Blueberry quark cheesecake

Blueberry quark cheesecake is a lovely lighter version of a classic cheesecake. On one hand, it’s firm and easy to cut, with a crunchy base, on the other hand, it’s creamy, fruity and moist. It’s a really satisfying cake and therefore a great treat to enjoy all year long.

A month or two ago, my mother sent me a book with only sweet treat recipes. „Great, another book“, I thought. Not that I don’t like books, but I already have so many. However, a lovely recipe caught my eye. It was a blueberry cheesecake with a cute purple pattern on top, which almost looked like flowers.

Even though I love cheesecake, I wanted to make a lighter version also this time. Consequently, I decided on quark. Here you can check another light version; the yogurt cheesecake or the incredibly spongy Japanese cheesecake.

„But what is quark?“ you’ll ask. To be honest, when I was new in Germany I had to figure it out too. So, quark is a fresh cheese curd, a mixture of cream cheese and cottage cheese with yogurt flavour. In fact, the yogurt flavour is due to quark being made from soured milk.

Reasons to use quark or cottage cheese

When you want to cut back on calories and fat, use quark. An alternative to that would be cottage cheese. Besides being tasty, creamy and low in fat, quark is also high in calcium, vitamin A and vitamin B.

In addition, you can use it in plenty of recipes; either sweet or savoury. For example, you can add it to salads, meat, fish, spread it on bread, add to granola at breakfast, mix it with berries and many more. If you have the chance, use quark instead of cream cheese.

Have you also noticed that there are only positive things about this cheesecake? Amazing! The only negative thing about this blueberry quark cheesecake is, you can’t stop eating it. It’s so delicious! Wink.

This recipe requires two square pans and 2-3 tartelettes forms. However, you can use a 20×25 cm baking pan or a round one too. For the baking forms, I would suggest using baking paper, in order to pull out the cake easier without breaking it.

Ingredients for two medium (12x12cm) and 2-3 small (Ø 10 cm) portions of blueberry quark cheesecake:

• 150 g whole grain cookies (crushed)
• 80-90 g butter (melted)
• 400 g quark (or cottage cheese)
• 1 tsp of vanilla aroma
• 150 g sugar
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 150 g sour cream
• 1 Tbsp polenta
• 150 g blueberries

First of all, prepare the crunchy cookie base. You can simply crush them in a bowl. Although, crushing them directly in the package or in a plastic food bag is a way better idea. Like that, you won’t have cookie crumbles jumping around the kitchen counter. Wink.

In order to crush them quickly, I used a rolling pin. But you can use a heavy pan too. After you get small crumbles, transfer them into a bowl. Furthermore, in a small pan, melt the butter and pour it over the cookie crumbles. Using a wooden spoon, mix well to combine. All the cookie crumbles should absorb the butter.

In case, you think they are too dry, add a small splash of milk. Mix and place aside, while you prepare the baking forms. Whatever baking form you decide to use, you have to either put a baking paper in or grease the form first. I used the always good butter. Wink.

At this point, add the crumble mixture to the forms and by pressing it into the form make a ca 5 mm thick base. If you really like the cookie base, then make it thicker. There is no wrong and right. It can only be good and better.

To make the base flat use either your hands, a glass or a spoon. Then, place all the forms in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. As a result, your base will be more stable and will bake nicely.

Cheesecake quark filling

Preheat the oven to 150º C.

In the meantime, prepare the delicious filling. In a larger bowl mix quark, vanilla and sugar. Once well combined, slowly add the beaten eggs, sour cream and one spoon of polenta. Stir using a wooden spoon until smooth and without lumps.

Then, take one-third of the blueberries and purée them. Furthermore, take the baking forms with cookie base out of the fridge. Divide the rest of the blueberries between the forms and cover with the quark batter.

In conclusion, drip the puréed blueberries over the quark batter and using a wooden skewer or a toothpick, form a lovely swirl pattern. I was simply drawing the number 8 in different directions. After you are satisfied with it, put it to bake for 50-55 minutes.

Once the batter is set, you can turn off the oven but leave the blueberry quark cheesecake still in it until it cools down.

Finally, you can put the blueberry quark cheesecake either in the fridge (which I suggest storing it no longer than 3 days) or eat it when freshly baked, which is always the best idea. However, I wouldn’t worry about it. It won’t last long, simply because it’s too good. Also, you can add even more fresh berries on top of it to make it even more fruity.

Enjoy!

PS

If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)