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)
- 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..
- Mix pastry ingredients into crumbly dough.
- Take 2/3 of crumbles and press into the form, to reach about 2 cm height. on the circumference.
- Place drained and sliced fruit on the base.
- Set the oven to 200C/400F.
- Beat butter until foamy.
- Add sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, beat.
- Add eggs, beat.
- Add cheese, beat
- Add pudding mix, mix well.
- Distribute filling over the fruit.
- Place remaining crumbles on top.
- Bake in heated oven for 50 minutes.
- Sprinkle icing sugar on top.
- Let rest until cool.
Note:
- 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!
- 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!
