Begin by preheating the oven to 350°F.

Next, make your cranberry sauce by adding the water, sugar, and cranberries into a saucepan. Simmer this mixture for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Once the mixture is thickening and starting to look like jam (after about 10 to 12 minutes), stir in the vanilla and bourbon. At the very end, when you are almost ready to remove it from heat, add some orange zest and remove from heat so it can cool.

Now for the cheesecake batter. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer until blended. Then add in the eggs and beat, making sure everything is well blended.

Pour half the batter into the crust, add 3 or 4 tablespoon-sized dollops of the cranberry sauce into the batter, and using a thin instrument (like a bamboo skewer), lightly drag it through the cranberry sauce to spread it out and make a marble-type pattern. Gently pour the rest of the batter into the pie crust and add a few more dollops of the cranberry sauce and once again drag the thin instrument through the cranberry to spread it out, creating a marble pattern.

Bake 40 min. or until center is set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours. Store the leftover cranberry sauce to serve on the side or over the top depending on how cranberry-forward you like your dessert.