With the “Cheesecake with cherries”We inaugurate the period of fresh desserts with seasonal fruit. The Cheesecake (literally cheesecake in English) belongs to the US tradition: it is a cold dessert composed of a base of biscuit dough on which rests a high layer of cream of fresh, sweetened and treated cheeseor with other ingredients. The base is usually made up of crumbled biscuits and then re-mixed with the addition of egg yolk or butter, or biscuits moistened with coffee, syrup or liqueur. If you are not using vanilla yogurt, add the seeds of half a berry to the cream.

Preparation

1

Let’s start by chopping the cookies and crumbling them

2

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and then combine the two ingredients, mixing them well

3

Take the 20/22 cm hinged pan and line the base and edges with parchment paper (pass a little butter first so that it adheres better)

4

At this point take the biscuit dough, press it and level it well on the bottom of the pan. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour.

5

Then wash and pit the cherries, put them with the sugar and maraschino in a pan and cook for about 10 ‘.

6

Meanwhile, put the gelatine to soak in cold water;

7

At the same time, put the yogurt and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl, gradually add the whipped cream gently, mixing from bottom to top until a cream is formed.

8

Now take 4/5 tablespoons of the sauce formed by cooking the cherries (still very hot), add the well-squeezed gelatin and dissolve it.

9

Take half of the cooked cherry mixture (by now warm) and add it to the cream, mix everything well.

10

Take back the biscuit base and add the cream, level well and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight).

11

After the time has passed, unmold the cake and gently remove the parchment paper from the edges. Place the cheesecake on a serving plate and decorate with cream and the remaining cooked cherries. Store in the fridge.

Curiosities and Variations

Many Italian scholars and linguists have discussed the attribution of gender to the word “cheesecake”. In fact, one wonders: is the feminine (cheesecake) to be used, associating the term with “cheese cake”, or is the masculine preferable, referring to the “cheese cake”? Many opt for the masculine as already being used for the plum cake, the pancake and the cupcake.

Instead of biscuits you can use the pan di Spain or shortcrust pastry. Which cheeses to use for cream cheese? Usually fresh and soft cheeses are used, spreadable such as mascarpone or also, due to its consistency, ricotta cheese. The recipe is often enriched with the addition of fresh fruit, candied fruit, dried fruit, jam or chocolate on top of the cake. It is usually used fresh fruit, in our recipe there are cherries, however it can also be made with the canned onebut remember to halve the sugar dose, because in our case the cherries are very sweet.