Sass!

Suz and I have been making this torta for a couple of years for party’s and caterings. We love this recipe because it is so very tasty and it makes for a beautiful presentation. People always ohh and ahh over this torta. Trust us when we say that this is always a party pleaser.

Get these ingredients together-
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
6 -8 pears, chopped into bite sized pieces
3 tablespoons pear preserves
32 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups grated Gruyère or swiss cheese
1 1/2 cups pistachio nuts, chopped and salted

This is what you are going to do-
Break out a large non-stick sauté pan and add your butter. Melt over medium-high heat. Slowly sprinkle sugar in while stirring. Next, add your pears to the pan and stir around real good, making sure that the pears are coated in the buttery sweet goodness. Reduce your heat to medium and cook for about 10-15 minutes. You want your liquid to thicken and pears to begin to caramelize. Next reduce your heat to low and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in the pear preserves and continue to cook until preserves melt.
Transfer pears to a bowl and let them cool down. While your pears are cooling, get you a medium mixing bowl out and add the cream cheese and grated cheese. Use your handy dandy hand mixer for easy mixing. Season with a dash or two of salt. Liberally spray an 8-inch round springform pan with cooking spray. Now it’s time to layer. You know the sisters love them some layers of goodness. Spread half of the cheese mixture on the bottom of the pan. Then spoon half of the cooled pear mixture over the cheese and spread evenly. Add the remaining cheese mixture over the pears. Save the remaining pears for the top, you will add those later on. Pop your torta in the fridge and let it chill for an hour or so. Carefully remove the sides of the springform pan leaving the torta on the bottom of the pan. Cover the sides of the torta using 1 cup of the chopped pistachios. Spread the rest of the pear mixture on top of the torta and then sprinkle the remaining pistachios around the edges of the pears. Pop it back in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Serve with crackers or French baguettes slices.