This cheesecake combines the best of autumn & winter: cinnamon, speculoos cookies (or as we call it speculaas) and typically Dutch stewed pears. Whenever I make them, i think of my grandma, who made them for us when we came for dinner and they always tasted so delicious. She was so good at them. They make me smile & this cheesecake will warm your heart & tickle your tastebuds as well.
I did not invent this recipe, it's someone else's clever & delicious invention. I altered a bit of the recipe to my grandma's way of making the stewed pears (with port wine, you cannot do without!!) and a gluten free base with my "kruidnootjes" dough as base. Here's my gluten free version:
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| It might not look all that pretty, but it makes up for it in taste |
Ingredients:
Stewed pears
- 4-5 Gieser Wildeman pears
- 350 ml (12 fl oz) water
- 2 tablespoons of granulated vanilla sugar
- 1 cinnamonstick
- 1 vanilla bean
- 2 star anise
- 1.5 glass of port wine
- 25 grams (1 oz) of soft butter
- 125 gram (4,5 oz) of dark caster sugar
- 8 grams (0.25 oz) of vanilla sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
- pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
- 50 grams (1.75 oz) of gluten free buckwheat flour
- 200 grams (7 oz) of gluten free cookie flour (I used Shar's C mix)
- 1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder
- 2 tablespoons of gluten free mixed spice/speculoos spices (a mixture of ground cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, kardemom & orange peels)
- 400 grams (14 oz) of cream cheese (I used Dutch Mon Chou cream cheese)
- 250 grams (9 oz) of cottage cheese
- 125 grams (4,5 oz) of granulated sugar
- 8 grams (0.25 oz) of vanilla sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon of mixed spice/speculoos spices
- 1 vanilla bean
How to make the stewed pears:
It's best to make them the night before so they are cold when used in the cake.
- Scrape the vanilla from the bean'pod and put in a separate bowl.
- Put the water, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla bean and star anise in a small saucepan. Stir so that the juice absorbs the sugar.
- Peel the pears, slice them in quarters and remove the core. Add them to the pan. Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low, cover the pan and cook the pears for about 1 hour. Then add the port wine & cook for another 30 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and let the pears cool in the pan with the lid on, outside of the refrigerator.
How to make the cake:
- Beat the butter with the sugar until creamy.
- Beat in the egg.
- Then add the mixed spice/speculoos spice, cinnamon, xanthan gum, salt, cream of tartar and all of the gluten-free flour and kneed the dough (using a mixer) into a firm ball.
- Put this, covered with foil, in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Line a spring baking tin with baking parchment and butter the sides.
- Roll out the dough on a clean surface and line the baking tin with it. Put it in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade / 350 degrees fahrenheit.
- Mix the cream cheese, cottage cheese, sugar, cinnamon, mixed spices and vanilla until you have a smooth mixture.
- Fold in the eggs one at a time.
- Remove the tin from the fridge and pour the mixture onto the crust.
- Put the pears on top.
- Bake the cake about 1 hour in the preheated oven.
- The cake should have a beautiful golden color and there should be no more moisture to be seen.
- Allow the cake to cool for at least three hours on a wire rack before you serve it.
Enjoy!
Ps. next time I'm making this cheesecake, I'll chop up some 1 extra stewed pear and mix it through the cheesecake mixture. That would make it even more fabulous!!
