Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

To make the crust:

In a large bowl, mix together the cookie crumbs, sugar, butter and salt until clumps begin to form.

Press the crumb mixture into a spring form pan firmly and evenly across the bottom and halfway up the sides.

Transfer the crust to the oven and bake until set, approximately 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool completely.

Wrap the bottom and sides of the pan with foil making sure that it is tightly wrapped so water doesn’t seep in. 

To make Apricot Glaze: 

In a small sauce pan on medium heat, simmer the California Ruby Royal Sun Dried Apricots with water and sugar until tender 10-15 minutes. 

Blend add all content to blender and blend until smooth- Set aside

To make Cheesecake: 

Reduce the oven to 325 degrees.

Add the cream cheese to a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy, approximately 2-3 minutes.  

Beat in the sugar and vanilla scraping down the sides of the bowl, as needed.

Add the eggs to the cream cheese mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Pour ½ the filling into the crust. 

Top with 4 Tbsp of apricot glaze. Swirl into cheesecake batter.  Finish with remaining batter.  

Set in a deep baking pan, transfer the baking pan to the oven and fill with water. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until set but still wobbly in the center.

Remove the cheesecake from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Warm the remaining glaze for 1 -2 minutes in Microwave for easy spreading.  Pour glaze on top of cheesecake.  Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 8 hours or overnight.