“Gourmandise is an impassioned, rational and habitual preference for all objects that flatter the sense of taste.”
Jean Antheleme Brillat-Savarin
Happy MAY! Anyone know what happened to March and April? Time is flying, and how. In the blink of an eye, the first quarter of 2010 whizzed by, and strangely enough, we’re already into May. Summer is here in the Northern Hemisphere, much awaited after a cold dark winter, yet a little too hot for us. We are truly looking the hot Indian summer in the face with the mercury consistently hitting 40-43C, much the ‘fry the egg on the sidewalk’ situation. Our days are ruled by heavy dust laden winds that swoop in from the deserts of Rajasthan as the plains of North India bake in the sweltering heat. The upside? Summer fruit, and light refreshing desserts.
Here’s one I made with my last batch of strawberries; a no bake refrigerator cheesecake. The pie filling uses a mix of low fat cream and a curd cheese known as quark. An ingredient I discovered through food blogging, quark is a soft curd cheese that is used extensively in Germany. It’s an easy cheese to make, a recipe that I learnt from Arwen’s blog @ HogletK, and one that I can now shut my eyes and make. It’s basically like setting yogurt at home, but the culture here is buttermilk. The curd is set for 24 hours in a warm, draft free place, then drained for a further 24 hours. In the end you get this delightful creamy curd cheese, which adds luxury to a light summer dessert sans the calories.
It was as simple as simple could be, and one that is a firm favourite with me. I use it often as a partial cream substitute and often , as a cake filler, and find it compliments fruit desserts beautifully. I even made some for the Dresden Stollen I did over Christmas, and it was the best think that happened to us at that time. You can find the quark recipe here in my ‘Cheese Post‘, amidst many other soft cheeses like mascarpone, ricotta and cottage cheese.
With summer here, I make quark very often, and it pairs beautifully with fruit based desserts, or just served with fruit. I’ve used strawberries here, but I think you can pretty much use any summer berries or fruit. I’ve used quark in a Strawberry Cake with Quark & Mascarpone, as also in this Orange Tian a short while ago. Another huge hit at home was the Almond Nut Torte with Quark, Peaches & Plums. As you can see, soft cheese making is a passion with me, and the possibilities are endless. Alice Medrich has a Quark Souffle recipe that I’d love to try one day, in cooler weather.
I’ve got a fun give away for readers from the US sponsored by Uprinting, where one reader can win 250 hangtags! I love finishing off a gift with a hang tag; if it’s customised, even better. They look pretty on a bottle of preserves, a jar of cookies etc. Hangtags are also a great way to promote to your business in a charming little way. What would you do with them? Love to hear your ideas?
Dimension: 2×3.5
Paper: 14pt cardstock gloss
Finishing: 3/16 hole drilling, (hole location: top-center; top-left; top-right)
Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only. You must be at least 18 years old to enter.
Do leave a comment on this post before the 8th of May. I will draw a winner thereafter.
NO BAKE STRAWBERRY & QUARK CHEESECAKE
Biscuit base
150gms digestive cookies, crushed with rolling pin
50gms butter (1/4 cup), melted
Pie filling
350gms quark
200ml low fat cream (25%)
1/2 cup powdered vanilla sugar (or Castor sugar)
1 1/2 tsp gelatin (can decrease if the weather is not too hot)
250-300gms strawberries, cape gooseberries (other seasonal berries/fruit too)
Method:
Crush the biscuits in a ziploc, mix with melted butter in a bowl and turn into the base of an 8″ dessert ring placed on the serving platter.
Press gently to create uniform base. the bottom of a flat glass works well here. Chill in freezer for 10 minutes, while you prepare the filling.
Filling:
Sprinkle the gelatin over 2 tbsp of water to soften. Place the bowl in a slightly bigger bowl of warm water, and leave for a short while till it becomes translucent.
Beat the cream till it thickens and holds soft peaks. In another bowl. beat the quark with the powdered sugar, with the same beaters, until smooth. Then beat in the gelatin quickly and thoroughly. Fold in the whipped cream. Taste for sweetness, and adjust if required.
Turn this over the biscuit case, and place in the freezr for 20-30 minutes.
Bring down into the fridge, and leave to set for 6-8 hours, or overnight. Top with strawberry coulis and fresh fruit and serve.
Alternative fruit suggestions…
Halve some cape gooseberies, place on top of the chilled pie, brush over with cooled melted preserves, and cover and chill in the fridge for 4-6 hours, or better overnight.
I love the Cape Gooseberry, or Physallis as it’s called. It is also referred to as Ground Cherries in the US, and hides under a papery thin shell. The berry is beautiful when cross sectioned, and the taste ranges from slightly tart to sweet.
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Top looking cheesecake. I am intrigued by this quark ingredient. I might just have to give it a go.
That quark cheesecake is delicious looking! A wonderful dessert.
Cheers,
Rosa
Is this where we enter for the hangtags? I'd love to win these for my real estate business!
You have awesome recipes! Wow! I must try some soon!
HobartsMama {AT} AOL.COM
They are some great photos, looks amazing.
This looks awesome Deeba. I'm not really into baked cheesecakes but I love this style of no-bake cheesecake. It's so fruity and not too rich, especially with the quark. Yum!
Deebahhh, this is a "just in time" dessert with both strawberries and quark a harbinger of Spring.
This is so beautiful and I love that the filling is no-bake. I will look up the recipe for making quark. I am trying to make more lower fat dishes, so that may be helpful to do that. Lovely photos and colors, as always.
Gorgeous, as always
Beautiful. I want to reach in and grab a slice!
I think I will find quark easily in Beirut; not in Dallas though. Your photos are always tantalizing; that gooseberry one looks tempting too! Haven't had those since we left France!
