Mascarpone Cheesecake with Roasted Cashew Crust & Passion Fruit Caramel Sauce

Serves 12-16

Ingredients

Crust Ingredients:
½ cup Salted roasted cashews
¼ cup Golden brown sugar
1 cup All-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon Italissima sea salt
⅛ teaspoon Marchants ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon Merchants ground ginger
6 tbsp Chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½” cubes
1 Large egg yolk

Instructions

Cooking Instructions Crust:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Wrap outside of 9” pan with 2¾” high sides with 2 layers of heavy duty foil.

3. Grind brown sugar and cashews finely in a processor

4. Add butter and grind mixture until coarse

5. Add egg yolk and blend until clumps form

6. Spread and apply crust on pan, evenly ½” across pan, and pierce crust thoroughly with a fork over the entire crust to allow it to breathe

7. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until golden brown

8. Cool crust and leave oven at 325F

Cooking Instructions Filling:

1. Mix cream cheese, sugar, and salt in a large bowl

2. Add seeds from vanilla bean and mix using electric mixer, until fluffy and smooth

3. Add mascarpone cheese and sour cream, beating at low speed until blended, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally

4. Add eggs two at a time, beating until just blended

5. Transfer filling to prepared crust

Cooking Instructions Cheesecake:

1. Place 9” pan inside a large roasting pan

2. Fill roasting pan with hot water, halfway up with sides of the 9” pan

3. Place both pans in oven and cover roasting pan with foil

4. Bake cheesecake for 30 minutes

5. Lift foil, and cover again

6. Bake until cake is loosely set but filling jiggles when pan is shaken gently, lifting foil every 10 minutes, for about 30 minutes longer

7. Remove cheesecake from water

8. Place on rack to cool for one hour

9. Refrigerate until cold, for at least 6 hours

10. Make at least one day ahead

11. Cover, keep refrigerated

12. Cut around pan sides to release cheesecake, cut into wedges and serve with fruit, drizzle with warm caramel sauce

Note: Let cool for approximately 8 hours