Swedish Vanilla and Honey Blueberry Cheesecakes
These light and delicious Swedish Vanilla and Honey Blueberry Cheesecakes are my contribution for Dessert Week under the Great British Bake Off Tent -and for International Week under last year’s Great Canadian Baking Show Tent, while we’re at it! The inspiration is my trip to Stockholm last year. I used the last of honey made at Rosendals Trädgård I’d bought when I visited Djurgården, and flavoured the blueberry compote with cardamom because Kardemummabullar became my favourite fika treat that Summer! Altough the cheesecakes are morish, they really aren’t heavy and end a meal beautifully!
Ingredients (makes 2 cheesecakes):
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 Havrekakor
135 grams/ ounces quark or skyr, starined
1/2 plump vanilla bean
3 heaped teaspoons pure natural honey
1 large egg
5 large cardamom pods
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup fresh blueberries + a few more for garnish, rinsed
3 tablespoons blueberry cordial or syrup (like Ikea’s Blabars Dryck)
Butter two cm/” pastry rings; set aside.
Melt butter over a low flame in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat.
In a mortar, crush Havrekakor into crumbs. Stir in melted butter until well-combined. Divide Havrekaka crumb mixture between each of the pastry rings, and press firmly at the bottom to make the cheesecake base. Chill in the refrigerator, to set, at least half an hour.
Preheat oven to 160°C/320°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Spoon quark into a small bowl. Scrape the seeds off the vanilla bean, and add to the bowl, along with the honey. Give a good stir until smooth and well-blended. Whisk in the egg, until well-combined.
Gently place pastry rings with chilled Havrekaka base onto prepared baking tray. Pour vanilla and honey cheesecake mixture onto the base, dividing it equally between both rings. Place in the middle of the oven, and bake, at 160°C/320°F, 30 to 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the cardamom blueberry compote. Heat a nonstick saucepan over high heat. Add cardamom pods, and toast, a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat. Crush cardamom pods and release the seeds.
Reduce heat to medium, and melt butter in the saucepan. Add cardamom seeds, and cook, a couple of minutes more. Then, stir in blueberries, and cook until they soften and release their juice. Stir in blueberry cordial, and simmer, a few minutes, stirring constantly until compote thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
Once the cheesecakes are baked, let them cool in the oven, with the door ajar, about 10 minutes. Then, chill in the refrigerator, at least one hour.
Gently run a knife along the pastry rings and lift them off. Place each cheesecake on a dessert plate, and top with cardamom blueberry compote and fresh blueberries.
Serve Swedish Vanilla and Honey Blueberry Cheesecakes immediately.
Rosendals Trädgård, Djurgården, Stockholm, Sverige (16 augusti 2019)
