This blackberry swirl cheesecake tart has a rather dramatic swirl of blackberry puree and sweetened, lemon-spiked sour cream tops a thin layer of cheesecake. The whole thing is baked in a thin shortbread crust. If you are a fan of fruit topped cheesecake, you will love this. I promise.
20or so crisp/crunchy cookies(enough to get 1 1/2 cups of crumbs. I used an Italian shortbread made by Barilla)
zest of 1/4 lemon
pinchof salt
2ozbuttermelted
For the Cheesecake
1 8ozpackage cream cheese at room temperature
3/4-1cupsugar(depending on how sweet you like things)
2large eggsat room temperature
¼teaspoonkosher saltor to taste
zest of 1/2 lemon
½teaspoonvanilla
3drops lemon extract
For the Berry Puree (See Notes)
¾cupfresh or frozen blackberries
¼cupMoscato(I used Yellow Tail)
pinchof salt
a couple of scrapings of lemon zest
1Tablespoonfreshly squeezed lemon juice
2Tablespoonshoney
enough sugar to make it as sweet as you want it
¼teaspoonvanilla
scant 1/2 teaspoon plain gelatin dissolved in 1 Tablespoon cold water
For the Sour Cream Topping
1 ½cupssour cream
enough sugar to make it as sweet as you like it
¼teaspoonkosher salt(or to taste)
¼teaspoonvanilla
a couple of scrapings of lemon zest
2drops lemon extract
Instructions
For the Crust
Put the cookies, zest and salt in your food processor and process until you have made lemon-scented cookie dust.
Drizzle in the melted butter and pulse until you have sort of a damp sand situation on your hands. Make sure the crumbs hold together when you squeeze them.
Set a 9" tart pan on a cookie sheet.
Press the crumbs evenly in the bottom and up the sides of the pan. I didn't have enough cookies to go all the way up, but things worked out fine anyway.
Bake at 350F for about 8-10 minutes.
Remove and set aside.
For the Cheesecake
Since you have the food processor out, give it a quick wash and combine all the cheesecake ingredients in the processor.
Pulse until you have a smooth batter. This won't take long. Remember to scrape the bowl, just in case.
Pour evenly into the bottom of the tart pan.
Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes.
For the Berry Puree (See Notes)
Place all ingredients except the gelatin/water mixture in a pan and bring to a boil.
Taste for sweetness and balance, and continue to cook until the berries reduce slightly.
Press the berries through a fine mesh strainer, pressing hard on the solids and being sure to scrape the back of the strainer to get all the thicker puree off and into your bowl. You should have about 1/2 cup of puree.
While the puree is still hot, stir in the bloomed gelatin until it has completely dissolved.
For the Sour Cream Topping
Whisk together all topping ingredients, tasting for sweetness and balance.
Set aside so the sugar can dissolve. Whisk occasionally until the mixture is completely smooth.
To Finish
Once the cheesecake is just barely jiggly in the center--and I mean barely--pull the oven rack out so you won't hurt yourself.
Have a fork ready.
Pour on the berry puree as evenly as you can. It will be pretty thin, so just do the best you can. It will probably want to pool in the center.
Try to evenly blob on the sour cream topping, making sure it spreads all the way to the edge of your pan.
Gently marble the two mixtures together with your fork, taking care not to stab into the cheesecake layer.
Bake another 10 minutes.
Remove the tart from the oven and let cool to room temperature before refrigerating until well chilled.
Don't even think about slicing this guy for at least 6-8 hours.
Then, slice away, or just dive in with your fork. I won't tell.
Notes
About the Fruit Puree:
I wrote the recipe the way I made it, but if you have a lot more berries than I did, you can make a standard fruit puree thickened by cooking it way down or fruit compote.Bake the cheesecake tart by itself and then spread the thick puree on top of the chilled tart. Refrigerate until set. Then you can swirl on some of the sour cream mixture and not bother baking it to set. It will be nice and creamy and act more like a whipped cream topping rather than a layer of the tart.If you start with a thicker puree, I recommend spreading on the sour cream mixture first, dotting it with the puree, and then carefully swirling the two together with a knife or fork rather than the way I did it.