Blueberry and Specaloos Crust Cheesecake

My grandma came to visit last week, so I decided to make her this blueberry cheesecake. Usually, I stick to no-bake cheesecakes, as I find them much creamier and easier to make, but in the spirit of trying new things I went for this. The highlight of this recipe was the specaloos base, which is a Belgium cookie which include spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.Hope you enjoy! And tell me, what other biscuit bases do you use?

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Hand mixer
• Knife
• Food processor (or a rolling pin & plastic bag)
• Baking tin (20cm)
• Sieve

INGREDIENTS

• 250g (1 pack) Speculoos biscuits (we used Lotus biscuits)
• 80g Butter (melted)
• 300g blueberries
• 2tbsp light soft brown sugar
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 250g mascarpone
• 450g low fat soft cheese
• 90g golden caster sugar 90g
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 3 eggs, 2 whole and 1 yolk
• 150ml Soured cream (optional)

STEPSPreparing the base

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
2. Then, smash the biscuits in a food processor or put them in a plastic bag roll over the biscuits with a rolling pin until you achieve a sand-like consistency.
3. Melt the butter and add the biscuit crumbs, stir to combine. (Tip: for this part, add the butter slowly, as you may not need to use all the butter)
4. Place in the base of the cake tin and spread in an even layer, then flatten. To flatten, you can use your fingers or a potato masher.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until golden. Then remove and leave to cool while you prepare the filling.

Preparing the filling 

1. Put the blueberries in a baking dish and sprinkle with the brown sugar and lime juice, cook for about 15 minutes, or until they start to soften and burst.
2. Once ready, tip the juices into a bowl. This will be served on top of the cheesecake.
3. Now, mix the mascarpone with the soft cheese, caster sugar, cornflour, lime zest and eggs.
4. Then, spoon half of the cheese mix into the tin, then add half of the blueberries (leave some for the top). Then pour over the remaining mixture.
5. Smooth the top, then bake for 40 minutes or until the mixture is set but with a faint wobble in the centre
6. This part is optional, but spoon over the soured cream and bake for a further 10 minutes. (The soured cream is great aesthetically if you have cracked your cheesecake!)
7. Leave to cool the cheesecake completely. Once cooled, release the cheesecake from the tin and spoon the remaining fruit and the juice for the top. As seen in my image I used raw blueberries for the top as I much prefer raw blueberries.