Cherry Swirl Cheesecake

Back at Thanksgiving, I made a Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake (you can find that recipe here). Recently, we had friends over and I decided that a cheesecake would make a great dessert. The Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake recipe that I had used produced a very nice cheesecake, so I wanted to use that recipe, but didn't feel like pumpkin said spring. I felt that I needed to use something for a swirl, but it had to be 'wet'. I decided that for this first attempt, I would try a ready made pie filling, so I picked up a can of cherry pie filling.

I simply swapped the same amount of cherry filling as there had been pumpkin and skipped the pumpkin pie spices. I relied on my mixer to beat apart the chunks of cherry, but allowed some chunks in the swirl. It was met with rave reviews. I was very pleased with the result. It gives me inspiration to try more...I'm not sure what I will try next, but some ideas that I have include caramel (ice cream topping), lemon (lemon pie filling) and chocolate (hot fudge or chocolate syrup).

Cherry Swirl Cheesecake

Servings 10

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter melted
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup cherry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray 9" spring-form pan with cooking spray. Combine the crushed graham crackers and melted butter. Press into the bottom and up sides of the pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, and vanilla. Cream until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reserve 1 cup of the batter, refrigerate covered. To the remaining batter, add the remaining sugar and the cherry pie filling. Mix until blended.

Remove the plain batter from the refrigerator and spoon about half onto the crust in dollops. Cover with the pumpkin batter and then dollop the remaining plain batter on top. Using a butter knife, gently swirl the batters together.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack in pan. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.



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