I am a chocolate fiend. Most of the time, I can resist the temptation, but Easter and Christmas candy are more tempting than the rest.

I bought some Christmas candy last week. Joe ate it all.

{cough, cough}

That was me choking on my lie.

I didn’t feel all that guilty about buying the candy though, because I bought Hershey’s kisses. Every Hershey’s purchase contributes to the Milton Hershey School where I was a student teacher.

If you don’t know about the Milton Hershey School, you should check out the Hershey Legacy website. The Milton Hershey School gives kids a chance to break the cycle of poverty by providing them with an excellent education. It is an amazing opportunity, and I loved the kids I worked with there.

I bought Hershey’s kisses, so it was really more of a charitable contribution than a highly caloric indulgence for myself, right?

Allow me to believe my rationalization, okay?

Anyway, I got Candy Cane Kisses and Cherry Cordial Kisses, and both of them had amazing-looking cheesecake recipes on the back.

Cheesecake is Joe’s favorite, so I’m going to pick up another bag of Candy Cane kisses to make the Candy Cane Swirl Cheesecake for his birthday next week.

Candy Cane Swirl Cheesecake

Ingredients for Cookie Crumb Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (about 45 cookies) – This is a great place to get kids involved. Put the cookies into a large zip top bag and let the whack it or smoosh it or roll over it with a rolling pin. They’ll love it.
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Ingredients for Candy Swirl Cheesecake Filling:

• 3 packages (8 ounces each) of cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 42 Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses (that’s a whole 8 ounce bag, give or take a couple of Kisses)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Sweetened whipped cream

Instructions for Cookie Crumb Crust:

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Stir together cookie crumbs and sugar. Blend in melted butter.
3. Press crust mixture into bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of a 9-inch springform pan.
4. Bake 8 minutes; cool.

Instructions for Candy Swirl Cheesecake:

1. It’s important that you don’t overbeat the cheesecake batter. If you do, it will raise too much in the oven and then become totally hideous when it falls. It will still taste good, certainly, but it will be much less impressive to serve.
2. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, completely incorporating each before adding another.
3. Set aside 1/4 cup butter; pour remaining batter into crust.
4. Unwrap Kisses. Place 30 candies and milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at 50% power for one minute, stir. If necessary, microwave in 15 second increments at 50% power until candies are melted and mixture is well blended when stirred.
5. Gradually blend reserved cheesecake batter with melted candies. Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls on top of plain cheesecake batter in crust. Gently swirl with knife for a marbled effect.
6. Bake 45 to 50 minutes until center is almost set. Remove from oven to wire rack. Separate pan from edges using a scraper or knife, but allow cheesecake to rest in pan until completely cool.
7. When cheesecake is cool, remove sides of pan. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.
8. Garnish with whipped cream and remaining Kisses.
9. Refrigerate leftovers.

Happily submitted to Recipe Trader, Mouthwatering Mondays, Homemaking Monday, Real Life, I am Blissfully Domestic, Do It Yourself Day

Photo courtesy of Hershey’s