Wine and Cheese(cake): Homemade Cheesecake with Riesling Blueberry Pear Glaze

A playful take on wine and cheese! Try this wine and cheese(cake) recipe for homemade cheesecake with a spiked blueberry pear glaze.

I am all over this one… Full disclosure – I’m also a pretty big cheesecake fan, so there’s that. But my bias aside, its good, I promise!

Crust Ingredients

• 6 cups of vanilla wafers
• 1 stick + 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter melted

Filling Ingredients

• 3 – 8oz cream cheese blocks softened
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups of powered sugar sifted
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla

Spiked Blueberry Pear Glaze Ingredients

• 1 heaping cup of blueberries
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
• 1 pear
• 3/4 cup of Riesling
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cornstarch

Instructions:

Grease the springform pans with cooking spray.

In a food processor add the vanilla wafers and pulse until finely ground, then add in the butter, pulse until combined.

Next, press the mixture into the springform pans to form your crust. Once done, let them sit in the refrigerator until you are ready to fill.

To start on the filling beat the cream cheese on medium speed until well combined and there are no lumps (about 3 minutes).

Next, add in the heavy whipping cream and beat for one minute on medium speed until well combined.

On low speed, add in the powdered sugar in small batches (1/2 cups) until it is all incorporated.

Finally, add in the vanilla and food coloring and mix again until combined. *Just for fun we added violet food coloring to the cheesecake at this stage, but its not necessary.

Remove the crusts from the refrigerator and fill with the cream cheese mixture. Let set for at least 4 hours in the fridge. Serve as is, or add a spiked blueberry pear sauce on top. Recipe below…

For the spiked blueberry pear sauce… combine all ingredients in a saucepan and let the mixture reduce for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool, strain, and drizzle on top of the cheesecake.

Recipe by Anissa Saxton
Photography and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff