Isn’t it irritating how magazines use fake food and food stylists so that then your finished product never even slightly resembles the photo? This dessert was actually prettier than the photo! Woo hoo!!!! The recipe is ever so slightly adapted from Fine Cooking.
For the Crust:
6 oz. chocolate wafers
2 T sugar
5 T unsalted butter, melted
Finely crush the cookies in a food processor; add the sugar and butter and pulse until well-mixed. Press the crumbs into a 9″ tart pan with a removable bottom and bake at 350º for 8 minutes.
For the Cherry Swirl:
3/4 cup pitted sweet cherries (I used frozen Bing cherries)
3 T cherry jam
1 T kirsch
Puree in a blender; transfer to a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly, about 7 or 8 minutes. Stir in the kirsch.
For the Filling:
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. sour cream, room temp.
1/3 cup sugar
1 T flour
1 t vanilla
1/2 t kosher salt
2 eggs, room temp.
Reduce oven heat to 325º. Beat the cream cheese and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium low for about 3 minutes. Add the sour cream, flour, vanilla and salt and beat until combined. Add the eggs one at a time and beat just until combined (do not over mix). Pour the batter into the crust (set the tart pan on a parchment lined baking sheet). Dollop the batter with spoonfuls of the cherry mixture and gently drag a butter knife through, making pretty swirls. Bake until the tart is set but still moist in the center; this took 24 minutes in my oven. Cool to room temp. and then refrigerate until cold (at least 4 hours).