German Cheese Cake

This is an awesome dessert for sweet lovers.. This cheese cake is very different from the other cheese cakes. It uses Indian cottage cheese(paneer) and sweetened condensed milk for the sweetness. Even the crust is slightly salty and goes great with the sweetened cheese on top. The topmost layer gives a light crunchy feel. Altogether its a lovely dessert.

Preparation time 25 - 30 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour
Serves 8 - 10

Here are the ingredients..

Pastry:
250 gms All purpose flour
125 gms Cold salted butter (or salt free butter + 1/4 tsp Salt)
6-8 tbsp Cold water

Filling:
1/2 Tin Sweetened Condensed Milk (Milkmaid)
250gm Paneer
4 Egg yolks
1/2 tsp Lemon juice
30 gms Ground almonds
50 gms Chopped dried grapes
50 gms Finely chopped candied peel(Orange or lemon)

Meringue:
1 Egg white
50 gms Powdered Sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.

Cut cold butter into small pieces.

Using a palette knife rub butter into the flour.

Sprinkle cold water over the flour and using a palette knife combine into a ball.

With medium handling, roll into 1/8" thick pastry.

Lift the pastry over the rolling pin, drop into pie dish and line it. Trim off the extra dough.

Prick the entire pastry with a fork (to prevent puffing). Bake blind at 180 deg C for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven.

Reset the oven at 140 deg C.

Blend together, paneer, egg yolks and condensed milk till smooth and creamy. I crumbled the paneer instead of making a smooth paste to get the feel of it, you can follow either of the method(crumbly or creamy). Add almond powder, dry grapes, candied peels and lemon juice. Mix well, pour into the baked pastry case.

Whisk egg white till stiff, add half the sugar gradually and continue to whisk till stiff peak stage. Fold in the rest of the sugar and pipe a fine lattice of meringue over the pie.

Return to oven and bake at 140 deg C for 45 minutes or till meringue is crisp.

Serve hot or chilled with cream.

Enjoy.