THE PINK SHOE COOKBOOK

There is nothing I hate more than having to make a trip back to the grocery store because I forgot/didn't get enough of something. I hate hate hate it. In fact, I would just scrap whatever recipe plans I had rather than go back. So I tend to buy too much out of fear of buying too little.

Which is why I have an excess of uncooked/unused cranberries, gravy, almonds and sausage now that Thanksgiving has come and gone.

But you know the old adage: when life gives you lemons make lemonade? Well i figured when life gives you too many cranberries and almonds, make cranberry-almond cheesecake.

It took a but of finagling and substituting, but I nailed down a great recipe for the afore mentioned dessert. Adding the sour cream makes it a bit less dense and cheesy. And the almondy sweetness compliments the tart cranberry beautifully!

Cranberry-Almond Cheesecake

3 tbsp sugar
3/4 c crushed graham crackers
1/4 c crushed almonds
3 tbsp melted butter
Three 8 oz packages of cream cheese, at room temp
1 c sour cream
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp flour
3 eggs
leftover cranberry relish/sauce.

Combine first 4 ingredients and press onto bottom of 8 inch springform pan (or something similar). Bake at 325 for 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese with extract, flour and sugar until well blended. Add eggs one at a time and sour cream. Beat until creamy.

Pour into crusted pie pan and bake at 325 for 55 minutes.

Allow to cool in fridge for one hour, then spread cranberry sauce/relish on top. I put my sauce threw a sieve first to smooth it out and then heated it so it would spread more evenly.

And for all you nut-haters, you could also use vanilla extract instead, and omit the crushed almonds, adding an extra 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs in the crust.