Cheesecake

Τσεισκέικ

Serves:
12 people
Prep time:
30 minutes
Cook time:
3 hours

When Jim was 14, he tried cheesecake for the first time at school. That day, he went home and asked Yiayia to make one but there was one big issue — Yiayia had never heard of it. Cheese… in a cake? Determined to enlighten Yiayia and to get his hands on one, Jim went to the shops and found a cheesecake recipe on the back of a packet of cream cheese. After bringing the recipe home, the two made their very first cheesecake and, over the next few years, Yiayia kept tweaking and perfecting the recipe to come up with what we have today.

Ingredients

  • 90g of butter
  • 185g of plain sweet biscuits
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 can of crushed pineapple or pineapple pieces
  • Packet gelatin
  • 250g packaged cream cheese
  • 125g cottage cheese
  • ½ cup condensed milk
  • 5 fresh passionfruit or 1 can of passionfruit pulp
  • 1 and ½ cups of cream

Method

Tap, click or hover over a highlighted ingredient to see its quantity.

  1. Melt in a pan slowly over low heat, or in the microwave
  2. Crush the finely until they are the same texture as breadcrumbs. Either use a food processor or the good old fashioned way Yiayia favours— putting them in a zip lock bag and smashing them with a rolling pin
  3. In a bowl combine the crushed biscuits, butter and and mix together until well incorporated
  4. Scoop the mixture into a tin lined with baking paper or foil. Using your fingers, flatten the mixture to cover the entire bottom of the tin, and up the walls about ¾ of the way up the tin walls
  5. Place the tin in the fridge while preparing the filling
  6. Separate the syrup and the pieces from a can of pineapple pieces, keeping each in separate bowls
  7. Pour the pineapple syrup into a saucepan over a low heat
  8. Sprinkle a packet of into the liquid and stir until it is fully dissolved
  9. Once the gelatin is fully dissolved, take it off the heat and refrigerate until it is almost set. You don’t want it to turn solid, instead aiming for a thick liquid texture like custard
  10. In a large bowl, beat together , and until soft and creamy
  11. Gradually add in the pineapple syrup mixture while folding in gently
  12. Add the from 4 passionfruits, or ½ a can, folding in until all is well combined
  13. In a separate bowl beat cream until soft peaks form and fold into the cheese mixture
  14. Pour the combined mixture into the biscuit lined tin and refrigerate until set. Yiayia leaves it over-night but anything more than 3 hours will be okay
  15. Decorate the cake with the pineapple pieces and the pulp of 1 passionfruit

From Yiayia's Fridge · page 119