POMPOENCHEESECAKE MET ITALIAANSE MERINGUE & SINAASAPPELSCHIL

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE WITH ITALIAN MERINGUE & ORANGE ZEST

Beer & baking? Yes please! If you’re ever in need of a sweet treat on a Sunday afternoon or a colourful dessert to serve right after dinner, make sure to keep this pumpkin cheesecake in mind: an unexpected gathering of sweet, warm and zesty flavours all wrapped in a cake that perfectly complements our Pumpkin Weizen.

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Ingredients

1 kg pumpkin
1 can of condensed milk
4 eggs
200 gr cream cheese
five spice powder
600 gr Bastogne cookies (or any other cookie)
300 gr butter, melted
60 ml water
230 gr sugar
3 egg white
a pinch of salt
1 orange
Olive oil
Optional: dried orange slices to decorate

THIS IS HOW YOU MAKE IT

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil. Remove the label from the can of condensed milk and carefully submerge it into the boiling water. Cook the can for 90 minutes and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, peel the pumpkin and cut it into pieces. Arrange them on an oven tray and add five spice powder to taste and a dash of olive oil. Mix it all together and cook in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes until the pumpkin pieces are nice and tender.
For the crust, put baking paper in a springform pan. Crumble the Bastogne cookies by hand or by using a mixer and melt butter in a pan. Mix the cookie crumble and melted butter and add to the springform pan. Gently press down on the crumb mixture using your fingers, until the crumbs are a nice even layer at the bottom of the pan. Then set aside.
Once cooked, remove pumpkin pieces from the oven and set aside to cool. Bring back the oven to 140 degrees celsius to preheat.
When all is cooled, add the pumpkin, eggs, cream cheese and condensed milk to a food processor and blend until smooth.
Pour the pumpkin batter into the prepared Bastogne crust and smooth it out with a spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Then set aside to cool.
For the meringue, pour half a cup of water and 200 gr of sugar to a saucepan and bring to boil until it turns into a syrup substance.
Meanwhile, combine egg whites and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the mixer to medium speed and mix for about 2 minutes until soft peaks form.
With the mixer running, carefully and slowly drizzle in the hot sugar syrup. Increase speed to high and whip until desired stiffness is achieved.
Lastly, gently pour the meringue on top of the cheesecake and burn with a kitchen burner until golden brown. Decorate with slices of orange and orange zest.

Serve with Lowlander Pumpkin Weizen.

TIP: not a fan of five spice powder? Cinnamon and/or gingerbread spices work perfectly too.