Adapted from Black Forest Cheesecake in The Lion House Cookbook

Ingredients

Crust:

• 10 oz Oreo cookies (about 25 cookies)
• 3 Tbsp butter, melted

Filling:

• 3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• ¾ tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp almond extract
• ⅓ cup maraschino cherry juice
• ⅓ cup maraschino cherries, diced

Topping:

• 2 cups sour cream
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted (about 3 oz)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Crush the whole Oreo cookies (including frosting centers) in a food processor to make 2 cups of fine crumbs. Stir in melted butter, then press evenly into the bottom of a 9-inch* springform pan.

3. Whip cream cheese in a stand mixer with sugar, then add eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla, almond extract, and maraschino cherry juice. Fold in maraschino cherries.

4. Pour filling into crust. Bake 60 minutes.

5. Whip sour cream with sugar and vanilla. Put ½ of sour cream topping on cheesecake. Melt chocolate chips and stir into the remaining sour cream topping, then swirl this mixture into the topping already on the cheesecake.

6. Return to oven and bake for 10 more minutes. Cool before removing sides from springform pan. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

*I always use a 9-inch springform pan. It gets very full, but it does all fit. You could also use a 10-inch springform pan.