Cheesecake Swirl Bars

Yield: 1 dozen

Ingredients

• 55  vanilla wafers, crushed
• 6  tablespoons  butter, melted
• 1/2  cup  finely chopped pecans, toasted
• 16  ounces  cream cheese, softened
• 1/2  cup  sugar
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  rum extract
• 2  large eggs
• 1/4  cup  refrigerated eggnog
• 1/2  cup  white chocolate morsels, melted
• 1/2  cup  double chocolate morsels, melted (we tested with Ghirardelli), or regular semisweet morsels

Preparation

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until blended. Press crumb mixture into bottom of a lightly greased 8" or 9" square pan. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Cool.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and rum extract at medium speed with an electric mixer just until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended. Pour 1 1/2 cups cream cheese batter evenly over baked crust.

Stir eggnog into remaining batter. Divide batter in half; stir melted white chocolate into 1 portion. Spoon evenly over cream cheese batter. Stir melted semisweet chocolate into remaining batter. Drop spoonfuls of chocolate batter evenly over white chocolate layer; gently swirl batters with a knife.

Bake at 350° for 30 to 33 minutes or until almost set. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 1 hour before serving. Cut into bars.