Passionfruit Baked Cheesecake

This is my first attempt at a cheesecake of any kind - so bear with me :)

Thanks to our tiny oven, this cake cooked in half the time it should have, but also overcooked a little and ended up a bit dry. Next time I shall be paying more attention!

The topping is made with cornflour, but you can substitute gelatine if you like.

Passionfruit Baked Cheesecake

Pastry:

1 packet butternut snap biscuits

1/2 cup melted butter

1tsp cinammon

1tbs wholemeal flour 

Cheesecake filling: 

500gm cream cheese, pressed through a sieve

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1tbs lemon juice

1/4 cup passionfruit juice

Topping:

Pulp from approximately 8 passionfruit
1/4 cup sugar
2 Kiwifruits, peeled and sliced
1 tsp cornflour in 1/2 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees celcius. Crush butternut snap biscuits until resembling fine breadcrumbs. Mix with melted butter, cinnamon and flour. Press onto the bottom and sides of a 9" pan. Cook for 10 minutes then cool.

Sieve room temperature cream cheese through a colander or strainer. In a seperate bowl, mix eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add to the cream cheese and beat well. Add lemon and passionfruit juices. Beat for approximately 5 minutes until smooth. Pour into prepared biscuit base.
Bake for 1 hour, or until top starts to turn golden. Leave in oven to cool with door open.

When cake is cooled, put passionfruit pulp and sugar into a saucepan. Bring to simmer. Add the cornflour in water and mix well. Keep stirring until boiled and then boil for approximately 2 minutes until glaze is thick and clear. Let cool for 10 minutes.
Spread a layer of glaze on cooled cake. Arrange sliced kiwifruit on top then top with rest of glaze.
Set aside to cool for an hour.
Place cake covered, in fridge overnight before serving.

Lentil and Silverbeet parcels

 

Just another one of those things that I invented off the top of my head... It started with Mum forgetting to bring Spanakopita last week, then to my partner talking about making Spanakopita, then to me turning it into pumpkin and ricotta triangles because we had been eating too much spinach (palak paneer for 5 days anyone?) Then scrapping the ricotta for lentils... guh.

I had to add silverbeet, because I like it more than spinach ;)

Lentil and Silverbeet parcels

3 sheets puff pastry - cut into quarters and kept cold.

1/3 jap pumpkin, 1cm cubes

1 bunch silverbeet, trimmed of stalk and roughly chopped

1 tin lentils, drained and rinsed thoroughly

2 soft tomatoes, diced

1 onion, finely diced

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

mustard seeds

cumin seeds

paprika powder

curry powder 

salt and pepper 

garam masala and dried chopped garlic to garnish

In a large frypan, sautee onion and garlic in olive oil. Add mustard and cumin seeds and fry until popping. Put in cubed pumpkin and cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally to lightly caramelise.

Add silverbeet, paprika and curry powder. Cook for 3 minutes stirring frequently.

Add drained lentils. Cook for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook a further 5 minutes until mixture is 'dry' 

(the tomatoes will make the mixture a bit watery upon addition, which will make the pastry soggy when baking. When the mix is no longer watery, it is ready.)

Spoon 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of mixture into centre of each pastry quarter. Fold up diagonal ends and place onto oiled tray. Use extra pastry trimmings to make a small button and place in the centre. 

Spray each parcel with oil. Top with a sprinkle of garam masala powder and dried chopped garlic.

Bake at 180 degrees for approximately 30 minutes until golden brown - check after 20 minutes to ensure they cook evenly.

Makes 10.