It is a traditional dessert originating in Eastern and Western Europe, which has nevertheless become fashionable again thanks to New York City. The cheesecake, called Vatrushka, was indeed originally made by the Polish Jewish community, before arriving in the United States with immigration. The Jewish populations of central Europe then wanted to reproduce this recipe, but encountered the absence of a crucial ingredient: sour cheese.
To make a real good cheesecake, you need a cheese of the faisselle type. This fresh cheese with pasteurized milk naturally has a little tangy taste. Otherwise, it was replaced by an industrial cheese, Philadelphia, to which we added a touch of lemon to obtain this slightly spicy note. Especially since real faisselle cheese must be drained overnight and its preparation takes longer.
As for the dough of the cheesecake, it is normally shortbread. But another technique exists with speculoos.
The cheesecake recipe
Ingredients for the dough:
– 200g of speculos
– 50g of butter
Ingredients for the device:
– 500g of sour cream cheese or faisselle
– 125g of sugar
– 25g of flour
– 25cl of heavy cream
– three eggs
The steps of the recipe
1. Crumble the speculos and melt the butter
2. Mix the two and spread the dough on the bottom of the dish
3. Mix the ingredients of the device until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.
4. Pour the mixture into the mold and bake for 50 minutes in a 180 degree oven
5. Let cool after cooking
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