Chai Latte Cheesecake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 200 g sugar
• 300 g butter or margarine
• 200 g almonds, ground
• 400 g flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp speculatius spice or gingerbread spice
• 2 egg yolks, size M
• 4 tbsp tea (Chai Latte), instant, e.g. Chaipur
• 200 ml milk
• 50 g honey
• 1 kg low-fat curd cheese
• 250 g sour cream
• 5 eggs
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 100 g whipped cream or condensed milk
• 40 g sugar
• 60 g honey
• 200 g pecans or walnuts, chopped, optionally mixed with cashews
• 20 g butter or margarine
• 2 handfuls of pomegranate seeds, optional

Instructions

Working time approx. 50 minutes; Rest time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 10 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes

for a 40 x 30 cm tray or 24 portions

For the base: Knead all ingredients well until a smooth dough forms. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 30 minutes. For the quark filling: Heat the milk with the chai latte powder. (I use Chai Classic from Chaipur. You could also use chai tea, i.e., the contents of the sachets, instead of the ready-made powder – experiment if you like.) Add the honey and simmer everything over very low heat for about 10 minutes. Pour the liquid through a sieve and let cool. Mix the quark with the sour cream and mix well. Stir in the chai milk and the cornstarch. (I don’t use sugar at this point, as the chai powder is sweet enough. If you use chai tea, you need to add 150g of sugar.) Preheat the oven to 180°C / fan oven 160°C. Line a slightly deeper baking tray (30 x 40 cm) with baking paper. Roll out the dough on it. Spread the quark mixture over the dough. Bake the cake for about 15 minutes. For the topping: Simmer the cream or condensed milk with the sugar and honey over low heat for about 10 minutes. Chop the nuts and mix them with the butter in the cream. Remove the cake from the oven (careful, it’s not yet firm). Spread the nut mixture over the hot cake. If you like, you can also sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top. They create a nice contrast, both in color and flavor! Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/140°C. Bake the entire cake for about 30-35 minutes. Then turn off the oven, but let the cake rest in the oven for another 30 minutes. If you cut the cake into 24 slices, each serving has 445 kcal.