Spiced Cranberry Flavour Pearls can turn your delicious crowd pleaser cheesecake into a stunning centre piece for your festive get togethers…

This cheesecake recipe is one of my favourites. Easy to prepare… No fancy equipment required…Can be prepared days in advance…And most of all delicious!

It’s a beauty if you need to bring something to a party…just leave the cheesecake in the tin (much easier to transport!), bring your plate and Flavour Pearls and simply plate up at the party.

Baked cheesecake

Ingredients

Base

• 1 pkt plain biscuits – I used Marie biscuits
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• melted butter – aprox 1/2 cup

Filling

• 750g cream cheese
• 3/4cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• flavour of your choice – I used 1/2 tsp good quality vanilla essence

Another option could be – fine zest and juice of a lemon/lime/orange or two.

Topping

• Flavour Pearls – We used Spiced Cranberry but Strawberry, Tangerine, Raspberry, Honey, Passionfruit or Salted Caramel work too!

Method

• Set your oven to 160c and line a spring form tin (one where you can remove the base) with baking paper. (mine was a 20cm tin, but anything around that size would be fine)
• Crush the biscuits (in the food processor or by the old fashioned smash them in a plastic bag method) and combine with cinnamon, brown sugar and melted butter. *You need to add in enough melted butter so the biscuit has the appearance of wet sand and will hold together when you press it into the base of the tin – BEWARE… if you add in too much butter your base will be rock solid, too little and it wont hold together!
• Press into the base of the lined tin, use the base of a glass to help you get an even finish. Then set aside in the fridge. *I didn’t use all of my biscuit mixture as I didn’t want a thick base. You will have to use your discretion, depending on the size of your tin and personal taste.
• Next is the filling – combine cream cheese, sugar, eggs and flavouring until smooth. Just use a nana electric hand beater or bench top mixer. Then pour onto your biscuit base.
• Bake for aprox 25 minutes – the edges of the cheesecake will have visibly risen but the centre 1/3 should still be soft looking. Allow to cool before refrigerating.

This recipe can be made in the morning for an afternoon party, up to a week in advance and stored in the fridge or even weeks in advance and frozen.

Once your cheese cake is completely chilled it is ready to plate and decorate. Just simply remove it from the tin, place on a plate and top with the Flavour Pearls of your choice. Don’t forget to add lashings of cream too!

Enjoy 🙂

Until next time

The Peninsula Larder Team

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” 
― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman