The rain is pouring down outside, I am sitting here with my cup of tea, the new Adele album on repeat, thinking about what I can write about today´s recipe. I mean, yeah it´s tasty, otherwise I wouldn’t put I on the blog. But if you think about it, it´s really hard to come up with words that are appropriate to describe a cheesecake. They should really teach these things at school. We did poetic analyses, we talked about art and composition but analyzing a cheesecake? It´s an essential life skill, really.

Okay, I am rambling, let me start again. Today´s recipe is a cheesecake and a very delicious one. It is a combination of trust (old recipe), flavor (vanilla bean) and experimentation (goat cheese). Turns out, if you combine these things you get a lovely little cheesecake, full of taste and flavor. Goat cheese and vanilla on top of a crisp base, topped with pomegranate seeds are not only easy on the eye but on the taste buds as well. If you are still looking for a Christmas dessert or maybe just a new recipe for your afternoon sugar craving, this one might be it.

If you are curious, scroll down to the recipe. If you say, goat cheese has absolutely no business in my cheesecake, you might like my all-time favorite cheesecake recipe, made with 0% goat cheese. But now, let´s get started, shall we?

For the crust (20 cm spring pan):

125 g all-purpose or light spelt flour

75 g cold butter

50 g sugar

1/2 tbsp. baking powder

1 tbsp. cold water

For the filling:

300 g goat cream cheese

200 g crème fraiche or quark

1 vanilla bean or 2 tbsp. vanilla extract

125 g sugar

40 g all-purpose flour

50 g melted butter

2 eggs

1) For the crust, mix flour, sugar and baking powder. Add butter in little cubes and water. Knead until you have a firm dough. Roll out the dough so that the bottom of a buttered spring pan is covered.

2) For the filling thoroughly whisk goat cheese, crème fraiche or quark, the core of the vanilla bean or vanilla extract, sugar, butter and eggs until everything is mixed well. Pour the filling on top of the crust and bake the cake in the preheated oven at 175°C degrees for about 50 minutes. The cake is done once it has risen a fair amount and is lightly brown on the sides. Let cool and top with pomegranate seeds or fresh berries.