Amala needs no introduction now; this strawberry cheesecake recipe is her 4th guest recipe on my blog. I’ve written about her and her enthusiasm for cooking before but I’ve something new to add. She’s started her own Facebook page where she shares the pics, and most importantly the recipes. ;-) Do take a look at her culinary exploits.
When Amala added the pics of strawberry cheesecakes on her Facebook wall, I asked her if the recipe was kid-friendly. She said yes but it contains sugar. Amala knows how I feel about sugar. I had not added sugar in Devansh’s food till he was almost two. Then too I added it very sparingly in foods where I couldn’t add jaggery, like salads or kadhi. But I did’t keep him away from an occasional dessert, which contained sugar.
These days, especially after his birthday he’s having some chocolate every other day. We had bought small chocolates to add to the return gifts. He manages to find some in the fridge. :-) To get back to sugar, I prefer to avoid it in day-to-day cooking and use organic jaggery instead. I use organic sugar in salads and curd. (I need to add some sugar in curd now, especially since it’s becoming slightly sour in the summer.)
Go ahead and indulge your sweet tooth. Amala’s strawberry cheesecake recipe will delight the kiddos and mommies alike. Do share the pics with me if you make these cheesecakes at home. Or even better, share the cheesecakes with me. :-p
Strawberry Cheese Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 100 gms digestive biscuits
- 30 gms melted butter
- 1/2 cup paneer
- 1/2 cup hung curd
- 1 cup strawberry puree
- 200 ml fresh cream
- 1/2 cup sugar preferably organic
- 1 and half tbsp agar-agar
- 3/4th cup water
Instructions
For the bottom layer:
- Powder the biscuits. (You can use a mixer, or you can crumble and roll a rolling pin on the biscuits if you want the pieces to be a bit crunchy.)
- Add melted butter, and mix it well with the powdered biscuits.
- Press the mixture evenly on the base of glasses or bowls in which you plan to serve the cakes.
- Keep the glasses/bowls in a fridge for 15 minutes to allow the mixture to set.
For the middle layer:
- Soak agar-agar in water for 10 minutes. (Soak 1 tbsp agar-agar in one bowl and half tbsp in another bowl.)
- Use a blender to make a smooth paste of paneer, sugar, and hung curd.
- Heat a pan, add fresh cream, and then turn off heat when the cream becomes hot. (Don’t let it come to a boil.)
- Add the paneer, sugar, and hung curd paste.
- Give the mixture a good stir to mix the ingredients properly.
- Heat another pan, add water and agar-agar from the 1 tbsp bowl.
- Bring the water to a boil till the agar-agar dissolves and the water becomes a bit thick.
- Add the dissolved agar-agar to the fresh cream, paneer, sugar, and hung curd mixture. (The mixture needs to be warm at the time of adding agar-agar. Else, the layer will not set properly.)
- Pour the mixture over biscuit crust and let it set in the fridge for an hour.
For the top layer:
- Boil the soaked agar-agar from the half tbsp bowl in some water, and when it dissolves, add 2 tbsp sugar. (Amala writes: I didn’t add sugar because I like the tangy taste of fresh strawberries, then the sweetness in between and crispy crust at the bottom. Since kids may not like tangy taste you can add sugar if needed.)
- Turn off heat, allow the mixture to cool, and then add strawberry puree.
- Pour the mixture on top the filling in the glasses/bowls and keep them in the fridge to set for half an hour.
