Pear cheesecake Heike (Quarktorte)

I found a copy of an old e-mail (November 2000?), and there it was. Heike wrote it once for my Mother, who, obviously, was a big fan.And now peach (instead of pear) version, as successful:We think the quantities below fit into a round 26cm dia spring form, and will feed 10-12.

Pastry base:

  • 300g flour
  • 150g butter
  • 150g sugar
  • 1 pkg vanilla sugar (8g) or a tsp of vanilla extract

Filling:

  • 850g canned pears or peaches; can be fresh – see note (1) below – but canned are excellent, and easier to use too.
  • 150g butter
  • 125g sugar
  • 1 pkg vanilla sugar (8g) or a tsp of vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 eggs (see note (2) below)
  • 500g quark (cream cheese) – please see the note (2) below
  • 1 pkg vanilla pudding mix (must find out how to replace this – for now 2 tbsp of  Custard Powder works ok)
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar (for final decoration)
  1. Grease the spring form. In my last attempt i experimented with the combination of greased tin and greased parchment paper (circle at the bottom, slightly wider than the form base, and a long ribbon shape around the wall). Worked very well, even if the initial investment was rather challenging..
  2. Mix pastry ingredients into crumbly dough.
  3. Take 2/3 of crumbles and press into the form, to reach about 2 cm height. on the circumference.
  4. Place drained and sliced fruit on the base.
  5. Set the oven to 200C/400F.
  6. Beat butter until foamy.
  7. Add sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, beat.
  8. Add eggs, beat.
  9. Add cheese, beat
  10. Add pudding mix, mix well.
  11. Distribute filling over the fruit.
  12. Place remaining crumbles on top.
  13. Bake in heated oven for 50 minutes.
  14. Sprinkle icing sugar on top.
  15. Let rest until cool.

Note:

  1. I did not dare to use fresh peaches straight – i did poach them in syrup briefly, let the cool down, strained the through the sieve, and then used in the cheese cake. I quoted the instruction from the original recipe, but have my own reservation regardless raw fruit cooked inside the cake – i believe it may extract unwanted liquid and prevent the cake bottom from baking properly.. However – if you do have experience in this matter, please share!
  2. i had a problem finding the right cheese in Warszawa; ended up using ‘pelnotlusty twaróg’ – must find the package to record the real name. Used a bit more of it, perhaps 550g. It required some crushing etc, as it comes in the ‘loaf’ format. I added a couple of table spoons of heavy cream to make it moist and mashed it with the mixer as much as possible.  In this case i also used 3 eggs , not 2. The cheesecake was absolutely fantastic!
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