North meets South Kuchen inspired blueberry filled cheesecake

April 29, 2019 SouthAmerica

The south of Chile for us represents the best of this country. It was on our road trip we learned about places such us Torres del Paine, Isla Magdalena, Geometricas hot springs the best one in South America, and Chiloe Island.

On one afternoon walking by the main street in Pucon we encountered this bakery shop selling a type of pie called a “Kuchen.” They had kuchen de moras and kuchen de arandanos, blackberries and blueberries, respectively. Kuchens in Chile derive from the Germany influence from settlers dating back to the XIX century. Kuchen in German means dessert; it comprises a type of cake, and this is why my dessert is kuchen inspired. Instead of having the traditional cookie crumbled crust of a regular cheesecake, it has an almond crust as the base of this kuchen.

The Chilean kuchen has fruits in it, and this is the main reason why we like it. They use any seasonal fruit to add to the kuchen. The one we tried in Pucon had blueberries in it, therefore this is what we are making now. Usually the Chilean kuchen is prepared with milk found in the region. Taking in consideration how hard it would be to make it exactly as found in Chile I decided to create a fusion variety that uses cream cheese and mascarpone. The dish serves as many as you want, depending on how you cut this cake.

To begin, leave the butter and cheeses at room temperature.

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease a 9-inch springform pan.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups of almond flour

½ cup unsalted butter

1 cup super fine sugar

¼ tsp. baking powder

1 6oz. package of fresh blueberries

½ tbsp. sugar

½ tbsp. cinnamon

4 oz. regular cream cheese

4 oz. mascarpone cheese

2 eggs gently whisked

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation:

In a bowl combine the almond flour, baking powder, ½ cup of sugar, and the butter then mix it thoroughly with your hands until the dough holds its shape. Pressing the dough firmly on the spring-form pan form the crust. Arrange the blueberries on top and sprinkle with the mix of ½ tbsp. sugar with ½ tbsp. of cinnamon.

In another bowl beat the cheeses, vanilla extract, and the remaining ½ cup of sugar. To this add the eggs one at a time until fully blended. Pour this mix over the blueberries in the pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes or until fully cooked. Cool for at least 3-hours before serving.

Enjoy with a cafe cortado.

Si, po!