Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

 

This is a chocolate dessert you can get very artistic with. The beauty, a side from the yummy taste, is the pattern of melted chocolate swirled into the white cream cheese mixture. If you’re really ambitious—and talented—you could draw hearts or flowers or spell out a name or ‘Happy Birthday.’ SAM

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs
1 (9-inch) pastry or graham cracker crust
2 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon half the batter into the pastry crust. Stir the chocolate into the remaining batter and pour over the batter in the crust. Swirl together both layers with a spatula to create a black-and-white design. Bake for 50 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack, then chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.