peachy chai tea cheesecake

I made this cheesecake for Gary's cousin and her husband's birthdays. I've been making one too many "plain cheesecakes" so this time I wanted to experiment with tea-infused cream and different spices. First of, I knew I wanted to make a fruit cheesecake but not just as a topping but also a filling. I found a few very ripe yellow peaches in our fridge that would work well in a cheesecake. After browsing through our pantry, I decided to go with a mixture of chai spices: cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. For the tea, I picked out a Darjeeling from my collection, a quintessential Indian tea flavor. Overall, I think I used too much spice and not enough tea but not a bad combination of flavors.

spiced peach compote
ingredients:

• 3 ripe peaches, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• honey

direction: 

1. place peaches in a medium saucepan over medium heat. cook for a few minutes while stirring occasionally. add spices and cook until the peaches become very soft, about 10 minutes. mash the peaches down with a wooden spoon and add honey to taste.

peachy chai tea cheesecake
ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cinnamon graham cracker crumbs 
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons sifted cornstarch
• 22 ounces cream cheese, softened 
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream 
•  2 tbsp Darjeeling tea leaves
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

 directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter the bottom and sides of an 9-inch springform pan. 
2. Mix graham cracker crumbs with butter. Press graham cracker crumb mixture into the bottom of prepared pan and refrigerate. 
3. Place cream in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add in tea leaves, cover pan with lid and remove from heat. Allow the tea leaves to steep for 10 minutes. Pour cream through a strainer to remove tea leaves. Set aside cream. 
4. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and the cornstarch. Beat in the cream cheese. Beat in the egg. Slowly drizzle in the tea-infused cream, beating constantly. Add the vanilla and stir well.
5. Spread about a third of the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Spread about 1/2 cup of peach compote evenly over the mixture. Then carefully pour in the rest of the cheesecake mixture over the peaches. Bake until the top is golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Turn oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven for 1-2 hours. Remove and cool on a wire rack. 
6. Once completely cooled, spread the leftover peach compote over the top.