Cherry Swirled Cheesecake

Valentine's Day just isn't complete without a decadent treat.  Last year I made Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes for Valentine's Day.  Those little cakes are so good, especially with a scoop of ice cream!

This year I'm making Cherry Swirled Cheesecake.  My husband loves cherries and chocolate together.  I can't see why he wouldn't love a piece of this rich cheesecake swirled with a cherry sauce and baked on top of a chocolate cookie crust.  This is a perfect Valentine's Day dessert! 

This recipe is part of the Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge.  In this challenge there are two ingredients that must be used together in a dessert each month.  This month those two ingredients were chocolate and cherries, a great combination for Valentine's Day!

Ingredients (printable recipe)
Crust
1 1/4 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (I used Oreos without the cream)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
Cheesecake
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cherry Sauce
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling or topping
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Combine cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter; press firmly on bottom of 9 inch springform pan.
2. In blender, puree cherry pie filling until smooth. Then, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add eggs, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.
3. Pour half of the batter into pan; top with 1/2 cup of cherry puree. Repeat one more layer batter and puree. With a toothpick or knife, swirl puree into cheesecake mixture.
4. Bake 50-55 minutes or until center is set.* Cool, chill completely.** Overnight in the refrigerator is best. Serve with remaining puree. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.
Serves 12

*Every oven is different, but it took an extra 15-20 minutes in my oven for the center to set.
**Here are some great tips from ehow on how to remove your cheesecake from the springform pan.   Cool and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before removing!

Adapted from Allrecipes/Eagle Brand Recipes

Here's my sweet little helper crushing the Oreos. This was a great job for these little hands.

The chocolate cookie crust pressed firmly on the bottom of the springform pan.

Cherry Pie filling pureed in the blender.

Here's my sweet little helper again! I already had a bag of Meyer lemons. We used about 5 or 6 to get 1/3 cup of lemon juice.

First, a layer of cheesecake on top of the cookie crust.

Next, 1/2 cup of cherry puree

Another cheesecake layer and cherry puree. I used a toothpick to swirl the cherry puree into the cheesecake batter. Isn't it pretty!

 See the yummy layers of cheesecake and cherry puree!

The Results...

Beautiful.  Sweet.  Rich.   

What's not to love!  

We gave this recipe 4 1/2 stars (out of 5)---almost perfection.  There was just one little thing that I would change next time.  I would slightly reduce the amount of butter in the crust to 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 cup.  As it baked, the butter oozed out from the bottom of the pan and when I pulled it out of the oven, butter dripped onto the floor. (I made this a second time and 1/4 cup butter worked much better. I've adjusted the recipe.) 

It still tasted wonderful.  I haven't made a lot of cheesecakes, but this is the best tasting cheesecake that I've made!  Cherry Swirled Cheesecake is a love-ly way to end a sweet day.  

 Happy Valentine's Day! 

Take a look at all the delicious chocolate and cherry dessert recipes from the Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge!

This recipe is featured at:
The Weekend Potluck 
Foodie Friends Friday Host favorites 
I also share recipes at these linky parties.