning White Chocolate Cheesecake —rsquo; A Finish Worthy of the Occasion

The week of the Boise trip. I leave Friday morning. The flight is from Billings at six fifty-five in the morning, which means I am leaving the ranch at four. The suit is hung in the closet ready. The boots are polished. The remarks are in my coat pocket. The hotel is booked. The Saturday flight back gets me into Billings at eleven, into the ranch by one. I will be in Bozeman within four hours of touchdown if Tara goes early. She will not. She is twenty-eight weeks. The doctor says she is doing well. The doctor says first babies are almost never early.

I lined out the work for the weekend with Mom and the neighbors. Tom Whelan will come over twice a day to check on Patrick and to help if needed. The Donnelly brothers will check the cattle Saturday morning. The cattle do not need much in February — they need hay in the rack and water in the trough and the calf shed gate closed at night against coyotes. The hay is in the barn. The trough is heated. The gate works. The chores are not large. The need is more about Patrick than about cattle. Tom will be there.

Patrick has been having a good stretch since the medication adjustment two weeks ago. He has been at the kitchen table for breakfast. He has been on the porch in the afternoons in his big coat with a blanket on his lap. He has been eating well. He told me Wednesday he wished he could come to Boise. I said, Dad, you would not love a hotel, an awards dinner, or a flight. He said, I would love watching you up there. I said, Mom can take video. He said, Make her. I said, I will. Mom heard. Mom said, I will. Patrick said, Good. The conversation lasted maybe thirty seconds. The exchange was the whole one — Patrick wanting to be there, Patrick acknowledging he could not, Patrick asking for video, Mom committing to the video, me agreeing to make her commit. That is more communication on a single subject than Gallaghers usually attempt. We attempted it. We succeeded.

I shod two horses Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning to clear the calendar before the trip. Both went well. The clients knew about the trip and wished me luck. One of them — Vera Halverson, who I shod for in Hobson in July, eighty-one and tough as winter wheat — said, You bring back that prize, Ryan, you hear me. I said, Vera, I am one of five. She said, You are the one I am rooting for. I said, Thanks, Vera. She said, Bring it back. I am not going to bring it back. I do not think I will, anyway. The book is small. The other finalists are people with more visibility and longer careers. Whatever. I am going. I am taking the speech. Whatever happens, happens.

Cooked Sunday a roast leg of lamb. The first lamb I have cooked in three years. From the Donnelly brothers — they sold me a half-lamb in October and I had been keeping the leg for an occasion. Boned, butterflied, marinated overnight in olive oil and garlic and rosemary and lemon zest, cooked at four-fifty for forty minutes until the outside was deeply browned and the inside was a beautiful pink. Sliced thin. Served with a yogurt sauce I made with Mom's yogurt and chopped mint from the windowsill pot. Patrick had three slices. Mom had two. I had three. The lamb was the right call. Lamb in February is unusual but right — heavy enough for the cold, bright with the herbs, an animal that knows the same Montana grass the cattle know. The Donnellys do this lamb justice. I cooked it well. I am noting that. I have been cooking well lately. I have been noticing the noticing.

Saturday cookout was Friday because of the trip — eight men, Friday night, indoor because the wind was blowing thirty. We ate beef stew in the kitchen at the long table that Mom and Patrick eat at every day. Marcus made one hundred thirty-six days. The men sang one song late, the same Pete song from two weeks ago. The fire was the woodstove. The night was good. I went to bed at ten and was up at three thirty Friday morning to drive to Billings to fly to Boise. The trip is on. The week is going. The work is the work.

The lamb was the main event that Sunday, but a meal worth marking deserves an ending worth remembering — and with the trip to Boise two days out, the awards dinner ahead, and Patrick eating well at the table for the first time in a stretch, this felt like a week that had earned something rich and deliberate at the close. A white chocolate cheesecake is not a modest thing. That was exactly the point.

Contest-Winning White Chocolate Cheesecake

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 10 min | Total Time: 5 hrs 35 min (includes chilling) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 12 oz white chocolate chips or baking bars, chopped
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• White chocolate shavings or fresh berries, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Make the crust. Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a bowl until evenly moistened. Press firmly into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
2. Melt the white chocolate. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine white chocolate and heavy cream. Stir constantly until fully melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.
3. Beat the filling. In a large mixing bowl, beat softened cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed.
4. Add eggs and flavorings. Add eggs one at a time, beating on low speed just until each is incorporated. Mix in vanilla extract and salt. Do not overbeat after the eggs go in.
5. Fold in chocolate and sour cream. Stir in the cooled white chocolate mixture, then fold in sour cream until the batter is smooth and uniform.
6. Fill and bake. Pour filling over the prepared crust. Place springform pan in a large roasting pan and add 1 inch of hot water to the outer pan to create a water bath. Bake at 325°F for 60–70 minutes, until the edges are set and the center jiggles slightly.
7. Cool slowly. Turn off the oven and crack the door open. Let the cheesecake rest in the oven for 1 hour. This prevents cracking. Remove from water bath and run a thin knife around the edge. Cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Chill. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Remove from springform ring before serving. Garnish with white chocolate shavings or fresh berries if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 520 | Protein: 8g | Fat: 36g | Carbs: 42g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 290mg