Cranberry-Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

Once I saw the cover of the December Cooking Light magazine I knew I had to make this cheesecake.  The swirls of cranberry on top just looked so enticing and festive.  I love cheesecake and I love cranberries, so this was a match made in heaven.

I was waiting for just the right time and it presented itself when a good friend of mine asked me to make a few desserts for various parties she had coming up.  Luckily for me she didn't have any preference for exactly what type of dessert she wanted so I told her I knew just the thing to make.

Since the dessert was for someone else I decided to go with a tried and true New York Cheesecake for the actual cheesecake.  It is from one of my very first cookbooks, Borden's Quick and Easy Desserts, that I purchased when I was living in Toronto, Canada.  The cranberry topping for the Cooking Light recipe listed Chambord (raspberry liqueur) as an ingredient but I really didn't want to go to the expense of buying a bottle.  So instead I decided to add some raspberries and a little port to the cranberries as they simmered.  I really liked this combination of flavors.  The cranberries and the raspberries played really well off of one another, sort of like a sweet-tart flavor.

When preparing this cheesecake I made the cranberry-raspberry topping first so that it has time to cool. By the time I made the base and filling the topping was ready to be pureed and then dolloped and swirled on the top of the cheesecake.  This is one pretty cheesecake.

Cranberry-Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

(adapted from Cooking Light and Borden's Quick and Easy Desserts)

Ingredients 

• 1 1/2  cups  fresh cranberries
• 1/2  cup  sugar
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/4 cup port
• 3  tablespoons  water
• 30 Nilla Wafers
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 4  (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 4 eggs
• 1 (14 oz) can condensed milk
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°.   
2. Place cranberries, sugar, raspberries, port, and water in a saucepan; boil. Cook 8 minutes or until cranberries pop and mixture is syrupy. Cool 20 minutes. Place mixture in a food processor; process 1 minute or until smooth.   
3. Wrap the removable bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with a layer non-stick foil.
4. Place crackers in a food processor; process until finely ground. Drizzle with melted butter; pulse until combined. 
5. Press mixture into bottom prepared pan. 
6. Beat cream cheese until fluffy in large bowl. 
7. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. 
8. Add eggs, flour, and vanilla; mix well. 
9. Pour into prepared pan. 
10. Spoon small circles of cranberry-raspberry mixture over filling; swirl together using the tip of a knife. 
11. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or until center of cheesecake barely moves when pan is touched. 
12. Remove cheesecake from oven and run a knife around outside edge to reduce cracking. 
13. Cool on a wire rack. 
14. Cover and chill 8 hours.

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