Cherry Cheesecake with Cookie Crust

Ingredients

• 300 g whole‑grain butter cookies
• 175 g butter
• 100 g delicate oat flakes
• 20 g ground almonds (2 tbsp)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 500 g sour cherries
• 60 g cornstarch
• 500 g low‑fat quark
• 1 Organic lemon
• 1 Vanilla bean
• 5 eggs
• 1 pinch salt
• 500 g cream cheese (three‑quarter fat; at least 30% fat in the product)
• 125 g agave syrup

Instructions

1. 1.

   Place cookies in a clean kitchen towel and crush them into crumbs with a rolling pin.

2. 2.

   Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat and mix well with crumbs, oat flakes, almonds, and cocoa.

3. 3.

   Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Spoon about two‑thirds of the cookie mixture into the pan, press it down firmly, and refrigerate to set.

4. 4.

   Wash cherries, pit them, and stir in 2 tbsp cornstarch.

5. 5.

   Drain quark well. Rinse lemon hot, pat dry, grate zest finely. Halve the lemon and squeeze out the juice. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.

6. 6.

   Separate eggs. Beat egg whites with salt into stiff peaks. In a bowl combine yolks, quark, 1 tsp lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla seeds, remaining cornstarch, cream cheese, and agave syrup using a hand mixer’s whisk attachment. Gently fold in cherries and meringue.

7. 7.

   Spread the quark‑cherry mixture over the cookie base and smooth it out. Top with the remaining cookie crumbs. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C (fan 160 °C; gas 2–3) for about one hour. Remove and let cool in the pan before slicing and serving.