Continental (Raspberry) Cheesecake~

For my Daddy's Birthday I made him a "Continential Raspberry Cheesecake".
The recipe originally calls for strawberries, but I used fresh raspberries instead.
By the way, he LOVED it...as did everyone else. I guess it was a "hit".



Continental ______berry Cheesecake

Crust-
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup finely ground almonds
1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 T. (3/4 stick) sweet butter, softened

Filling-
1 & 1/2 lbs. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sliced berries

Topping-
1 cup berry preserves (I just boiled raspberries and added sugar to taste)
1 cup slivered almonds
_________________________
Crust-
In a med. sized bowl, combine cracker crumbs, almonds, sugar, and butter. Blend well with fingers, fork, or pastry blender. Press mixture onto bottom and sides of a well buttered springform pan. Chill for 30 min.

Filling-
In a large bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, and eggs until very smooth. Add the heavy cream and vanilla, continue to beat until very smooth and creamy. Fold in the sliced berries. Pour the mixture into the chilled pan. Place the spring form pan inside of a larger pan (can be a large cake pan, casserole pan, etc...) containing 1 inch of water and bake at 325 for 1 and 1/2 hours. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Topping-
Spread preserves over the top of cake. Sprinkle slivered almonds on top of preserves.

After chilling for appx. 1 hour, remove sides from pan.
Enjoy!