Cheesecake for Valentine's Day... or any day

Cheesecake is a special treat anytime. I made one yesterday and we ate it today in honor of Super Bowl Sunday (I had to eat a second slice after my Colts blew it at the end). This recipe for rich Cherry Almond Cheesecake would make a great surprise for your Valentine too.

Cherries and almond are a terrific combination, but try as I might I could not find a recipe for a cherry almond cheesecake that sounded good. I experimented with one at Christmas, and it reaffirmed by belief that although almond extract is delicious, it doesn't take much before you have too much in a dish. This one turned out much better. Instead of buying canned pie filling, which is chock full of artificial coloring and corn syrup, I found canned Oregon pie cherries and followed the directions on the back to make pie filling (which was super easy).

Hope you enjoy this recipe... on Valentine's Day or any day.

Cherry Almond Cheesecake
12 servings
Crust:
1-1/4 c. raw almonds
1-1/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
2 T. powdered sugar
6 T. butter, melted
1/4 t. almond extract

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 8-ounce packages reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 15-ounce can cherry pie filling (if possible, buy pie cherries and make your own pie filling)

Topping:
1 c. sour cream
2 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Toast almonds and let cool. Place almonds and graham crackers in a food processor and grind to fine crumbs. Pour into a medium-sized bowl and mix in powdered sugar. Combine butter and almond extract, then pour into crumb mixture. Stir until well combined. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up the sides of an 8-inch springform pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing until just combined. Mix in vanilla. Pour into springform pan. Carefully spoon pie filling on top of cream cheese mixture. Using a butter knife, cut through fillings to swirl.

Bake for 45 minutes or until middle is almost set. While cheesecake is cooking, combine sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl.

Remove cheesecake from oven and pour sour cream mixture on top. Spread over cheesecake so it is completely covered. Return cheesecake to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Cool cheesecake on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around cheesecake to loosen from pan. Cool an additional hour on wire rack. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. Store leftovers in refrigerator.