Pedro Ximenez Sherry Cheesecake

Name: Pedro Ximenez Sherry Cheesecake
Yield: Serves 8-10
Ingredients: 170 g (6 ounces) digestive biscuit crumbs; 40 g (1 1/2 ounces) skinned, roasted and crushed hazelnuts; 40 g (1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened; grated zest of 1/2 lemon; 1.5 kg (3 1/2 pounds) cream cheese; 225 g (8 ounces) icing (confectioners') sugar, sieved; 3 medium eggs; 2 vanilla pods, cut in half and the seeds scraped out; 10 ml (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract (not vanilla essence); 100 ml (3 1/2 fluid ounces) Pedro Ximénez sherry; finely grated zest of 2 lemons; Shelled and skinned whole hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

August 20, 2004

Editor's note: Steve Reynolds' recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from author Diana Henry's book The Gastropub Cookbook, a guide to more than 150 dining pubs in Britain and Ireland. Chef Reynolds also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page.

Nicola, Steve's wife, likes this dessert more than any of his others, mostly because you have to eat it with yet more Pedro Ximénez sherry. If you don't want to splash out on the real McCoy, use another good, sweet dark sherry.

Recipe notes

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