Bacon Maple Cheesecake
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
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200g/7ozs biscuits (I used a mix of chocolate graham crackers and regular ones)
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80g butter, melted
For filling
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300g/10 ozs bacon rashers
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50g walnuts or pecans
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3 tablespoons maple syrup
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500g/1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
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1/2 cup cream
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1/4 cup espresso coffee
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2 tablespoons cornflour or cornstarch
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1/2 cup brown sugar
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1/2 cup maple syrup
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1 teaspoon vanilla paste
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4 eggs, at room temperature
For maple glaze
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1 cup icing or powdered sugar
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90mls/6 tablespoons maple syrup
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Cream to decorate
Step 1 - Make the candied bacon and walnuts first. Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Line two trays with baking paper and lay out the bacon onto the larger one and the walnuts on the smaller one. Toss the nuts in a tablespoon of the maple syrup and bake alongside the bacon in the oven. The walnuts will be done after 10 minutes so remove those and leave the bacon to cook further until it is crispy.
Remove the rind from the bacon and reserve two of the longer, crispy pieces (these will be used to decorate the cake). Place the rest of the bacon in a food processor with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and blend until you get finely diced honey bacon. Place into a bowl and then blitz the candied walnuts and place in the same bowl as the bacon.
Step 2 - Preheat the oven to 160C/320F fan forced. Process the biscuits in a food processor until crumbled finely. Add butter until it comes together. Press into a greaseproof paper lined 20cm/8 inch diameter springform pan and place in the fridge while you do the filling.
Step 3 - Put a kettleful of water on the boil and have a large deep dish baking dish ready-you will use this for the water bath so it needs to be big enough to fit the springform tin in and hold water up to halfway up the side.
Step 4 - In a clean food processor beat the cream cheese, brown sugar, maple syrup, cream, espresso, cornflour and vanilla paste until smooth. Add eggs one at a time but do not overbeat. Just pulse the food processor when you add the eggs in and then the bacon mixture. Overbeating the mixture can give your cheesecake a crack in the centre.
Step 5 - Remove the base from the fridge and place in the deep baking tray. Pour the boiled water around the edge to make a water bath. Then pour the cheesecake filling into the prepared biscuit base tin and remove any air bubbles if there are some on the top. Bake for 1 1/4 hours until the centre is a little wobbly. Turn off the oven and cool in the oven. Cover with cling film once completely cool and refrigerate overnight.
Step 6 - Unclip the tin and place the cheesecake on a serving plate. Sift the icing sugar in a bowl (I use a food processor as I'm very lazy) and then add the maple syrup and stir until you get a thick glaze. Pour over the top of the cheesecake. Pipe cream dots and place pieces of the reserved bacon on top.