- 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.
