Maple Cheesecake with Roasted Pears

As I mentioned in my previous post, I made two classic desserts for Thanksgiving this year. A Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie and this fantastically sweet maple cheesecake with roasted pears.

Now if I had to choose a favorite type of cake, it would most certainly be cheesecake. To be completely honest, I'm not a huge fan of traditional cake.
Shocked?
Most people are when they discover that a baker doesn't enjoy one of the quintessential sweet treats. I find cake to be too dry and a tad too simplistic and doesn't supply the right texture and flavor combinations. Then again, perhaps I simply haven't had a good enough cake. Now what  I do enjoy is a good cupcake. They have a much better cake to frosting ratio.
But, I digress. Onto the cheesecake!


As most cheesecakes are, this dessert is powerfully sweet and exceedingly creamy. The pears give it some extra texture and a hint of irregular flavor.


Maple Cheesecake with Roasted Pears
original recipe from Martha Stewart
2 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 pie crust made in a 9-inch springform pan with vanilla wafers or graham crackers
Nonstick cooking spray
2 medium pears, sliced lengthwise 1/8 inch thick
Crust
6 ounces cookies (about 12 graham crackers, 46 vanilla wafers)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted



                 1. Prepare the crust. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse cookies until finely ground or break up the crackers using a the flat bottom of a cup or can.Add sugar, salt, and butter and pulse (or combine with hands) until combined. Firmly press crumb mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. (If using a springform pan, press crumbs halfway up sides.) Bake until crust is dry and set, about 12 minutes. Let cool completely in plate on a wire rack before filling.
                 2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese on high until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the maple syrup; beat until smooth. In a medium bowl, beat cream and sugar on high until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. With a rubber spatula, stir about one-third the whipped cream into cream cheese mixture, then fold in remainder. Pour into crust and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours (or up to 1 day, overnight is always a good default).
                 3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a parchment-lined baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange pear slices in a single layer on sheet and brush with 2 tablespoons maple syrup.

 Roast until pears are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and brush pears with 2 tablespoons maple syrup and broil until browned in spots, about 4 minutes, rotating sheet frequently. Let cool. To serve, arrange pear slices, overlapping slightly, on cheesecake.