“I firmly believe that kids don’t want your understanding. They want your trust, your compassion, your binding love and your car keys, but you try to understand them and you’re in big trouble.”
Erma Brombeck
Happy Mothers Day to all you rocking mothers out there! It’s the toughest job in the world, frightening at the worst of times, yet rewarding when you least expect it. These charming little Mini Quark Vanilla Cheesecakes with Balsamic Cherries are to celebrate what we’ve been doing for days, months, years!!
I love Erma Brombeck, and her words hit a home run each time I read them. “I interviewed sitters for six months. It’s depressing when you realize no one wants to be paid for what you’ve been doing for years for nothing.“
We are a family that lives for dessert. Dessert in every avatar, from simple stewed fruit like apples or peaches to a good baked cheesecake, it’s the end of the day which brings the ‘sweet teeth‘ together! These little cheesecakes were the perfect delicious end that day.
Oh did I tell you CHERRIES are finally here? They are indeed!! Loads of them. Yay for summer. I ♥ stonefruit!!
After the wonderful verdict on the Vanilla Quark Cheesecake {Vanilla Quarktorte} with Roasted Balsamic Strawberries, I knew that quark was going to appear on my menu often … and I wasn’t wrong. My next batch of quark as ready and I was itching to experiment yet again.
Some found it’s way into a warm potato salad, and more in these North African inspired preserved lime stir fried chicken for wraps. I had a whole batch to play around with, and while it was draining in the fridge I had a brainwave. I really loved the biscuit like base of the Daring Bakers Armenian Nutmeg Walnut Cake. It was easy to make and seemed a versatile base for bakes.
So these little cheesecakes were inspired from the Daring Bakers challenge of May and my recent Vanilla Quarktorte. It made sense somewhere in my head to try and bring the two together. This time around, I went with what I enjoy most – petite fours, or small individual desserts.
A petit four is a small confectionery generally eaten at the end of a meal or served as part of dessert and has an interesting history. The name is from the French petit four, meaning “small oven“. Petits fours were traditionally made during the cooling process of coal-powered brick ovens in the 18th century. This was due to coal’s high burning temperature, relative to wood, and its expense at the time. Wasting the heat produced was not an option.
There are two different categories of petits fours. Petits fours secs that include a variety of small desserts, and Petits fours glacés are iced or decorated in some way. There are also Petits fours salés which are bite-sized salted appetizers.
I used a similar cherry sauce topping in this Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise with Crème Chantilly & Balsamic Cherry Sauce about a year ago, last Mothers Day! This morning, I got cards from the kids, and an ‘errands‘ booklet {I can ask him to brush the dog 100 times, entry into room etc} from the pre-teen, and a little poem too. I like his poem ‘Trouble‘ the best!
Summary: Mini baked vanilla quark cheesecakes, cooled then chilled overnight. Serve topped with a delicious balsamic cherry sauce! Makes 12
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- Crust
- 125g plain flour
- 50g whole almonds
- 40g brown sugar
- 90g unsalted butter, chilled, cubed
- Filling
- 470g quark cheese (I used homemade full fat quark}
- 3 eggs, separated
- 30g cornflour
- 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
- Balsamic Cherries
- 500g cherries
- 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp kirsch {optional}
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil, and grease lightly. Grease 12 3″ dessert rings {you could use 8″ spring form tin too and make 1 big cheesecake}
- Biscuit Crust
- Place the flour and almonds in the bowl of your processor and pulse until the almonds are ground {4-5 times}.
- Add the brown sugar and pulse a couple of times to mix.
- Now add the chilled butter and process until you get a breadcrumb like mix. {You can do this by hand too, but a processor is far quicker and easier}
- Divide between the 12 tins and pat firmly to create a base.
- Place tins on the foil lined baking sheet.
- Divide filling equally over the bases {not more than 2/3 full}, and bake at 180C for 35 minutes, until firm. They will puff up towards the end of baking, and then settle back in while cooling.
- Allow to cool completely in oven, leaving the door ajar.
- Cover well and chill before serving, preferably overnight. Serve topped with balsamic cherry sauce.
- Filling
- Place the quark cheese, egg yolks, cornflour, 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}
- Beat the whites with the remaining 40g sugar to firm peaks. Gently fold this through the quark cheese mixture.
- Balsamic Cherry Sauce
- 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}
- 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}.
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
