Apricot Cheescake

Apricot Cheescake About Cheescake A cheesecake is a sweet, cheese-based tart. Cheesecake is one of the most common tarts in the world and perhaps one of the oldest involving dairy other than milk. The first recorded mention of cheesecake was during the ancient Grecian Olympic in the occidental world. Steven Valli wrote of cheesecake preparation in his farming manual “De Agri Culura”. Cheesecakes can be made of ricotta cheese, havarti, quark, twaróg, or, more usually, cream cheese. Other ingredients such as sugar, eggs, cream and fruit are often mixed in as well. Flavourings such as vanilla or chocolate may be added, and a fruit topping, like strawberries, is frequently added. Typically, the cheese filling or topping covers a crust, which may be pastry, cookie, digestive biscuit or graham cracker-crumb. Sometimes the base is a layer of cake. A common difficulty with baking cheesecakes is its tendency to “crack” when cooled. This is due to the coagulation of the beaten eggs in its batter. There are various methods to prevent this. One method is to bake the cake in a hot water bath to ensure even heating. Alternatively, a little cornstarch blended into the batter prevents the coagulation of eggs. In the UK, cheesecakes are generally a cold dessert which is not cooked nor baked. It is made with crumbled digestive biscuits mixed with butter and pressed into a dish to form a base layer. The topping or filling is a mixture of milk, sugar, cheese, cream and gelatin. The word cheesecake is also used to describe the creamy, cheesy flavour of the pie. In this usage, there are cheesecake yogurts, ice creams, brownies, and cookies. There are also savory cheesecakes, often flavoured with blue cheese and served as horsďoeuvres or accompanying salads.

INGREDIENTS Serves 8 425 gm can apricot halves in natural juice 6 orange jelly cubes 250 gm carton Quark 75 ml natural low-fat yogurt apricot jam, warmed and sieved, to garnish 1 tablespoon flaked almonds, optional

For the biscuit base 125 gm digestive biscuits 50 gm low-fat spread

1. Line the base of an 18 cm / 7 inch sandwich tin with greaseproof paper. 2. Strain the juice from the apricots into a jug, make up to 150 ml with water, if necessary. 3. Pour the liquid into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. 4. Add the jelly cubes and stir until dissolved. 5. Return the jelly to the jug and leave to cool. 6. Choose 10 apricot halves for decoration and set aside. 7. Purée the remaining apricots with the Quark and yogurt in a blender or push them through a sieve. 8. Stir in the cooled jelly. 9. Pour the mixture into the sandwich tin and place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to set lightly. 10. Crush the digestive biscuits. 11. Melt the low-fat spread in a pan and stir in the crumbs. Spread this over the cheese base evenly, pressing it down gently. 12. Leave the cheesecake in the fridge for about 6-8 hours until set. 13. Dip the tin into warm water for a few seconds to loosen it before turning out the cheesecake. 14. Invert the tin on to a flat plat and turn out the cake. 15. Decorate with the reserved apricot halves, glaze with warmed apricot jam, and top with almonds, if liked, though these will increase the fat content.