• 4 ounces chocolate graham crackers (I used Teddy Grahams, and needed more than 4 ounces… use as much as needed to coat the bottom and sides of the pan as directed below)
• 3  tablespoons  canola oil
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/2  cups fresh cranberries
• 1/2  cup sugar
• 1/4  cup seedless raspberry jam
• 3  tablespoons water
• 1  cup  sugar
• 2 1/2  (8-ounce) packages block-style 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1  cup  plain fat-free Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons  vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon  salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°.

Wrap outside and bottom of an 8-inch springform pan tightly with a double layer of heavy-duty foil.

Place crackers in a food processor; process until finely ground. Drizzle with oil; pulse until combined. Press mixture into bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 8 minutes; cool on a rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

Place cranberries, sugar, jam, and water in a saucepan; boil. Cook 8 minutes or until cranberries pop and mixture is syrupy. Cool 20 minutes. Place mixture in a food processor; process 1 minute or until smooth.

Combine 1 cup sugar and cheeses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in yogurt, vanilla, and salt. Add whole eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Place 2 egg whites in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until soft peaks form using clean, dry beaters.

Fold beaten egg whites into cream cheese mixture. Pour filling over crust.Spoon cranberry mixture over filling; swirl together using the tip of a knife.

Place springform pan in a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan. Add hot water to pan to a depth of 2 inches. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or until center of cheesecake barely moves when pan is touched (it took a little over an hour to cook completely for me)

Turn oven off. Cool cheesecake in closed oven 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven. Run a knife around outside edge. Cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill 8 hours.

This was definitely one of the most difficult desserts I’ve ever baked before, but it turned out great! Not only did it look fun with the cranberry swirls, but it really tasted delicious and creamy like a cheesecake should… but just light enough that you could eat a whole piece without feeling like you need to diet for a week.

Have you ever made a “healthified” dessert that tasted just as good (or better) than the full-fat version? Share your recipes in the comments!

For my Christmas cookie swap this year, I had intended to make a few batches of Peanut Butter Blossoms, one of my favorite holiday cookies of all time. We were all supposed to bake one type of cookie and share with one another (thus the cookie swap) so I figured that would be mine. But then on the day before my “baking day,” I got inspired to bake two types.

What inspired me, you ask? A new type of Hershey’s Kiss that a co-worker of mine brought into the office and shared with me – Candy Cane Hershey’s Kisses. These are obviously the same shape and size as the regular chocolate Kisses, but they are seasonally red and white striped, and taste like white chocolate with a hint of mint. I fell in love with them when I popped the first one in my mouth, and knew I had to incorporate them into my holiday baking. Not only are they delicious, but they are so wonderfully Christmasy and pretty that I couldn’t resist finding a way to use them in my baking!

Knowing that Hershey’s has a recipe collection online, including the world-famous Peanut Butter Blossom recipe, I set out to see if they had any recipes using these new Candy Cane Kisses. Lo and behold, there is a variation of the Peanut Butter Blossoms called Candy Cane Blossoms! Instead of the peanut butter cookie surrounding the Kiss, the Candy Cane Blossom recipe features a sugar cookie recipe instead. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

• 48 HERSHEY’S KISSES Brand Candy Cane Mint Candies
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Red or green sugar crystals, granulated sugar or powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Remove wrappers from candies.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in red sugar, granulated sugar, powdered sugar or a combination of any of the sugars. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

Coating the cookie with red or green sugar crystals instead of granulated sugar also adds an additional festive touch to these already lovely looking baked goods. I had a lot of fun making these and they turned out just as I had hoped… the cookies are delicious, and they add such a pretty look to my cookie tray! I can’t wait to swap them

I think just about everyone has had a Peanut Butter Blossom at some point in their life. For me, it was a staple of childhood Christmases, and to this day, thinking of these cookies brings back great memories of family and friends from years past. My mom stopped making Peanut Butter Blossoms in favor of a cookie that we admittedly liked better (Peanut Butter Temptations), but I always felt like a little something was missing with the lack of Peanut Butter Blossoms.

This year, I am participating in a cookie swap, and I decided to bring back the Peanut Butter Blossom. It was my first attempt to make them myself, and I had a great time and think they turned out perfectly! The recipe can be found on just about every Hershey’s Kisses bag (at least during the holiday season) but I’ve also included it below for my readers:

Ingredients:

• 48 HERSHEY’S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup REESE’S Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

I was very pleased with my first foray into Christmas cookie baking, and was inspired to make a second type of cookie with a similar style to Peanut Butter Blossoms… stay tuned for my next post to find out what it is!

What is your favorite thing to bake around the holidays? Is there any particular cookie or other baked good that brings back fond memories of childhood for you? Let me know in the comments!