Sweet Swap

Today I attended the first, of hopefully an annual tradition, Sweet Swap with some friends! We all baked a dessert and brought it to share and also brought the recipe to exchange. I made a Gingersnap Pear Tart that turned out delicious!

Gingersnap Pear Tart

INGREDIENTS:
· 1 1/2 cups gingersnap crumbs
· 3 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
· 1/2 (8 ounce) package reduced fat cream cheese
· 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
· 1/3 cup sugar
· 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 egg plus 1 egg white, lightly beaten
· 2 large ripe pears, peeled and thinly sliced
· 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
· 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1/2 in. up the sides of a 9-in. springform pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 5-8 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheeses until smooth. Beat in sugar, flour and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour into crust. Combine pears, cinnamon and crystallized ginger; arrange pear slices over cream cheese mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until almost set. Immediately run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.