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Sernik - a delicious Polish Cheesecake!

Sernik (Polish Cheesecake)

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 45 mins
  • Cook Time: 1 hour
  • Total Time: 1 hour 45 mins
  • Yield: 12-20 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: Polish

Description

A traditional Polish cheesecake, you’ll notice the cheese in this cheesecake.


Ingredients

Scale

Crust:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 5 ounces cold butter
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 3 tablespoons sour cream

Filling:

  • 5 ounces butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 6 large eggs, separated
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon Kirsch (optional)
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 2 pounds twaróg, passed through a sieve or processed in a blender or food processor until smooth

Instructions

Crust

  1. Combine the 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and baking powder
  2. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or use a food processor) until crumbly
  3. Mix together two egg yolks and 3 tablespoon sour cream, add to dry ingredients, only until combined, (if too stiff add a little water or an egg)
  4. Grease a 9 x 13 pan
  5. Roll pastry until large enough to line the pan, bottom and sides
  6. After fitting the dough to the pan, trim neatly crimp the edge
  7. You can use left over dough to create a lattice pattern on top of the cheesecake if desired

Filling

  1. Bring all ingredients for filling to room temp
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  3. Cream together 5 ounces butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy
  4. Add 6 egg yolks, vanilla, and kirsch (if using), combining until well blended
  5. Process the cranberries and flour in a food processor or combine and chop with a knife
  6. Add the chopped cranberries and twaróg
  7. In a separate bowl, beat the 6 egg whites until stiff
  8. Stir one cup of egg whites into the cheese mixture to lighten
  9. Gently fold in remaining egg whites
  10. Pour filling into crust
  11. Add lattice decoration (optional)
  12. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until center is only slightly jiggly
  13. Cool completely before serving

Notes

This is a dense cheesecake. I like to serve whipped cream along side to lighten it a bit.