For this recipe, you don’t have to go through all the trouble of baking a cheesecake — you can buy a small whole plain cheesecake or, if possible, a couple of slices instead.
Ingredients
- 4-inch (10 cm) round cookie cutter Nonstick cooking spray
- 1⁄2 cup (125 mL) honey
- 2 tsp (10 mL) dried lavender or 1 tsp (5 mL) chopped fresh sage
- 6 apricots
- 2 oz (60 mL) Canadian Club Small Batch 1 tbsp (15 mL) white sugar
- 2 slices plain NY-style cheesecake (approx. 11⁄2 cups/375 mL) 1⁄2 cup (125 mL) cream cheese, softened
- 8 small flour tortillas, 5 to 6 inches (12 to 15 cm) in diameter
Instructions
Set EGG for indirect cooking at 225°F/107°C with the convEGGtor.
In Stir Fry/Paella Pan, combine honey and lavender and warm over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Remove from heat and let stand at room temperature overnight. Strain and set aside for later drizzling.
Cut apricots in half and remove pit. Drizzle apricots with whiskey and add sugar. Set aside. Set EGG for direct cooking at 400°F/204°C.
Grill the apricots, cut side down to start, for 3–5 minutes per side, until the flesh is tender and the skins are coming away from the flesh. Remove from EGG and peel skins from the hot flesh. Set aside to cool.
Slice each apricot into four slices. Set aside.
Remove cheesecake from the packaging. As best you can, separate the crumb crust from the cheesecake. Crumble the mixture. Set aside.
Place the cheesecake into a bowl, add cream cheese and smash together with the back of a wooden spoon to make it spreadable.
Lay a flour tortilla onto a flat work surface. Take the cookie cutter or a paring knife and cut a tortilla into a small round 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter so that you can make smaller dessert quesadillas. Repeat with remaining flour tortillas.
Spread about 1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 30 mL) cheesecake and cream cheese mixture over the entire surface of a tortilla. Lay a couple of slices of apricots onto one half of the cheesecake-spread tortilla. Drizzle apricots with a little Lavender Honey. Fold tortilla over to form a half-moon shape. Press down on tortilla so that the filling sticks to the shell. Spray outside of quesadilla with nonstick cooking spray on both sides. Repeat with remaining flour tortillas. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 1 hour.
Set EGG to direct cooking again at 400°F/204°C.
Grill quesadillas on EGG for 2–3 minutes per side, until lightly charred and crisp (but not burned) and the cheesecake mixture is warm. Remove from EGG and rest for 2–3 minutes prior to cutting so that filling will set. After quesadillas have rested, cut each in half and serve with an extra drizzling of Lavender Honey.
Makes 8 small quesadillas
Reprinted from Gastro Grilling: Fired-Up Recipes to Grill Great Everyday Meals (Pintail; March 26, 2014)
Recipe: © Ted Reader, 2013