Cherry Cheesecake

This is my favorite cheesecake recipe because it is relatively simple and doesn't have a lot of steps. It is very festive for the holidays and everybody loves cheesecake! This recipe is from my dear friend, Sandi Roman, she is such a great cook! She brought this to our home for Christmas Eve dinner many, many years ago when our kids were small and we didn't know many people in town. I was so impressed and I said," I have to have this recipe!"Well, I have been making it every year since then! So as I was doing the foodie shoot, I used my daughter's brand new camera and now I don't know how to download pics from her camera and she has a cold, so I don't want to bug her....so anyway, these are the pics from my camera when I was mixing the ingredients in the Kitchen Aid. You can see how high the cake rises. It feels like it weighs 10 pounds when you are all done baking and adding the cherries for the topping.

If you have a Kitchen Aid, it makes this recipe so easy, if not I always used a hand blender, keep beating until the ingredients are smooth.

Pour cream cheese batter into pan.

I was so excited how high the cake rose, I took the pic in the oven, I know I am a spaz! But it really is the little things in life, but this is huge!! LOL!

Beautiful!! It does fall when it cools and when your kids slam the door! I still hear my Mom's voice---don't slam the door and don't walk like an elephant!

When cake cools completely, add cherry topping.

Spray the pan before pressing crumbs on the bottom, I didn't so some cake stuck even though it's non- stick.

Hubs and I actually split this piece in half because he said it was too big! Ha-big baby-I could have eaten it by myself hands down!

CHERRY CHEESECAKE
Recipe from the kitchen of Sandi Roman

1½ cups Graham Cracker Crumbs ( 10 graham crackers, 1 full cracker sheet)
4 Tablespoons butter ( melted)
(3)- 8 ounce packages Cream Cheese
(1)- 14 ounces Sweetened Condensed Milk
4 eggs
(1)- 8 ounces Sour Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 can cherry pie filling


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Spray your pan with PAM. Combine crumbs and butter, then press down on the bottom of a 9" spring form pan.

In a Kitchen Aid, beat cream cheese until fluffy, add condensed milk, eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Mix until batter is nice and smooth. Pour into prepared spring form pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Let cool completely, add cherries on top.

Serves 12-14 depending on how big the slices are!

Abundanza! I have linked up this yummy recipe to these fabulous blogs!