Lemon Curd Cheese Cake

I love lemon curd! It's wonderfully sour and deliciously sweet at the same time. Sadly (or luckily) my husband does not share my love for lemons in any form but occasionally I do make lemony pies and cakes.

This lemony cheese cake is one of my favorites. I sometimes add very much lemon curd and sometimes less - that option takes place when I know that my husband wants to eat it too. Small amount of lemon makes it eatable for him too and he likes cheese cakes a lot. What is great about this too is the fact that it's no way dry in a way that many baked cheesecakes are. This is moist and tasty.

For the crust I used 200 grams (7 ounces) of whole wheat biscuits and about 100-150 grams (1/2-2/3 cups) soft butter which I mixed very well. Sometimes I add about 80 grams (3/8 cup) sugar in it. This time I did not. I wanted to make less sweet of it since the everything on the top is so sweet. Must say that I do prefer the crust  made from the Rolled Oat Biscuits but sometimes ready made biscuits save the day.

FOR THE FILLING:

3 eggs

150 grams (5.291 oz) sugar

750 grams (1.654 lb) ricotta cheese

460 grams (1.014 lb) yoghourt( or crème fraîche)

2 tsp vanilla essence

zest of one organic lemon

3 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp all-purpose flour 

1. Whisk the eggs and the sugar into light foam. 
2.Add rest of the filling ingredients

FOR THE CRUMBLE

100 grams (3.527 oz) all-purpose flour

75 grams  (2.646 oz) demerara sugar

90 grams (3.175 oz) soft butter

75 grams (2.64 oz) crushed blanched almonds in quite large pieces

1. Mix all the crumble ingredients

You also need some lemon curd (about 100-150 grams which makes about 3,5-5,2 ounces)  which you add on the top of the cheese cake right before you add the crumble on it.

FOR THE CRUST

200 grams (7.055 oz) whole wheat biscuits 

100-150 grams (3.527-5.291 oz) soft butter

(80 grams (2.822 oz) sugar - IF NEEDED)

1. Crush the biscuits and mix them well with the soft butter (and sugar)

Press the biscuit-butter mix on a baking tin, preferably in a one with the loose bottom, about 25-28cm (appr. 11 inches)  diameter.  Add the filling. Add the lemon curd on top of the filling by either dropping it here and there or cover the whole area with it. I like the version with lots of lemon curd so I say cover the whole area. That way the cheese cake won't be too sweet either and it gives more taste to it too.  Bake in the 175°C ( 350°F) about 60-90 minutes. Make sure it won't get too brown.

Blueberry-Ricotta pies

Platter "Linnea" by Arabia 

These little pies are definitely lovely to make. My whole family loves cheese cakes/pies. Mostly those unbaked ones but I haven't yet  seen that any baked cheesecakes would not be eaten in this house. This recipe is for a baked cheese  pie. Make taller or smaller - which ever you prefer.  I made small and not so thick ones so everyone gets his or her own little pie on a plate.

The greatest thing is that I used the Rolled Oats biscuits for the bottom. That way I didn't need to buy any biscuits form the store. I usually never buy any sorts of biscuits since I like to bake those myself and if I need some sort of  crust for a pie or a cake I use the Rolled Oat biscuits. When I bake them for the crust alone I use less butter since I need to add butter again when making the crust so it doesn't really matter if biscuits are little more drier. I  crush the needed amount of biscuits, add some butter and mix it. So easy, so quick and tastes good too! I used loose base tart tins since I simply hate that perfectly good pie gets stuck on the tin. Loose bottom is best if you ask me.

This a recipe that I like quite much. Originally it had whipped cream and lots of different ingredients but I needed to change it since most of the time I had no such ingredients in my fridge. So this is what I came up with. So far people have enjoyed it quite a bit. It is not that sweet as many other cheese cakes or pies I have tasted and I think that is a good thing. It also tastes lighter and more fresh than the heavier and more creamier cheesecakes.

FOR THE  CRUST 
This makes 6 small pies (10cm) and one large one (25cm) 

600 grams (1.323 lb) rolled oats biscuits

250-300 grams (8.819 - 10.582 oz) soft butter

1. Mix butter and crushed rolled oats biscuits well together.

FOR THE FILLING:

3 eggs

150 grams (5.291) oz sugar

750 grams (1.654 lb) ricotta cheese

appr. 460 grams (1.014 lb) yoghurt ( or crème fraîche)

2 tsp vanilla essence

zest of one organic lemon

3 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1. Whisk eggs and sugar into a light foam.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix lightly.

FOR THE CRUMBLE

100 grams (3.527 oz) all-purpose flour

75 grams (2.646 oz) demerara sugar

90 grams (3.175 oz) melted butter

150 grams (5.291 oz) blueberries (fresh or frozen )

1. Mix flour and demerara  sugar

2. Add the melted butter.

3. Add the blueberries in the very last minute if you use the frozen ones. 

Put the proper amount of the mix into each tin or use just one larger tin with higher sides for making a cake instead of  pies.  For  10cm diameter tins I used about 40-50 grams of the biscuit-butter mix.

Add the filling on to the crust and the crumble on the top. Add some more blueberries if needed. 

Bake in the 175°C ( 350°F) for about 30-35 minutes if you make small pies - bigger pie needs about 60-90 minutes. Cake most definitely that 90 minutes.   Once the pies have cooled enough put them in the fridge for at least 4 hours, best if they stay in the fridge for over night but the pies taste so nice that it's going to be hard to stay away from the fridge that long.