Fluffy Cheesecake Pies

The richness of a cheesecake on a pillow-y fluffy base. Its Cheesecake but easier!

Few things before you get started:

• Read all about baking with yeast here

• It is crucial to give ample amount of rising time to get that soft pillow-y texture

• You could replace the egg in the dough with 1/4th cup water and skip it altogether in the filling to make this recipe completely eggless!

• Garnish this toppings of your choice and don't be afraid of experimenting :)

Ingredients

Dough:

• 2 cups All Purpose Flour

• 1+1/4 tsp active dry yeast

• 1/2 cup whole milk

• 1/4th cup granulated sugar

• 1 tsp whole wheat gluten

• 1/2 tsp bread improver (optional)

• 1 egg

• 40 grams butter (softened at room temperature)

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 2 tbsp melted butter for greasing and brushing

Filling:

• 110 grams Cream cheese (softened at room temperature)

• 2 tbsp Butter (softened at room temperature)

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup Icing sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla

Method

Make the dough

1. Start by proofing your yeast. Mix your milk and sugar. Heat in microwave till it reaches 110-115 F. Sprinkle the yeast and set aside. Read in detail about yeast here

2. While the yeast is proofing, prepare your dry ingredients for the dough. Mix together the flour, sugar and gluten

3. Add the proofed yeast mixture, egg, butter and vanilla to the dry ingredients and pull the mixture together into a dough

4. The dough would still be tacky and stick to surfaces. Dust with a little bit of flour if need be

5. Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover it and set it aside to rise in a warm spot for about 1 hour or until double in volume

6. Pre-heat your over to 180 C and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper

7. Once the dough has risen, deflate the dough with your hands and divide it into 4 portions

8. Roll out each portion to about 1/2 an inch thickness to make your pie base. Then pinch the sides of your rolled-out dough to create a boundary so that your filling doesn't spill

9. Poke the pie base with a fork in few places. Place them on your prepared baking sheet and brush the pie base with some melted butter

10. Bake the pie bases for about 10-12 minutes or until they start to get slightly golden brown around the edges. They only have to be half baked at this stage.

Make the filling

1. While your pie bases are in the oven, prepare the cheesecake filling. Cream together cream cheese and butter with an electric whisk until well combined and smooth. Make sure there are no lumps

2. Add in the egg and vanilla and whisk again until incorporated

3. Sift in the icing sugar and mix with a spatula until the mixture comes together

Assemble

1. Once the pie bases are half baked, spoon in the cheesecake filling in the center of each pie. Do not over fill or the filling will overflow while baking

2. Brush the edges of the pies with some more melted butter

3. Bake the cheesecake pies for about 10-15 minutes at 180 C or until the edges are golden brown

4. Let the pies cool at room temperature and allow the filling to set before serving

5. Garnish with blueberries, mint, icing sugar or toppings of choice

* For a video walkthrough visit @Amai_by_Kanika on Instagram