Makes 60 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients

For the baklava filling:

475g cashews, toasted and cooled
265g pine nuts, toasted and cooled
150g granulated sugar
salt

For the baklava:

4 sheets filo dough
clarified butter, as needed

For the baklava filling:

orange blossom simple syrup
pistachios, for sprinkling

For the pine nut cheesecake:

2.835kg full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
780g granulated sugar
4g salt
780g sour cream, at room temperature
500g pine nuts, toasted and cooled
10 eggs, at room temperature

For the pine nut cream:

1.8kg whipping cream
150g icing sugar
pinch of salt
100g pine nuts, toasted and cooled

For the spiced pears:

12 pears
lemon juice
80g brown sugar
4g ground cardamom
4g ground cinnamon
4g salt

For plating:

ground pistachios
pomegranate molasses

Method

For the baklava filling, in a food processor, combine the nuts, sugar, and a pinch of salt and pulse until the nuts are ground enough to clump up in your fist.

For the baklava, preheat the oven to 150°C.

Brush a sheet of filo dough with clarified butter and lay another sheet of dough on top. Repeat this two more times. In total there should be 4 layers of filo with clarified butter brushed in between.

Spread the baklava filling in a 1½–2cm line going across the sheet of filo. Press the nut mixture so that it holds its shape in a line. Carefully roll one-third of the dough over the filling into a log and slice off. Repeat the process two more times. You should get three logs of baklava out of the stacked filo. Brush the logs with clarified butter. Cut the baklava logs into 1-inch pieces.

Bake for 24 minutes. Immediately brush with the orange blossom simple syrup and sprinkle with pistachios. Cool completely before serving.

For the pine nut cheesecake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Coat silicone moulds with oil spray.

In a large mixer fitted with the paddle, combine the cream cheese, granulated sugar, and salt and cream on the lowest speed until fully incorporated, stopping to scrape down the paddle and sides of the bowl often.

In a blender, process the sour cream and pine nuts until smooth. Strain the mixture into the cream cheese mixture and beat until incorporated, again stopping to scrape down often. Add the eggs 1 or 2 at a time. Scrape down for a final time and mix until fully incorporated. Try to mix as little as possible to avoid any aeration.

Scrape the batter into the moulds and place the moulds in a water bath. Bake until the cheesecake’s internal temperature reads 82°C, about 14 minutes. Let cool, then freeze before removing from the moulds.

For the pine nut cream, in a saucepan, heat the cream, sugar, and salt. Whisk the pine nuts into the warming cream mixture and heat until it begins to steam, just before a simmer. Transfer to a blender and blend until completely smooth. Strain through a chinois. Cool over an ice bath. Once cool, whip to desired whipped cream consistency.

For the spiced pears, peel, halve, and core the pears and rinse them in lemon juice to avoid oxidation.

Cut the pears into small dice and transfer to a medium pot. Add the brown sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt. Cook until the sugar is dissolved and bubbling and the pears no longer taste raw but still have some texture to them.

To plate, place a piece of cheesecake on the plate. Sprinkle ground pistachios in a line on the right side of the cheesecake. Place three mini pieces of baklava on top of the line of pistachios. Pipe dots of pine nut cream randomly going up the plate.

Spoon spiced pears over the cheesecake, falling over the left side of it. Drizzle the pears with pomegranate molasses.

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