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Mulled Wine Cherry Cheesecake Bars

Mulled Wine Cherry Cheesecake Bars

These Mulled Wine Cherry Cheesecake Bars are a delicious, sophisticated and festive dessert for this Christmas season. Each component is absolutely delicious but when you taste them all together, the result is sublime! Plus, it’s no bake and can be made ahead of time!

Course Dessert
Keyword Cheesecake, Christmas, Dessert
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 40 minutes
Chill in Fridge 10 hours 30 minutes
Servings 10

Ingredients

Biscuit Base Layer

  • 250 g ginger nut biscuits
  • 90 g butter, melted

Mulled Wine Cherries and Jelly

  • 350 g cherries, pitted
  • 750 ml red wine
  • 6 cloves
  • Rind of 1 lemon or orange
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cm piece of ginger, thinly sliced
  • 2 teaspoons gelatine
  • 1/8 cup water

Cheesecake Layer

  • 3 teaspoons gelatine
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 500 g cream cheese, softened
  • 2/3 cup caster sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
  • 300 ml cream
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Instructions

  1. Prepare a 19cm square cake tin by lining the base and sides with baking paper.
  2. To make the biscuit base layer, add the ginger nut biscuits to a food processor and process until fine. Add the melted butter and pulse a few times until fully combined. Press the biscuits into the base of the cake tin and smooth with the back of a spoon. Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes before adding the next layer.
  3. In the meantime, make the mulled wine cherries. Place the red wine, cherries, sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, orange/lemon rind, vanilla and ginger into a saucepan and heat over low heat until it just comes to a boil. Simmer on a very low heat uncovered for around 30 minutes. Remove the cherries and continue to cook mulled wine for another 10 minutes. At this point you can allow to infuse for up to an hour if you’d like a stronger taste.

  4. To make the cheesecake filling, beat the cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla, cream, maple syrup. Whisk until light and fluffy.

  5. Sprinkle 3 teaspoons of gelatine over the 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl. Stand this bowl in a larger bowl filled with hot water or over a small saucepan. Whisk until the gelatine is completely dissolved. Stir in the gelatine mixture to the cheesecake mixture until fully combined. Pour the filling over top of the biscuit base in the pan. Add the stewed cherries, pressing them into the mixture until mostly submerged and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

  6. Strain out the spices from the mulled wine mixture. Put back onto the heat until just coming to a boil. Allow to cool slightly.
  7. Sprinkle the 2 teaspoons of gelatine over 1/8 cup water and whisk to dissolve in the same way as above, over hot/simmering water. When dissolved, whisk into the wine mixture until fully dissolved. Optionally, you can strain this mixture again through a piece of muslin into a heatproof jug. Pour the mulled wine mixture over top of the fully set cheesecake layer and place back into the fridge to chill overnight.
  8. When ready to serve, cut slices with a hot knife and wipe down the knife between each cut. You can cut into 10 larger bars or cut each in half again for a “bite size” cheesecake bar. Serve immediately.