BURNT BUNNY BAKES

For my birthday I wanted to try something different and for all my love of cheesecake I’ve never actually tried making a baked one so here’s my first attempt!

I blended a few flavours and techniques and this is quite possibly one of the best desserts I’ve ever made!the beautiful nutty pistachio with the juicy pear and crunchy crumble blend perfectly in harmony.

For the crust I used a classic biscuit base & for the filling a classic cream cheese mix but with the addition of ricotta.

If you’d like to take out the pistachio I would replace it with 1/3 cup melted butter or another nut butter. A touch of lemon too would also be decadent.

Ingredients:

Crumble:

1. 1/2 cup white sugar
2. 3/4 cup flour
3. 3 tbsp butter

Biscuit Base:

1. 300g gf biscuits
2. 1/3 cup melted butter

Filling:

1. 450g cream cheese
2. 425g ricotta
3. 450g sour cream
4. 150g pistachio butter
5. 200g brown sugar
6. 1/3 cup flour
7. 4 eggs

Pear filling:

1. 2 sliced pears
2. 1/4 cup brown sugar
3. 2 tbsp butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c fan
2. Start with the biscuit base. Crush up the biscuits and mix in the butter. Add to a tin, I used a 22cm circular tin. Press to the edges and up the sides of the tin. Bake for 10 minutes and put to one side. Drop the oven temperature to 175c
3. Add the pear filling ingredients to a pot on a medium heat and cook for about 15 minutes. Half the mixture. Some will be used for topping and some for the filling. Leave to one side
4. In a large bowl, start the filling. Mix the cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the ricotta and sour cream. Add the pistachio butter, then the flour.
5. Stir the eggs together in a separate bowl and slowly add to the filling
6. Add half the filling to the biscuit base and add half the pears. Pour over the rest of the mixture.
7. Bake for 50 minutes, turn the oven off and leave in the oven for 20 minutes before leaving to cool on the side until room temp. Then refrigerate overnight
8. When ready to finish off the cheesecake, mix all the crumble ingredients and spread across a tin. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 180c fan.
9. Top the cheesecake with the pear and sprinkle the crumble on top
10. I also added some chopped pistachios and white chocolate drops!