Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Vanilla Berry Cheesecake Tart

My hubby and I really enjoyed sinking our teeth into this cheesecake. I say cheesecake because it's a popular term that everyone knows the meaning of, yet I think this one is rather like a cheese tart. But that makes it sound savory.
It has the cheesecake filling  made of cottage cheese and sour cream instead of cream cheese, and a tart-like pastry shell, and is topped with four types of pureed berries and strawberry jelly layer. It's lighter than a cheesecake, and still rich and satisfying at the same time. I like to think it's a little healthier too, considering I used cottage cheese, which is particularly bland on its own but delicious incorporated into this tart. Oh my! It's sublime. Some of the yummiest things are the hardest things to get good pictures of though, and we had a week of rainy weather to cast a shadow on my photography. Thankfully I had cheesecake for comfort food after taking these shots! And a good editing program.






VANILLA BERRY CHEESECAKE TART (Adapted from While He Was Out)

Crust:
1 1/2 cup plain flour
140g chilled butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg

Filling:
250g cottage cheese
150g sour cream
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2  tsp. vanilla essence
3 eggs
50g softened butter
1 heaped tbsp. plain flour

Topping:
2 cups frozen mixed berries
1 packet jelly crystals (I used strawberry flavoured)
1 cup boiling water

Preheat the oven at 150C.
To make the pie crust, combine flour, sugar, and diced butter in a medium bowl. Using your hands, rub the butter into the dry mixture until it resembles crumbs. Add the egg. Stir to form a soft dough. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and place it in a 30cm round pie dish. cut off the excess dough at the edges and press in neatly. Using a fork, make a series of small holes in the base for the steam to escape when cooking.
Cover in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.
To make the filling, place the cottage cheese into a medium bowl. Using the back of a metal spoon, smooth the cheese to decrease the lumpiness. Add the sour cream, sugar, lemon, vanilla,eggs, butter and flour and mix to combine. Pour this mixture into the chilled pie crust.
Bake for an hour. Cool in the pie dish.
When cooled, combine the jelly crystals with boiling water in a small bowl. Stir until the crystals have dissolved. Allow to cool until just luke-warm. Meanwhile, place the frozen berries in a food blender and blitz until the fruit is finely chopped up. Spread over the surface of the cheesecake. Gently pour the liquid jelly onto the top of the berries and refrigerate until set.

Serves 8-10

NOTES: Keeps for up to a week in the refrigerator.




4 comments:

  1. Saw this on RecipeNewZ ... the photos make me want to dive right in! I am a huge cheesecake lover and am always looking for a new take on it! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Your cheesecake looks so good. Great photos too.

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  3. This vanilla berry cheese cake tarte looks really delicious. Only great ingredients. And nothing can go wrong with vanilla, berries or cheescake!

    - Annika

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  4. This looks amazing. I can't wait to try it.

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