Holiday Cherry Cheesecake

Holiday Cherry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sweetened coconut

Filling:

2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, softened
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 (21 oz.) cans cherry pie filling

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in shortening until fine crumbs form and add 1/2 cup of nuts to crust, and 1/2 of the coconut into crust mixture. Mix well and remove 1/2 cup of the crust mixture and set aside with the remaining nuts and coconut. This will be used for the topping. Press the crust mixture into a pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes, or light golden brown.

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla and pour into baked crust. Smooth it over the crust. Bake for another 15 minutes. Pour cherry pie filling over the cheesecake, and smooth over. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over cherry pie filling. Bake 15 minutes more and then let cool. Refrigerate over night. Cut and enjoy.

original recipe: http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/holiday_cherry_cheesecake/