New York via Bucharest Baked Cheesecake

What is so quintessentially New York is of course good old immigrant fare. Cooking desserts with sweet cheese is part of all European sweet cooking – from Polish cheesecake (“Sernik”) to Romanian sweet cheese doughnuts (“Papanasi”) or sweet cheese pie (“Placinta de branza”) to Hungarian dill flavoured cheesecake (“Kapros (dill) Turos (curd cheese) Lepeny“) to Slovenian “prekmurska Gibanica” and more….. every country, every region, every household has a recipe.

So I thought it was a bit daft making something so rooted in the region with imported “Philadelphia” cheese and besides I think it makes a heavier cheesecake than I like. Another thing I dont like is cheesecakes made with biscuit bases – why on earth go to the trouble of making a beautiful natural filling only to make a base full of hydrogenated fats and god knows what chemicals? So after a bit of tweaking and experimenting here is my recipe that works with local Romanian ingredients and uses your basic crumble mix with an egg yolk as the base – simple simple simple! Keep your crumble mix in bags in the freezer and you can knock up a cheesecake in 15 minutes flat. The Gluten Free base also is my GF crumble mix with an egg added so again easy and simple and no long difficult recipes just a few basic techniques linked together to create dishes.

Ingredients for quite a substantial (8-12 servings) Cheesecake in a 23cm springform tin or 6 x 10cm mini cheesecakes which are very cute

150-175g crumble mix + 1 egg yolk mixed in (it will still be crumbly but the crumbs will stick together with the egg yolk when you press into the tin)

4 eggs

175g sugar or 120g agave nectar/honey

zest of 1 lemon

500g sour cream 30% fat content

500g “branza dulce” ie fresh sweet cheese

1 tbsp cornflour – but not essential

Gadgets & Gizmos

Yes its true a springform cake tin really does help. If you line very well a normal tin then you can juggle with the cake when it is VERY cold ie one whole day after and flip it onto a plate and then flip it back over again. i did actually recently do this when, alarmingly, I had all my springforms in use and I had an order for a cheesecake! It worked but its a tiny bit nerve wracking!

How to

A small trick…take a square of baking paper and place over the base of your tin BEFORE locking on the spring part with the clasp. This really helps the cheesecake exit gracefully. I also line the tin with a little baking paper and oil again you dont have to but it makes life easier at the end.

Press the crumble and egg mixture into the base (ie on top of the paper) and bake at 180C for 8-10minutes. leave the oven on as the filling is so easy to make the whole thing will be back in the oven in 10 minutes.

Mix gently until just incorporated, the eggs, cream, sweet cheese, sugar and lemon zest. If you want to add a little cornflour this will stop the cake “weeping” and I personally quite like it. however if you have a sensitive palate you might just detect something a little “floury” in the texture. up to you. Combine the cornflour with 1 tbsp milk and add the milk/cornflour mixture.

Pour the mixture on top of the base and place in the oven for 30-40minutes. Its important that the centre still has a little wobble when you take it out. The cake will carry on cooking and will set after you take it out of the oven but if you wait until the centre is also absolutely solid then the final result will be a bit too dry. it will inflate quite a bit and then as it cooks deflate…

Try to refrigerate over night and eat the next day as it will taste better and slice easier. I personally like it with a raspberry coulis.

Not so classic Gluten Free Crumble Mix

Now the method and what you can do with the crumble mix is exactly the same as for a classic all wheat flour version but …its all in the mix so here are my thoughts on how to adapt to your taste and what you find easy to buy/ easily available.

Your GF Crumble Mix

200g of flour substitutes:

What do I commonly use?

– oat flour (“faina de ovaz”) because I can find it relatively easily and its kind of coarse and exactly what you want

– oats (“fulgi de ovaz”) – I like a few for texture in the crumble but dont use 200g because they are not fine enough

– some pulverised nuts – almonds are great but expensive …walnuts are good too but will give flavour. If you like the flavour good. If they go with the fruit you are putting over as a traditional crumble also good eg walnuts in the mix and plums with cinnamon and red wine – fabulous.

– rice flour – “faina de orez”) – great

– soya – (“faina de soia”) – I like a lot

– cornmeal flour malai – (“faina de malai”) – now this is the flour NOT the polenta ie “malai”

– corn flour or corn starch (“Amidon”) – a little works but not too much as its so superfine it can make the mix a bit “gluey”

– polenta – “(malai”) – adds a beautiful crunch and golden colour

– potato flour – I like it but cant find it easily

– chestnut flour – expensive but good

– garam flour – (faina de naut”) – a bit too savoury for crumble but a small amount is ok

Did I forget any? oh yes… buckwheat…faina de hrisca…kind of nutty (in flavour)

So how to make a crumble mix? The latest one I made that was GF went like this:

100g faina de ovaz – oat flour

50g faina de soia – soya flour

25g malai – polenta

25 g fulgi de ovaz – oats

and then proceed as for a regular crumble:

100g butter 82% cold and cubed (I once made with Transylvanian “untura” but that is a different story)

100g sugar or 75g sugar substitute like fructose

How To

Crumble is child’s play – literally – small fingers learning to rub cold butter, flour (your own GF mix) and sugar together until an edible sand is created is one of the first lessons of cooking…well at least where I am from.

If you want to be a traditionalist or like getting your hands dirty or just don’t own a load of gizmos then gently rub the ingredients together (I sometimes use a knife to start the process and to keep things cool) until you have sandy crumbs. If you own a food mixer then do this with the “K “ beater attachment (this is how I usually make it) or (a new discovery) blend in a food processor on pulse setting taking care not to over blend and create a cookie dough. The crumble mix freezes brilliantly and its worth making extra to always have something to throw over fruit and create an instant dessert with.

Its also a fabulous cheesecake base. For a 23c, springform tin take 150-175g of mix and add one egg yolk. This sticks it together. Press into the base of your tin and bake for 8-10 minutes until just cooked. Leave to cool and it will crisp up ready to receive the cheesecake mix – either a baked/egg mixture or no bake one.

Classic Crumble Mix

Classic Crumble Mix

200g flour

100g butter 82% cold and cubed (I once made with Transylvanian “untura” but that is a different story)

100g sugar

How To

Crumble is child’s play – literally – small fingers learning to rub cold butter, flour and sugar together until an edible sand is created is one of the first lessons of cooking…well at least where I am from.