Easter Sunday is tomorrow already, so I felt it was appropriate to publish an almond-heavy recipe. Since we have the tradition of offering almonds during this holiday, why not turn them into a delicious cheesecake to share with everyone?
For this dessert, we will prepare a homemade almond paste. It is very simple, you just need to toast the almonds and blitz them in a food processor. If you prefer, you can also use store-bought almond butter, as long as it has no added sugars. However, the homemade version is even tastier!
This almond paste is then added not only to the cheesecake itself but also to the egg cream topping. It is like a cross between our traditional Portuguese pastries and a cheesecake – it is, simply put, wonderful and sure to become a crowdpleaser.
Almond Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 150 g oatmeal cookies
- 100 g almond flour
- 60 g unsalted butter (melted)
For the almond paste:
- 250 g almonds
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
For the cheesecake:
- 510 g cream cheese
- 150 g almond paste
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 200 ml heavy cream
For the egg cream:
- 120 g white sugar
- 75 ml water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 100 g almond paste
For the decoration:
- 30 g laminated almond
Instructions
For the crust:
- Place the cookies in the food processor and pulse for a few seconds.
- Add the melted butter and almond flour. Blitz for a little longer until it is an even mixture.
- Spread on a springform pan of about 22 cm in diameter, as evenly as possible.
For the almond paste:
- Preheat the oven to 200 º C.
- Place on a tray and toast for about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Move the toasted almonds, still warm, to the food processor. Blitz on high speed. It will turn into a powder, and thicken as you keep going.
- Add the vegetable oil and keep pulsing until you have a consistent paste, similar to peanut butter. Store in a container at room temperature.
For the cheesecake:
- In the mixer, whip the cream to soft peaks. Place in a bowl in the fridge.
- Next, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla essence, and 150 g of the almond paste you prepared. Beat for a few more minutes.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
- Spread this cream on top of the crust and smoothen it over. Store in the fridge until solid.
For the egg cream:
- Mix the sugar and water in a pan. Bring over medium heat with the cinnamon stick. Let it boil so the temperature reaches around 108 º C.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks with the cornflour.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and slowly pour the sugar syrup on the egg mixture, whisking throughout the whole process.
- Bring over medium heat again and stir with a spatula until it thickens into a cream.
- Remove from the heat and add the almond paste, mixing it so it is fully incorporated.
- Store in the fridge to cool down completely.
For the decoration:
- Remove the ring of the cake pan. Spread the egg cream on top of the cheesecake evenly.
- Decorate to your liking with some laminated almonds. Place in the fridge for about one hour before serving.
