Mascarpone Cheesecake With Honeyed Pistachios
- Reviews 2
Ready In: 3 hrs 25 mins
Serves: 12-14
Ingredients
HONEY-ROASTED PISTACHIOS
- 1 cup shelled pistachios
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
CRUST
- 1 1⁄2 cups finely ground biscotti, crumbs (It is preferable to buy a biscotti that has pistachios)
- 1⁄8 cup sugar
- 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter
- cooking spray
CHEESECAKE FILLING
- 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 16 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest or 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
GARNISH
- 1⁄4 cup honey, for drizzling
- sprinkling of honey-roasted pistachios
- 1 sprig mint
Directions
- PREPARE THE HONEY-ROASTED PISTACHIOS:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Warm the honey in a medium bowl to microwave for 10 seconds; warm it slightly.
- Add nuts, sugar and salt to the honey bowl and toss to coat well; toss again.
- Spread the nuts onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, separating them, and bake for 10 minutes.
- Stir the nuts after 5 minutes.
- Cool completely, and then separate again.
- Place the nuts in food processor and make sure not to overprocess. They can be prepared up to one week ahead of time & stored in air tight containers.
- PREPARE THE CRUST:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- To make crust mix the ground biscotti, sugar, & unsalted butter in large bowl.
- Wrap bottom of 9" springform pan tightly with foil(to prevent water from seeping into the pan while baking in a bain marie.).
- Butter pan with butter or use cooking spray.
- Pour crumb into the prepared pan and press evenly to form a crust.
- Bake the crust until crisp and golden, about 10-12 minutes.
- Cool completely before filling.
- PREPARE THE FILLING:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Place cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, & beat on low speed until batter is smooth.
- Scrape the sides of bowl often to acertain even mixing.
- Add the mascarpone cheese until well combined, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Add lemon or orange zest, juice, vanilla and salt and mix to combine.
- Pour the filling into prepared crust.
- Place the crust pan in a larger pan or deep baking dish.
- Once in oven, add boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the crust pan.
- Bake cheesecake until it's puffed around the edges and the center jiggles a bit when the pan is tapped lightly, about 45-60 minutes.
- Turn off oven and leave the cake in the oven with door slightly open for another 30 minutes to cool gradually, so the top won't crack.
- Remove cake from oven and allow to cool;.
- then chill in the refrigerator overnight. (You can serve after cooling 4 hrs.) However it is preferable to chill a minimum fo 12 hours.
- Carefully remove the sides from springform pan to release cheesecake. Place on a large serving platter or cake stand.
- ASSEMBLY:
- Sprinkle the pistachios over the entire top of the cheesecake, to garnish. The pistachios will stay put if you apply a little pressure.
- Warm the honey in the microwave for 10 seconds or on stove-top.
- Drizzle honey over the whole cheesecake or over each slice and drizzle the honey on cheesecake as well as on the dessert plate. Also, use a sprinkling of the pistachios and a sprig of mint.
- Now sit back and enjoy this wonderfully delectable dessert with a great cup of freshly brewed coffee.
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