Ingredients
Brown Butter:
- 5 ounces butter (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons)
Cheesecake Filling:
- 32 ounces full fat cream cheese (4 standard blocks)
- 4 eggs and 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- about 2 tablespoons brown butter (you will use what remains from making the crust - mostly the solids but a bit of the liquid is great too)
Brandied Pear Caramel Sauce:
- 4-5 fresh pears, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Brown Butter Hazelnut Crust:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup hazelnuts, blanched and skins removed (it's ok if a bit of the skins remain)
- 1/2 cup brown butter
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Make Brown Butter: place 1 stick plus 2 tablespoon butter in a skillet and cook over medium heat until the butter melts, foams, and turns golden brown. Once brown, remove from heat and transfer to a heatproof jar or bowl. 1/2 cup is for the crust and the remaining amount plus the brown bits are for the cheesecake filling. Use the same skillet for the caramel sauce.
- Brandied Pear Caramel Sauce: Place brown sugar, butter, and a splash of water in a skillet (I use the same one from browning the butter). Cook over medium heat until the mixture bubbles and sugar has dissolved. Add pears and brandy and cook until pears are softened - about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Make Brown Butter Hazelnut Shortbread Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place hazelnuts, flour, salt, and sugar in food processor. Pulse until crumbly.
- Add ½ cup brown butter - careful not to add all of the brown bits as we want those for the filling. Pulse until a crumbly dough forms.
- Press this dough into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned around the edges and fragrant. Remove from oven and allow to cool while you prepare the filling.
- Make Cheesecake Filling: Preheat oven to 40o degrees F. Place cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and brown butter in food processor and blend until very creamy, scraping down sides at least once.
- Add sour cream and one egg and blend until smooth before adding remaining eggs one at a time - I do this with the mixer running and pour the eggs through the tube. I like to scrape the sides a couple times during this step.
- Assemble and Bake: Wrap springform pan with a large piece of parchment and two layers of wide heavy duty aluminum foil. Place in a large baking dish on a kitchen towel. Pour half of cheesecake filling into pan and top with an even layer of pears that have been drained of excess caramel sauce - I used about 1 cup. Top with remaining cheesecake filling.
- Place in oven on lowest rack and pour very hot water half way up sides of springform pan. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 300 and bake for 50 more minutes or until center is set but still a little wiggly. Internal temperature should be 150 degrees F but I rarely check. Remove from oven, remove from water bath, and allow to cool to room temperature before placing in refrigerator overnight.
- Serve with remaining pear caramel sauce, warmed if desired, and chopped hazelnuts.
Notes
MAKE AHEAD: you can make the crust and the caramel sauce the day before. Store the caramel in the refrigerator and the crust at room temperature.
It is imperative that your cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature for this and all cheesecake recipes. I always just leave mine out at room temperature overnight, but if you aren't comfortable with that then you'll need to pull them from the refrigerator a few hours before you want to make this cheesecake.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Category: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Desserts
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American