Cheese Pie with Grapefruit Curd & The Empress Lemon Lavender Cocktail
From the pie crust, to the cocktail garnish, this delightful pairing was crafted with care, making it one harmoniously delicious experience to enjoy.
Today I am featuring something fun and different—a dessert and cocktail pairing! I was thrilled to create this pairing for Empress 1908 Gin, as both Victoria BC, and the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, hold a special place in my heart. Visiting Victoria BC and the Fairmont Empress Hotel, was actually my first adventure out of the United States.
I named the cocktail, “The Empress Lemon Lavender” and it is crafted with a homemade tea reduction, which gives a subtle nuance of lavender bitters, making the cocktail special and unique. I paired it with my signature, but adapted, Cheese Pie, topped with a fresh layer of Grapefruit Curd.
Empress 1908 is micro-distilled in small batch copper-pot stills using eight botanicals: juniper, rose, coriander seed, grapefruit peel, ginger root, cinnamon bark, butterfly pea blossoms and the Fairmont Empress Blend Tea. You will find a nod to many of these botanicals within both the cocktail and the dessert. From the touch of cinnamon in the pie crust to the grapefruit garish in the cocktail, I made sure the flavors blended harmoniously, making this a creation I am quite proud of. Both recipes can be found below. Enjoy!
Cheese Pie with Fresh Grapefruit Curd
Ingredients
For The Crust
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For The Cheese Pie:
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla
½-1 teaspoon grapefruit zest, to taste
For The Grapefruit Curd:
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grapefruit zest
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 drop pink food coloring (optional)
Instructions
For The Crust:
Cut butter into chunks. Using a microwave safe bowl. melt butter and set aside to cool.
Using a food processor, pulse the graham crackers until they are the texture of fine crumbs, resembling sand.
In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, cinnamon and graham cracker crumbs until fully incorporated. Press crust mixture into a 9" pie tin, making sure to evenly distribute the crust, bringing it up the sides of the tin. The crust should be firmly pushed into place. Set aside.
For The Pie:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
In a mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the cream cheese and sugar on medium-low speed for about 1 minute, until nice and smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and grapefruit zest and whisk on medium-low speed for another 1-2 minutes.
Pour filling into prepared crust and bake for 40 minutes or until the center has risen and the cheese pie is firm—little to no jiggle.
Let cool and then place in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours before enjoying. Pie can also be made the night before and enjoyed the next day.
For The Grapefruit Curd:
PLEASE NOTE: This recipe yields about 1 cup of curd, which is more than needed for the pie top. The rest can be stored up to a week in the refrigerator, and used for other baking projects. Further, if a drop of pink food coloring is desired, as a nod to the natural color of grapefruit, add it to the eggs separately, whisking to evenly distribute the color. The tinted eggs can then be added to the double boiler with the other ingredients.
Using a double boiler, whisk together the whole egg, egg yolks, sugar, grapefruit juice, lemon juice and grapefruit zest. Cook over medium-low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until the ingredients have thickened.
Once thickened, remove from heat, and press through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, leaving behind the remnants of zest, and any egg that may have cooked. Immediately stir in the softened butter.
Cover with a piece of plastic wrap, pressed directly on the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Place in the refrigerator to cool for 1 hour before filling the cake.
Once the curd and pie have properly chilled, place and even layer of curd on top of the pie. If not serving immediately, place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and place in the refrigerator until ready to enjoy.
The Empress Lemon Lavender
1 ounce lemon lavender tea reduction
½ ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ ounce simple syrup
1 ½ ounce Empress 1908 Gin (can be purchased here)
Lemon Lavender Tea Reduction:
Using a small saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Once boiling, remove pan from the burner and steep two lemon lavender tea bags for 3 minutes. Discard tea bags.
Return saucepan to the burner until boiling, then reduce liquid to a simmer until it has reduced to 1/3 cup. This can take 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the sauce pan and level of heat source. Watch closely.
Pour tea through a fine mesh strainer lined with a paper towel into a glass measuring cup. Set aside to cool completely.
To Make The Cocktail:
Fill a coupe or martini glass with ice and set aside to cool.
Mix all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake for about 20 seconds.
Discard ice from glass and strain the lemon lavender cocktail into the glass. Garnish with a grapefruit twist and cinnamon stick and serve.
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