CANDY CANE CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350. Place a pan of water in the oven while it is preheating and leave it there while cheesecake is baking. This will add moisture to help prevent cracking.
• 2. Process cookies in food processor until fine crumbs. Process candy canes very fine until almost a powder. Add to cookie crumbs and mix well. SLOWLY add melted butter, stirring it in with a fork. Add just enough to make the crumbs stick together for the crust. Press into bottom and half way up sides of a 9" spring form pan.
• 3. Make sure all filling ingredients are at room temperature. This is very important so that you do not need to overmix. Overmixing and overbaking will both cause your cake to crack. Mix cream cheese and sugar on low speed until smooth. Add eggs and sour cream and mix just until incorporated.
• 4. Sprinkle on flour and mix in. Add flavorings. If desired, reserve 1/2 cup of batter to color red and/or green to be swirled into the cake. Pour batter into prepared crust. If desired, spoon colored batter onto top of regular batter and gently swirl with a knife.
• 5. Bake cheesecake at 350 for 15 minutes. Lower temperature to 250 and bake another 1 1/2 hours, or until firm, but the center looks a little wet. Allow to cool and then refrigerate until well chilled (a few hours to overnight) Garnish with whipped topping (or stablized whipped cream) and miniature candy canes.