Fresh Cherry Quark Cheesecake Pie

“If Life is a Bowl of Cherries,
What Am I Doing in the Pits?”
Erma Brombeck

I made this Fresh Cherry Quark Cheesecake Pie a while ago. It’s too good a cheesecake /pie not to share before cherry season disappears altogether. Cherries are one of my favourit-est summer stone fruit and it’s a shame that the season lasts for such a short time. Maybe that contributes to the fruits charm. This pie was a wonderful end for my last batch… {other than the ones that I’ve frozen!}The summer’s been long and very stretched thanks to oppressive heat and extended power cuts. Add to that ongoing renovation work at home and you get stuck forever! It’s been trying but I shall not bore you with my tales of reno horror. There have to be better things in life – food, friends … and cherries of course!  At times like these a parcel in the mail can flood the day with sunshine. I was floored to receive a gift wrapped copy of Baking With Julia from the very sweet food blogger Suma @ Cakes & More. It’s a virtual baking bible authored by the uber talented Dorie Greenspan who I hugely admire. She makes baking techniques feel easy-peasy, makes you want to sail into the kitchen and begin baking ASAP!Thank you Suma, I am really touched, honoured too with the words you wrote …”You truly inspire! Glad to know you and the spectacular PAB!” {blush}. I’m happily off to ‘sift, knead, flute and flour‘ with Dorie from a hands-on baking book packed with breads, pies, cobblers, cookies, cakes and pastries!  Readers of PAB will know of my love for homemade quark, the Austrian soft curd cheese. It’s easy to make at home, cheaper than cream cheese and is great in a cheesecake. I learnt about it ages ago and fell in love with it. Couldn’t believe that milk and buttermilk with a day or two to spare would yield this beautiful cheese. Quark combined with my second love, stone fruit, and life is GOOD!Theres been no looking back in ‘quark‘ terms. I love it! All you need is 2-3 days of planning. An overnight set, at least 24 hours of whey draining … and you are ready to roll. I’ve used it extensively – Vanilla Quark Cake with Balsamic Roasted Strawberries, Mini Quark Vanilla Cheesecakes with Balsamic Cherry Sauce, Chocolate Quark Mousse Tartlets in Almond Pastry {eggless}…… Quark Cheesecake Pie with Fresh Cherries, Upside Down Mango Quark Cheese Pie, Quarkauflauf – Quark Cassarole with Balsamic Strawberries,  Strawberry & Tangerine Quark Panna Cotta, Strawberry Cake with Quark & Mascarpone, Quark Mousse with Roasted Balsamic Strawberries, Vanilla Macarons with Quark Kirsch & Tart Cherry Filling. My favourites? Chicken Quark Crossover Puff Pastry and Quark Mousse cake with Roasted Balsamic Strawberries {see, I told you I love quark!} This cheesecake pie was affirmation yet again of how good quark can be in desserts. The verrines are simply unbaked, eggless, layered desserts in glasses – fresh cherries, slivered pistachios, a dollop of nutella, quark whipped with cream and sweetened mildly … and then repeated.

  Print This!   Recipe: Fresh Cherry Quark Cheesecake Pie

Summary: Adelicious light summer cheesecake with a biscuit base and fresh cherry topping. It’s full of flavor and lighter on calories than the traditional version

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes plus cooling time
Ingredients:

• Biscuit base 
•  125g digestive biscuits
• 50g whole almonds
• 90g unsalted butter, chilled, cubed
• Filling
•  470g quark cheese {recipe follows}
• 3 eggs, separated
• 30g plain flour
• 130g (90g+40g) Castor sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder
• 200ml low fat cream, room temperature
• 1 tbsp kirsch
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup Nutella
• Balsamic cherries
• 500g cherries
• 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp kirsch {optional}
• Full fat quark cheese
• 1 ltr whole fat milk
• 250ml cultured buttermilk
• 200ml low fat cream

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil, and grease lightly. Place an 8″ spring form tin on the foil and wrap the foil up around the sides.
   
2. Biscuit Crust
3. Place the flour and almonds in the bowl of your processor and pulse until the almonds are ground {4-5 times}.
4. Now add the chilled butter and process until you get a breadcrumb like mix.
5. Pat filling over the base and bake at 180C for 20 minutes until light brown. Cool completely.
6. Filling
7. Place the quark cheese, egg yolks, flour, 90g Castor sugar, scraped vanilla bean, cream, kirsch and vanilla bean powder if using into the bowl of your food processor and run on medium speed till smooth. {Thermomix: Speed 6, 10 seconds}
8. Beat the whites with the remaining 40g sugar to firm peaks. Gently fold this through the quark cheese mixture.
9. Smear the Nutella over the base and put half the cherry filling {strained} over the base. Pour the filling over the base and bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes.
10. Allow to cool completely in oven, leaving the door ajar.
11. Cover well and chill before serving, preferably overnight. Serve topped with balsamic cherry sauce, fresh cherries, chocolate flakes and slivered pistachios.
12. Balsamic Cherry Sauce
13. Place ingredients other than kirsch in a non reactive pan and simmer until the cherries release their juices and begin to get soft and hold their shape, about 4-5 minutes. {Don’t overcook or the cherries will break down and lose shape}
14. Remove the cherries to a bowl. Place pan with the liquid on medium high heat and reduce the juices to about a third, nice and thick. Stir in the kirsch if using. Cool completely and chill until required {Can be made 2-3 days before}.
15. Quark
16. Heat milk to room temperature / tepid. Add low fat cream and buttermilk, stir well, and leave to set undisturbed for 12-24 hours. {12 hours in hot weather and 24 in cool weather}
17. Once set, place in fridge for 5-6 hours / overnight, and then place to drain in fridge for 24 hours. I use a curd cheese maker, but you can use a piece of muslin.

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