Tapas

Cheese Course

English Savory Cheesecake by Lynette Rohrer Shirk

Dried pears and candied ginger stud this savory Stilton cheesecake. Serve with port wine or cider.

½ cup flour

3 ounces melted butter

½ cup ground walnuts

¼ cup graham cracker crumbs

18 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3 eggs

1½ cups sour cream

6 ounces Stilton blue cheese, crumbled

½ cup dried pears, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped candied ginger

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, combine flour, melted butter, walnuts, and graham cracker crumbs with a rubber spatula. Press mixture into the bottom of a springform pan that has been sprayed with oil. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
With an electric mixer beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the cornstarch and beat it into the cream cheese.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each one. Stir in the sour cream.
Fold in the blue cheese, pears, and candied ginger. Pour the mixture into the springform pan and bake for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and cool at room temperature and then chill completely overnight.
Remove the ring of the springform pan and cut the cheesecake into wedges. Serve a wedge on a plate with crackers for each person or present the whole cheesecake with crackers on the side for a buffet.