Gorgeous filling, and no-bake makes it even better!
I love these hangtags, and know just what I would use them for: I've been wanting to have an Alice in Wonderland dinner party with all sorts of snazzy, colorful lemonades that have hangtags saying, "Drink Me!"
Not heard of quark cheese or Cape Gooseberry before. Must check it out.
This is the first time I have visited your blog and I must say, this recipe looks very interesting. I have a few queries, though:
* What is quark?
* Can you share the recipe of Strawberry coulis?
Thanks! And once again, amazing stuff!
Thanks so much for the quick response, Deeba.
I have added this recipe to my list of to-try-out recipes. Will try it soon!
Pretty! Quark is called topfen in Austria for some reason…With a mother making ths kinda stuff, I might have been a bit more grateful ;P
Awesome n tempting snaps
I have been eyeing this ever since it appeared on the header 
bookmarked
Strawberries and cheesecake is a heavenly combination, and with homemade quark, it must have been incredible!
I have to have to make quark at home now!!
This looks Beautiful! Splendid clicks!!!! Loved the recipe………..
Pavithra
http://www.dishesfrommykitchen.com
What a beautiful dessert. I have never even heard of quark, I will have to give it a try. Thanks.
jessyburke88@gmail.com
Nice blog. Thanks for sharing the recipe of QUARK CHEESECAKE. it was nice going through your blog. I will prepare this and gift it to my relative on Christmas.
Love the recipe! Just reading it made me feel refreshed!!
Def going to give it a try!
I checked out the hangtags! They look great! As you know because of the war many US soldiers are overseas. There are different sorts of fun projects that are done for them. I would prob order a batch saying "adopt me" and get a list of soldiers from our hometown area..and people can donate a fee to obtain the hang tag and then also start being a pen pal for the soldier, send small things (such as candy, toiletries, books, stationary..etc..) that the soldier might need from the US! Just a project to start with and the donated money from the hangtags can go towards maybe a plane ticket to bring a soldier home to a family..so many possibilities!! AHHH!!
This looks beautiful! Love the strawberries sitting prettily at the top.
Gorgeous!! I'm drooling now
I saw this on ur header on thursday n scrolled up n down like crazy to find the post…thought its not yet showing up in my system! But now as I scroll thru it..oooh..Feels so nice..the picture's truly captivating Deeba! Loved the perfection of shape, color n everything abt this cheesecake!
Exquisite cheesecake.Must make quark.Delicious Deeba.
Your pictures captured the beauty of this dessert but I bet it taste even better then it looks.
That's a lovely dessert for your hot weather! I'm very impressed by how often you make your soft cheeses, and it looks like you're making good use of them too.
With fruits flooding the market, I make all sorts of Jellys and Jams and use hangtag with a short idea on where all to use them for. Or in winter, I make different Spice blends and provide suggestions to use them.
Hi love all your recipes but is there a vegetarian substitute for gelatine?
wow what a cheesecake and wow thats so hot it was about 35 here today yuck
I love quark cake but we can't really get quark in Sydney. Gorgeous pictures!
simply awesome deeba! loving the bright colored fruit with the white cake. gorgeous!
loved this beautiful guilt-free cheesecake:)
the hangtag giveaway is a good one…if I won, I would use it to send personalised notes for my kids on their lunchboxes!
How gorgeous, Deeba! I've never made anything with quark. Wonder if I can find it at Whole Foods? Looks like summer!
Looks so yummy Deeba like how all your desserts usually do! Long time admirer but first time commenting here. How do you manage to whip 25% cream to soft peaks? Would be a great help to me if you let me know.
No bake cake looks yummy
This is one gorgeous cake!!!Mmmmm..
Deeba, one more quick query… do you put strawberry coulis before setting the cake in fridge or u pour it after the cake is chilled and ready?
I love your blog, it's so beautiful. I can't wait to try to make your cheesecake recipe for my mommy for mothers day, I know she will love love LOVE it!!!!
great great recipe Deeba…and better still, terrific pictures
…have never tried out quark cheese, but maybe this is the recipe i need to begin with…esp since strawberries are so in season now !!!
thanks for sharing the love
alina mishra
alina4u@rediffmail.com
Your cheesecake looks so yummy and stunning! I am going to have to try quark!
I would add the hang tags to my packaged sugar cookies:)
a stunner…as always Deeba. what can I say.
))))))
Darling! Low fat? You? Well perfect for us I say and I am trying this one! JP will love you for it! A trade considering my fruit pie made your man happy!
Finally, quark has been explained! I just moved to Germany from the US in February, I see it at the store all the time, but had no idea what it was (besides some kind of dairy product). Same with gooseberries actually, never saw one until I came here.
This looks great, and all the ingredients are locally available here. And the fact that it's no bake is even better! (no oven in my German apartment).
Thanks for this!
Well, thanks to you, I have a clean compy screen now! I just licked it all over – HA!
I make + sell pillows so these would be perfect to attach + hang from them to advertise or tell about the care of the pillow!
heatheranne99 at gmail dot com
Stunning and yumm!!
What a delicious looking cheesecake, I much prefer the no-bake style, nice and simple for summer!
If I were to win the hashtags they would come in very handy, I'm just in the process of starting my own business, jennywennycakes!
Its far too marvelous..for words.I guess its wonderful for bites
Looking forward to try this recipe..
http://nimisculinaryventures.blogspot.com
Deeba,
How do you get that marble kinda effect with strawberry in the middle? Do u mix the strawberry sauce in the cheese mixture before chilling it?
hi deeba..it looks gorgeous..want to try it soon but what is quark and can i prepare in at home..
This looks really amazing.
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