One of my favorite holiday recipes; Peppermint Cheesecake

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I have been enjoying the holiday season by eating and drinking too much, so I will have a few more restaurant reviews after the New Year. In the next few days I thought I would post some favorite holiday recipes, loved by myself as well as all our friends we've shared them with. First up...Peppermint Cheesecake!

I always thought cheesecake was too difficult to make, but my husband has always enjoyed making them so I kind of got into it. Cheesecake can be intimidating if you've never made one, but once you've got one under your belt it's a cinch. A couple of years ago we found a great recipe for Peppermint Cheesecake in the Arizona Daily Star, and when we made it everyone fell in love with it. I've got to say it's one of my favorites!

Peppermint Swirl Cheesecake

Crust

24 regular mint chocolate sandwich cookies (like mint Oreos)

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Filing

4 8oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1/4 cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

A few drops of red food coloring

1/3 cup 1-inch-diameter hard red and white striped peppermint candies, crushed

Topping

1 1/2 cups sour cream

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Additional peppermint candies or miniature candy canes

For crust : Wrap outside of 9-inch-diameter spring form pan with aluminum foil. Grind cookies in food processor. Cut butter into pieces, add and process to blend. Press mixture firmly into bottom of pan. Refrigerate crust while preparing filing.

For filing: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat cream cheese in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and beat until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating until blended after each egg is added. Beat in half-and-half, then vanilla and peppermint extracts.

Transfer 1 1/2 cups of filling to a separate bowl. Add red food coloring to tint it pink. Set aside.

Stir in crushed peppermint candies into remaining filling. Pour into crust. Drop the pink filling by large spoonfuls on top of the cheesecake. Cut through with a knife several times to swirl.

Bake cheesecake until filling is still slightly jiggly in the center but edges are puffed and set, about 50 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool 10 minutes. Maintain over temperature.

Now there are two ways to finish up this cheesecake. The recipe calls for the sour cream topping, which is very good. For this topping: Stir sour cream, sugar and extracts in small bowl to blend. Pour mixture over hot cheesecake, covering completely. Return cheesecake to oven and bake until top begins to set, about 8 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Using a small knife cut around the sides of the spring form pan to loosen the cake. Remove the pan sides.

We also like to cool the cheesecake and rather then add the sour cream topping we add whipped cream just before serving. Either way, it's great. Before serving add extra peppermint candy for accent. If you add the decorative candy too early it will bleed into the cheesecake; still tastes good but not as pretty!