Mascarpone Cheesecake With Honeyed Pistachios

Total Time: 3 hrs 25 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 1 cup shelled pistachios
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 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
• 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
• 1/4 cup honey, for drizzling
• sprinkling of honey-roasted pistachios
• 1 sprig mint

Recipe

• 1 prepare the honey-roasted pistachios:.
• 2 preheat oven to 350ºf.
• 3 warm the honey in a medium bowl to microwave for 10 seconds; warm it slightly.
• 4 add nuts, sugar and salt to the honey bowl and toss to coat well; toss again.
• 5 spread the nuts onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, separating them, and bake for 10 minutes.
• 6 stir the nuts after 5 minutes.
• 7 cool completely, and then separate again.
• 8 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.
• 9 prepare the crust:.
• 10 preheat oven to 350ºf.
• 11 to make crust mix the ground biscotti, sugar, & unsalted butter in large bowl.
• 12 wrap bottom of 9" springform pan tightly with foil(to prevent water from seeping into the pan while baking in a bain marie.).
• 13 butter pan with butter or use cooking spray.
• 14 pour crumb into the prepared pan and press evenly to form a crust.
• 15 bake the crust until crisp and golden, about 10-12 minutes.
• 16 cool completely before filling.
• 17 prepare the filling:.
• 18 preheat oven to 350ºf.
• 19 place cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, & beat on low speed until batter is smooth.
• 20 scrape the sides of bowl often to acertain even mixing.
• 21 add the mascarpone cheese until well combined, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
• 22 add lemon or orange zest, juice, vanilla and salt and mix to combine.
• 23 pour the filling into prepared crust.
• 24 place the crust pan in a larger pan or deep baking dish.
• 25 once in oven, add boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the crust pan.
• 26 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.
• 27 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.
• 28 remove cake from oven and allow to cool;.
• 29 then chill in the refrigerator overnight. (you can serve after cooling 4 hrs.) however it is preferable to chill a minimum fo 12 hours.
• 30 carefully remove the sides from springform pan to release cheesecake. place on a large serving platter or cake stand.
• 31 assembly:.
• 32 sprinkle the pistachios over the entire top of the cheesecake, to garnish. the pistachios will stay put if you apply a little pressure.
• 33 warm the honey in the microwave for 10 seconds or on stove-top.
• 34 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.
• 35 now sit back and enjoy this wonderfully delectable dessert with a great cup of freshly brewed coffee.