Our raspberry burfi cheesecake jars are worthy of any celebration and combine two of our favourite desserts: burfi and cheesecake! Our blog turns a year old today. Yay! It felt only right to mark the occasion with a sweet recipe. After all, any excuse for a treat, right? The raspberry burfi cheesecake jars feature a tart raspberry coulis, a creamy cardamom cheesecake and a crunchy pistachio and coconut crumb.
Burfi is a creamy, melt-in-the-mouth mithai (Indian sweet) flavoured with cardamom and laden with nuts. Cheesecake on the other hand needs no introduction, but perhaps our love for it needs to be re-iterated. (Check out our other no bake cheesecake recipe: roasted strawberry cheesecake)! We were mildly doubtful whether burfi flavours work in a cheesecake. However, our tastebuds waltzed to the glorious symphony of flavours and textures at the first spoonful… instantly reminiscent of nutty cardamom barfi flavours… creamy, yet light and not overly sweet cheesecake… tart raspberry coulis with a slight hint of rose… mmmm…
This no bake cheesecake is easy, forgiving and highly customisable (see options below). If you like burfi and you like cheesecake, this showstopper shall not disappoint!
Customise these Raspberry Burfi Cheesecake Jars
Swap out the raspberries or skip the coulis making
Replace the raspberries with strawberries, blackberries or any other berry of your choosing. A mango puree or passion fruit pulp also work. Alternatively, skip making the coulis making altogether add a dollop of a tart jam or jelly at the bottom of the jars.
Replace the gelatine with agar for a vegetarian version
Substitute the half sheet of gelatine with no more than a quarter teaspoon of agar powder. Remember to add the agar powder with the coulis ingredients in the saucepan. Gelatine on the other end goes into the saucepan last.
Raspberry Burfi Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the coulis
- 75 g raspberries
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp lemon juice (optional)
- ½ tsp rose essence (optional)
- ½ sheet gelatine (or ¼ tsp agar)
For the crumb
- 40 g pistachios finely chopped
- 15 g dessicated coconut lightly toasted
- 2 tsp coconut oil melted
For the cheesecake
- 200 g cream cheese (room temperature)
- 160 ml whipping cream (cold)
- 35 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ½-1 tsp ground cardamom (½ tsp if using ground seeds or upto 1 tsp if using ground pods)
Instructions
For the raspberry coulis
- Place the half gelatine leaf into cold water to bloom.
- Place the raspberries, water, rose extract, lemon juice into a saucepan. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until the raspberries have cooked down and no longer retain their shape. The coulis should have taken on a gorgeous red colour.
- Squeeze the gelatine leaf of the excess water and add to the hot mixture. Stir for half a minute to combine.
- Spoon the coulis equally into the small jars and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to chill.
For the crumb
- Combine the finely chopped pistachios, the lightly toasted desiccated coconut and the melted coconut oil in a bowl.
For the cheesecake
- In a bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and cardamom until smooth.
- Whisk the cold whipping cream (with an electric whisk or by hand), until soft peaks are reached.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the cheesecake mixture. Fold in a couple tablespoons of the whipped cream to loosen the cheesecake before adding the remaining whipped cream.
For the final assembly
- Divide about half of the cheesecake mixture into the four jars. Gently dollop the cheesecake mixture with a spoon over the coulis or pipe with a piping bag.
- Place half of the crumb over the cheesecake mixture.
- Repeat with the remaining half of the cheesecake mixture and the crumb.
- Place in the fridge to cool and set for 4 hours to overnight.
- Decorate with a couple of fresh raspberries prior to serving.