One Slice Ain't Enough!

Speculoos Cheesecake with Malt Pretzel Crust

Yield: Makes one 9" cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup cream cheese
• 2/3 cup ricotta (full fat from a deli)
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg  yolk
•  1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/8 cup custard powder
• 1/2 sour cream
• 3/4 cup Speculoos cookie butter  

Base Ingredients

• 3/4 cup salted pretzel, crushed well
• 1/8 cup malted milk
• 1/4 cup butter melted 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (Fahrenheit)
2. Line the base of a 9" spring form tin
3. Combine in large bowl the base ingredients. Mix well with a wooden spoon. 
4. Using a metal spoon push into the base of the prepared tin until evenly formed crust is made
5. Place in the fridge until needed
6. In food processor, combine the cream cheese and ricotta. Scrape the food processor down. Blend on high until combined
7. Add eggs, sugar, custard power, sour cream and cookie butter; blend until well combined and smooth mix is formed. You may need to scrape it down
8. Pour in to the pretzel base prepared earlier. Give it a gentle tap on the counter to get rid of air bubbles
9. Bake for about 1 hour until light brown on the top and set (about 2 inches of the edge should be set when it is ready)
10. Leaven in oven, with the door slightly open to cool. Chill over night before removing from pan
11. To remove from pan, run a hot sharp knife around the outside of tin before releasing the spring form tin

Raspberry Cheesecake with Speculoos Spread

Photo and Recipe by: Mariana

Ingredients:

200gr speculoos spread
25gr butter, melted
100gr sugar
Vanilla essence or pod
2 eggs
450gr cream cheese
100gr soured cream (in France, look for ‘crème fraiche’)
200gr raspberries + a handful for decoration
Raspberry coulis (optional)
Icing sugar (optional)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to th4/160C/350F.
Butter the sides of the cake mould, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Put in the speculoos spread and mix with the butter as to form a dough. Place this dough on the bottom of the mould, smoothing it out with your hand or the bottom of a cup. Bake for 10 mins, remove and set aside. In the meantime, mix the sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix briefly (you don’t want too much air). Add the cream cheese and soured cream, mix at low speed until texture is creamy with no lumps. Throw in the raspberries and stir gently with a spatula. Transfer to mould and bake for 50 mins. At the end of baking time, turn oven off and leave cheesecake inside the oven for 30 mins. Remove, let cool and place in fridge overnight. Decorate with fresh raspberries, coulis and icing sugar, enjoy!

P.S: do NOT use frozen raspberries for inside the cheesecake. It will release water and you will have a soggy texture