American blueberry cheesecake

Looking at the photo, you might think this is a copy of the bilberry cheesecake. The cakes do have things in common, but they’re not all that alike. What’s different? Compare the ingredients. The American blueberry version is a little heavier because of the mascarpone. It also has a much more substantial base and more flour.

When you make this blueberry cheesecake, you’ll see that before the flour goes in, the filling is much runnier than the Philadelphia version. Hence the extra flour. There are no extra flavourings in this one either, vanilla for instance. It still looks splendid (I added a little bilberry purée for the colour, which wouldn’t have been nearly as striking without it). Tastes splendid too.

I made this at my parents’ place (where I was recovering from conjunctivitis), so I had Kasia at my disposal. If you haven’t got a food processor, though, you can easily manage with a blender. You’ll just have to crush the biscuits by hand (which I can’t stand). Kasia can do that for you quickly and efficiently, so if you don’t have her handy, allow about another 10 minutes for the biscuits.

I recommend it!

At a glance: 

Prep time: 20 minutes

Oven temperature: 150 degrees Celsius

Baking time: about 85 minutes

Serves: about 10–12 portions

Calories: unfortunately, yes

Ingredients for a rather impressive little cheesecake:

• 250 grams low-fat twaróg (Polish curd cheese)
• 250 grams full-fat twaróg
• 500 grams mascarpone (yes, the rich cheese used in tiramisu. It costs much less at discount supermarkets these days than you might think)
• 250 grams American blueberries (the larger punnet)
• 3 tablespoons bilberry purée (this is optional, but without it the cheesecake won’t have that lovely purple colour. Unfortunately blueberries alone don’t give you that. It makes little difference to the flavour. How to make the purée? Heat bilberries with a tablespoon of sugar in a small saucepan until they release plenty of juice, then cool)
• 6 tablespoons wheat flour
• 4 hen’s eggs
• a glass of white sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (bottled, as usual for me)
• a large tub of sour cream, 18% fat (thick)
• 4 tablespoons icing sugar
• 3/4 of a block of butter
• 1 packet chocolate oat biscuits (for example, ones like these)
• half a packet of digestive biscuits 
• breadcrumbs

Method (Kasia’s on the job again, the spirit of the machine):

As I said, I started by assembling the food processor, aka Kasia 🙂 First I melted the butter in a small frying pan and let it cool.

Using Kasia’s attachment that I think is for grating vegetables, I crushed all the biscuits. I swapped it for the mixing attachment, added the butter to the crumbs and mixed it in thoroughly.

I buttered the bottom of a round cake tin and dusted it with breadcrumbs. I tipped in the buttery biscuit mixture and pressed it down firmly to cover the entire bottom. The base shouldn’t be too thick either. I covered it with foil and put it in the fridge.

I put the low-fat and full-fat twaróg in the processor bowl and switched on the mixer (my way of getting around grinding the cheese). After about 4–5 minutes I added the mascarpone. I mixed (well, Kasia mixed) for another 2–3 minutes. With the machine still running I added the eggs, sugar, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, blueberries and bilberry purée to the ground, or rather mixed, cheese.

The filling needs about 4–5 minutes of mixing and should come out quite runny. Lastly I added 5 tablespoons of wheat flour and mixed for about another 2–3 minutes. There, done.

I preheated the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

I took the tin with its biscuit base out of the fridge and poured in the cheese filling. Into the oven it went, and I turned the temperature down to 150 degrees Celsius. I baked it for 60 minutes.

After 60 minutes I carefully took the cake out and poured the previously prepared sour cream mixture over the top (the whole large tub of 18% sour cream mixed with 4 tablespoons of icing sugar and a tablespoon of lemon juice, stirred well until smooth). Back in the oven for another 20 minutes. Your blueberry cheesecake is ready.

Just remember:

a) don’t eat it straight out of the oven

b) to start with, cool it in the oven with the door only slightly ajar

c) it tastes best if, once completely cool, you refrigerate it for at least 3–4 hours

Enjoy!