Maple Cheesecake with Roasted Pears

She may have gone to prison for insider trading, but Martha Stewart does make one mean cheesecake. Maple syrup lightly sweetens the cheese filling and is brushed on pear slices as they roast before being layered atop the cheesecake, made here with a classic graham cracker crust. Not too heavy, not too sweet. Perfect.
Maple Cheesecake with Roasted Pears 
Martha uses a vanilla wafer crust, but I prefer the traditional graham cracker crust. She broils her pears, I simply roasted them. She sprays her roasting pan with cooking spray, I brush it with canola oil. I used an Epicurious recipe for the crust because it had less sugar – graham crackers are sweet enough – and a little more butter – because you can never have enough butter.
Ingredients

2 – 8 ounces packages Philly cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 Graham Cracker crust, made in a 9 inch springform pan (Recipe below)
2 medium Bartlett pears, sliced lengthwise 1/8 inch thick

Instructions
In a large electric mixer bowl, beat cream cheese on high until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup maple syrup; beat until smooth.
In another smaller bowl, beat cream and sugar on high until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. With a rubber spatula, fold a third of the whipped cream into cream cheese mixture, then fold in remainder. Transfer to prepared crust and refrigerate until firm, 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. L...

Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - January 5, 2016 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Desserts cheesecake maple pears roasted Source Type: blogs