bake 20: maple cheesecake with roasted pears.

knowing i still have a ways to go on this challenge, i offered to make dessert for thanksgiving dinner.  i opted for one traditional recipe, and one less so: a maple cheesecake with roasted pears.  i have to say, if there was a throw down between the two desserts, it would have been close- but this one definitely took the cake.  ha!

recipe: maple cheesecake with roasted pears with an easy press-in pie crust

adjustments: i didn't make any adjustments to the cheesecake but opted to use gingersnaps for the crust. gingersnaps are my favorite cookies- so anywhere i can add them, i will.  the springform pan i used was bigger than the recommended size, so the cheesecake was much thinner than i had hoped.  however, with 12 plus people, the thinner cake went much further than a standard cheesecake might have.

review:  awesome.  totally and unequivocally awesome.  everyone raved about this cheesecake and went back for seconds and thirds.  i was nervous about experimenting with a thanksgiving dessert, but the maple and pear and gingersnap flavors married well.  i think this cheesecake will become a holiday tradition.

this was #12 of the bake 20 challenge.
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over the next five months i'm going to try my hand at 20 different baked goods.  there's no specific order and no plan.  just making things that look good and hopefully in the process, finding a new appreciation of baking.  feel free to join me in the Bake 20 Challenge.