Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS: Crust 1 1/2cups finely crushed creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (15 cookies) 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted Cranberry Sauce 1 1/4 cups sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) cranberries 3/4 cup cranberry juice cocktail

Filling 4 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened 1 cup sugar 4 eggs 1/2 cup whipping cream 4 teaspoons grated orange peel Top: 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1 Bar white chocolate 1 Bar semisweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS: Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray.Mix crust ingredients; press in bottom of pan. Bake crust 7 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, mix 1 1/4 cups sugar and the cornstarch. Add cranberries and cranberry juice. Heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Cook 7 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until mixture is thick and all cranberries have popped open. In blender or food processor, place cranberry mixture. Cover; blend until smooth. Place strainer over medium bowl; pour cranberry mixture in strainer. Press mixture with back of spoon through strainer to remove skin; discard skin. Set aside to cool

In large bowl, beat cream cheese and 1 cup sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs; one at a time, just until blended. Stir in whipping cream and orange peel. Pour half of filling (about 3 1/4 cups) into cooled crust. Evenly spoon half of cranberry sauce (3/4 cup). Carefully spoon remaining filling over cranberry sauce in pan.Cover and refrigerate remaining cranberry mixture for topping.

To minimize cracking, place shallow pan half full of hot water on lower oven rack. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes or until edge of cheesecake is set at least 2 inches from edge of pan but center of cheesecake still jiggles slightly when moved. Run small metal spatula around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake. Turn oven off; open oven door at least 4 inches. Let cheesecake remain in oven 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on cooling rack 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight before serving. Run small metal spatula around edge of pan; remove side of pan. Spread reserved cranberry mixture over cheesecake.

Chocolate Top: Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, Set your microwave at 50% power. Chocolate is very easy to overheat, and 50% power makes the heating process much more manageable. Microwave your chocolate in 20-30 second intervals, mixing with a completely dry* utensil between every heating session. Chocolate actually retains it’s shape when heated this way, so you need to mix it to test it’s structural integrity.

If you are able to mix most of your chocolate smoothly, just keep mixing, as the remaining chips will likely melt. Decrease the intervals in which you heat the chocolate with every session. From 30, go to 20, and 15, and 10, and so on. The line between perfectly heated and very badly heated chocolate is much finer than you might expect.