Brandied Cranberry Sour Cream Cheesecake

LCBO Food & Drink 2008 recipe. They're description says, "This is a cheescake fanatic's dream come true." Can't wait to find out! (May use fresh/frozen cranberries.)

• Ready In: 1 hr 45 mins
• Serves: 12-16

Ingredients

• CRUST

• 3 1⁄2 cups  chocolate cookie crumbs
• 2  tablespoons sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2⁄3 cup unsalted butter

• CRANBERRY TOPPING

• 340  g cranberries
• 1  cup sugar
• 2⁄3 cup water
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon vanilla
• 3  tablespoons brandy

• CHEESECAKE LAYER

• 3 (225 g) packages cream cheese (NOT low-fat)
• 2  cups sugar
• 3  tablespoons cornstarch
• 1  tablespoon vanilla
• 3  large eggs, room temperature

• SOUR CREAM LAYER

• 2  cups sour cream
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1  teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. CRUST.
3. Stir all ingrediants together until crumbly. Press into the bottom and to the top of the sides lightly greased 9" springform pan. Place on a baking tray & bake for 10 minutes. Then cool while preparing other ingrediants.
4. CRANBERRY TOPPING.
5. Simmer all ingrediants over Medium heat, stirring occasionally, until most cranberries "pop", about 20 minutes. Cool, then chill completely.
6. CHEESECAKE.
7. reduce oven to 325 degrees. Beat cream cheese until smooth & fluffy. Gradually add sugar while beating, scrape sides often. Beat in cornstarch & vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, scraping well after each addition. Scrape into crust (only will go 1/2 way). Bake 30 minutes.
8. SOUR CREAM LAYER.
9. Stir sour cream, sugar & vanilla to blend. After cheesecake has baked, remove CAREFULLY & GENTLY dollop sour cream layer on cheesecae. Spread until even & return to oven for 30 minutes. (Mine took an extra 5-10 minutes to set.).
10. Chill overnight before garnishing.
11. To garnish, spread cranberries over top of chilled cheesecake & chill until ready to slice.