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Basque burnt cheesecake

Once upon a time we went to San Sebastian and there was a restaurant which sold pretty much only cheesecakes. They sold other things, but San Sebastian is a town where each restaurant has one or two items for which they are known for, and when the walls are covered in cheesecakes, it's fairly obvious what this place sells.

Now it seems basque burnt cheesecakes have reached a new kind of cult status so naturally I had to try.  The recipe I used was from Bon Appetit, which for a 10 inch cake pan was far too big for me to contemplate. Instead, I reduced it by half and used a 7 inch pan. Also because I made it on the same week as a guiness cake we discovered the two are very palatable eaten together.



Ingredients:
480g cream cheese (room temperature)
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
240ml double cream
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste for some nice flecks)
20g plain flour

Method:
1. Blend the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and cream in order. (Wooden spoon
works fine)
2. Add salt and vanilla.
3. Sprinkle flour across the surface and fold in gently. The end result should be smooth and unaerated.
4. Bake in a lined tin (traditionally as per the picture, just scrunched in parchment paper) for 40 minutes at 200C, turn the oven off and allow to cool inside with the door ajar for another ten minutes.

For the memories... holiday shots below...



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