Monday, May 21, 2012

Chai & Port Poached Pear Cheesecake


It was my hubbie's birthday weekend so not only did I have to join the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop with a tea inspired recipe, but I had to make his fave - a cheesecake. Well, what better than combine them both. I drink the odd tea to keep warm at work, but I'm not generally a tea person - much more into coffee (can't wait for the coffee blog hop!) I didn't want to wuss out though being out of my comfort zone, and of course I wanted to give it a go. I did choose a tea with a familiar favour though, to combine with the other ingredients.



Chai & Port Poached Pear Cheesecake (adapted from a recipe from "Eating for Goodness Sake" )

Poached Pears
4 pears
1 litre of Chai tea
500ml Tawny Port

Biscuit Base
200g Scotch Fingers
100g Butter
pinch of cinnamon

Filling
225g Cottage Cheese
70ml Sour Cream
75g Icing Sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon almond essence (or Frangelico!)

Icing Sugar to dust on top

Method

  • Peel, core and quarter the pears;
  • Poach the pears till soft in the tea and port, then leave to cool in the poaching juice;
  • Reserve the poaching liquid for sauce
  • Preheat the oven to 170C
  • Melt the butter for the base;
  • Whizz the biscuits in the food processor;
  • Add the butter and a pinch of cinnamon to the biscuits and whizz till forms clumps;
  • Press the biscuit crumbs into a greased 20cm spring form pan;
  • Line the biscuit base with the quartered poached pears;
  • Whizz the ingredients for the filling together till smooth;
  • Pour the filling over the pears;
  • Bake in the oven for about 20 mins or until the cheesecake has set;
  • Remove from the oven and cool
  • Meanwhile bring the reserved poaching liquid to the boil to reduce
  • Turn out of the spring form pan and dust with icing sugar
  • Serve with extra poached pear and drizzle some of the reduced poaching liquid.

11 comments:

Christina @ The Hungry Australian said...

This cheesecake sounds very rich, very lush. What did your hubbie think of it? Does he like drinking chai normally? I love it - it's fast becoming my standard order.

Unknown said...

Thanks Christina!
It was delicious, but not too rich, as the cheesecake is quite light. Hubbie enjoyed it as it was cheesecake. He would go either way on the Chai, since he's not a big tea drinker either! I find Chai Lattes etc. quite sweet, but the spices were perfect with the pear and port!

Anonymous said...

Love the idea of pears poached in the chai tea with port, my husband is a cheesecake fan as well. Delicious. :)

Nic said...

This looks delicious, I love poached pears and port, but I have to confess I will probably skip the tea if I give it a go!

Nic@diningwithastud.com said...

Oh I saw this on Instagram and wanted it immediately!! Looks amazing :) Thanks for joining the hop!

Lizzy (Good things) said...

I adore pears, they are so good this season too! Your cheesecake sounds wonderful, just delicious!

Jennifer (Delicieux) said...

Anything with pears immediately attracts my attention. I love the sound of this, especially with the chai, another favourite of mine.

JJ @ 84thand3rd said...

I was wondering when someone would post a poaching in tea recipe - nice one! Great combo with the cheesecake too :)

Monica said...

And I wondered if someone was going to do a tea cheesecake :) Very lovely!

Keely said...

Wow - interesting! I wouldn't have thought that port and chai would go together but now I will have to give it a try. Looks delicious!

drew_neillie said...

This was incredible! I'm salivating just looking at the picture..

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