Recipe by Pete Lawless | Cooking Time: 1 hour & 50 minutes
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
10 tablespoons of melted butter
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 8-ounce container of sour cream
1 12-ounce package of chocolate chip morsels
1 can of Comstock Cherry Pie Filling
Cooking Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325°. Meanwhile, in a 9 inch spring form pan carefully mix the graham cracker crumbs with 1/4 cups of the sugar and the cinnamon. Drizzle the melted butter on top of this mixture and then mix very carefully so that everything is blended evenly. Carefully press the mixture into the bottom the spring form and as well as up to 1 inch up the sides.
In a separate bowl, mix the three packages of softened cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar. After this mixture has been creamed, mix in 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. Mix in the three eggs, being sure to add one at a time and mixing on the lowest speed of the blender. Next, blend in one cup of sour cream. As a final step, fold in the chocolate chips right before pouring the mixture into the spring-form pan. The baking process follows, in a series of four steps. First, bake for 50 minutes at 325°. Second, raise the oven temperature to 350° for 30 minutes. Third, turn the oven off leaving the cheesecake in the oven for an additional 30 minutes. Finally, open the oven door halfway and leave the cheesecake in the oven for an additional hour to begin cooling. Remove the cheesecake from the oven. After the cheesecake has reached room temperature, refrigerate for between 6 to 8 hours.
Top the cheesecake with the Comstock cherry pie filling and chill for an additional four hours. The cheesecake can be sliced best with a knife that has been gently warmed. Bon appétit!