...mmm...

You don't want to know. You really don't. But I'm going to tell you anyway.

Tonight is a pot-luck anniversary party for my friends, Steve and Kathryn. Steve asked for a white chocolate cheesecake, but I've made two of those recently, and, well, I'm tired of them.

I had some caramels from the dollar store, and I bought some white and milk chocolate chips today.

I made the usual white chocolate cheesecake, but I took about half the batter and mixed it with melted caramel and heavy cream, then swirled the cheesecake a little.

I also splurged on some long, heavy-duty foil, so that I could bake the cheesecake in a bain-marie, or water bath. Real cheesecake bakers use these to keep their cheesecakes from cracking. And it worked. (It also nearly doubled the baking time.)

For something new, I made a milk chocolate ganache, instead of a white chocolate one. With the remaining chocolate, I stuck on slivered almonds.

No preserves in this one. It's pure gooey goodness, with a shortbread cookie crust.