I made an orange-covered cream and kefir cheesecake. So good! Everyone liked it! I recommend it because it’s really delicious.

It’s a bit of a special cheesecake, certainly because it contains kefir but also because it has a slightly different base than usual, it’s not the classic digestive biscuit and butter base.

I tried to make it following my usual method of let’s see what’s in the pantry and I managed to create an alternative base, which for us turned out to be much tastier than the classic crumbled biscuit base, which sometimes is excessively buttery. And then the coconut, which was really needed here… my kids decreed it! 😀

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Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Rest time: 1 Hour
Preparation time: 1 Hour
Portions: 12 slices
Cooking methods: No-bake
Cuisine: International
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz biscuits (crumbs from an almost finished bag of shortbread)
1 1/2 oz panettone (the last piece of this year's last panettone)
1 1/2 oz oat flakes
1 1/2 oz grated coconut (rapè)
3 oz butter
1 cup fresh whipping cream
3 1/2 oz milk kefir (homemade, or plain yogurt)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 tablespoons candied orange peels
1 tablespoon water

Tools

Springform Pan
Mixer

Steps

Prepare the base by placing in a bowl the oat flakes, coconut, biscuits (previously crumbled), and crumbled panettone (into small pieces).
👉 If you don’t have panettone, which is possible by now, you can replace it with colomba or an equal amount of cake or other biscuits, or in the absence of anything else, even a couple of slices of sandwich bread.
Melt the butter (I melt it in the microwave) and add it to the dry ingredients.
👉 These 3 ounces of butter are the minimum necessary to bind the ingredients, which are quite heterogeneous and “crumbly”. But I assure you that in the end, this base is compact enough and does not taste buttery as often happens with bases made of only biscuits.
Mix well, then spread the mixture, pressing it a little with the spoon, on the bottom of a springform pan.
I used a non-stick pan of 9 or 9.5 inches. If yours is not non-stick, you can easily line the bottom with parchment paper.
Place in the freezer for at least 15-20 minutes.
👉 I recommend the freezer and not the refrigerator, because this cheesecake doesn’t contain gelatin or other thickeners.
Meanwhile, prepare the cream: whip the cream, sweetening it with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, then add the kefir and blend again to get a good consistency.
At this point, remove the base from the freezer and spread all the cream on top, smoothing it out well.
Put everything back in the freezer.
After about 30 minutes, you can proceed with the decoration, which is very simple: soften the marmalade with 1 or 2 tablespoons of water and mix it with the candied orange peels cut into pieces. Spread it over the cheesecake with the back of a spoon.
Put the cheesecake back in the freezer for another half an hour before serving.
It can possibly be frozen. Then, before consuming, leave it at room temperature for about twenty minutes. It should be well chilled but not frozen.
In this cream and kefir cheesecake, it’s good to use a thick kefir, comparable in consistency to Greek yogurt.
To obtain such a kefir, you need to remove some of the whey. To see how to perform this simple procedure of separating the whey from the yogurt, refer to this recipe of mine (scroll the article down to the photo of the hanging napkin).
If you’d like to know more about milk kefir, HERE you’ll find the page dedicated to this food, including a collection of all the recipes in which I’ve used kefir.
Using kefir in a dessert is a great way to eat kefir and enjoy its beneficial properties. Try it! I’m sure this cream and kefir cheesecake of mine won’t disappoint you. For us, it was a delightful discovery of an excellent dessert, and I already know I’ll have to make it again soon to satisfy the family’s requests!
Let me know what you think. Leave a comment here at the end of the recipe, I really enjoy hearing your opinions! 🙂