Always have an ace in the hole

My entire office is in turmoil right now, deadlines, trials, and sickness are running rampant. Everyone is over stressed, over tired, and over worked. I handle my stress by baking - which is perfect because there is nothing that destresses an office like homemade treats.

Now I should put a small disclaimer here - I a huge cheesecake person. I mean, a giant slice topped with strawberries from The Stage Deli is one thing I'll never turn down, and every Fall I grab a slice of The Cheesecake Factory's Pumpkin Cheesecake, but other than that? It's not anything that keeps me up at night salivating. So I don't have any drop dead fantastic cheesecake recipes of my own. However, I am a huge fan of the Philadelphia Cream Cheese cheesecakes because, well, they're kinda the at home experts. And even though I have a springform pan, its just so much easier to use a pyrex dish and not mess with that water bath.

In testament to their cheesecake goodness, when I brought this cheesecake into work I got not one, but THREE recipe requests! And a note stuck up in the break room that "Thatgirl is fabulous." And word on the street was it went over equally as well at my coworker's homes as it did in the office.

Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Cheesecake (from Philadelphia Cream Cheese - my changes in red)

20 OREO Cookies, crushed (I used Trader Joes Joe Joes, and a heck of a bunch more than 20 - 20 won't come close to lining the bottom I probably used closer to 30 and still had some gap-y areas.)

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream (Per usual, I always substitute light sour cream)

4 eggs

6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted, cooled

PREHEAT oven to 325°F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press firmly onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 10 min. BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition just until blended. Remove 1 cup of the batter; set aside. Stir melted chocolate into remaining batter in large bowl; pour over crust. Top with spoonfuls of the remaining 1 cup plain batter; cut through batters with knife several times for swirled effect. BAKE 40 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve. Store in refrigerator.