October, November, and December is holiday time in the USA. In October we have Halloween, my girls love it, but another very important holiday for us it Día de los Muertos, at Chile families usually go to the cemetery to visit the dead. My family did, we went with my grandparents to visit the grave of my great-grandparents and my Uncle Ricardo. The cemetery that day was a small city full of ice cream carts, juices, and candy aplenty and many, many flowers.
Today living in the USA is a day of nostalgia, I have no cemetery to visit, but I try to make it a day to talk to my daughters about my gone grandmother. Speaking of nostalgia, something Chileans who live away yearn for is quesillo, an immature cheese made only with fresh milk, rennet, and salt. It’s like eating a milk flan. Quesillo is eaten with toast, in salads, as filling for tomatoes or just on crackers.
Recipe first published in October, 2014.
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German style Cheese Kuchen
12 servings
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 100 grams cold unsalted butter
- 5 eggs, separated
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2-3 tablespoons ice water
- 1 Panela cheese 280 grams or Farmers Cheese or Cottage cheese well drained (in Chile Quesillo)
- 1 cup table cream Mexicana or Heavy Whipping Cream (Chile cream or ricotta)
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350F or 180C.
- Place the raisins and lemon zest in a small bowl, cover with boiling water, let them soak for 10 minutes.
- In food processor place: flour, powdered sugar, diced butter, 1 egg yolk, a pinch of salt. Process until like sand. While processing adds the ice water a tablespoon at a time until a dough forms.
- Butter a 9″ springform. Cover bottom of springform with the dough. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
- In the same food processor bowl (no need to wash) place: crumbled Panela cheese, cream, sugar, 4 egg yolks, and cornstarch. Process until a smooth, 1-2 minute.
- Beat the 5 egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form.
- Mix the cheese batter with the egg whites with soft movements.
- Drain the raisins and place well distributed on top of the dough.
- Pour the filling and bake for 75-80 minutes, until golden and a stick buried in the center will come out clean. It is still going to jiggle a little in the middle. If it’s browning too fast, cover with foil and continue baking.
This recipe was part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Cacique and Latina Bloggers Connect.
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