Easter Egg Cheese Recipes

PHILADELPHIA EASTER MINI CHEESECAKES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F.
• Mix graham crumbs, 2 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press onto bottoms of 18 paper-lined muffin cups.
• Beat cream cheese, vanilla and remaining sugar with mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Spoon over crusts.
• Bake 25 to 30 min. or until centers are almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 2 hours.
• Top each cheesecake with 1 Tbsp. coconut; shape to resemble bird's nest. Fill with malted milk eggs.

HRUTKA (EGG CHEESE)

Steps:

• Beat all ingredients well.
• Pour into a large saucepan and cook very slowly over low heat (stirring often) until it looks kind of like cottage cheese and liquid/curds start to separate.
• Pour the mixture into a round colander or a strainer lined with cheese cloth and form into a ball.
• Hang up over a sink and let drip. Drain for about 3 hours.
• Chill at least 8-10 hours or overnight.
• Can serve cold, room temp or warm.

SLOVAK EASTER CHEESE (CIRAK)

Steps:

• Measure milk into a bowl, and set over a saucepan filled half way with simmering water. Heat until warm to the touch, then gradually start cracking eggs into the milk while stirring almost constantly. This will scorch very easily. Continue to stir slowly once all of the eggs are in, until the mixture resembles scrambled eggs.
• Pour into a cheesecloth bag and tie tightly. Hang from the sink faucet or over a bowl and allow to drain for 1 to 2 hours. Place on a cooling rack set over a pan or bowl and set a heavy object on top to press out the liquid. A cool cast iron skillet weighted with heavy cans works well. Press for about 2 hours.
• Carefully remove the weights and cheesecloth bag from the cheese. Refrigerate the cheese for several hours or overnight before slicing and serving.

SIRECZ (EASTER CHEESE)

Steps:

• In an electric mixer, beat the eggs until mixed well.
• Transfer the eggs to a double boiler and stir in milk, sugar, vanilla and nutmeg. Cook over a medium heat for 30 minutes. Use a metal slotted spoon and constantly stir the bottom of the pan to prevent scorching.
• When the mixture looks just like cooked scrambled eggs, pour it carefully into a cheesecloth-lined colander. Carefully gather the ends of the cheesecloth in your hands and pull them together until the cheese forms into a ball. Tie the cheesecloth tightly at the top of the ball. Tie the cheesecloth ends over a faucet or to the handle of a kitchen cabinet (place a bowl under to catch the whey dripping down) and let hang for about 3 hours.
• Untie the cleesecloth and wrap the cheesecloth ball in plastic wrap before refrigerating. The cheese will keep for about a week. Slice and serve.

EASTER EGG CHEESE

Steps:

• Make a double thick cheesecloth bag that's rounded and about 4" in diameter.
• Pour milk into large bowl and add eggs, salt, and pepper.
• Beat until foamy.
• Pour into saucepan and cook over LOW heat until it becomes SOFT scrambled eggs. Be careful and keep stirring because it burns easily.
• Pour mixture into cheesecloth, twist the open end, tie, then hang from the inside of a kitchen cabinet, with a bowl underneath. Let it hang drain overnight.
• Carefully remove cheese from bag to avoid breaking and cool in refrigerator. You can make this cheese a few days ahead of Easter, and store it in your refrigerator.

EASTER EGG CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Oil a 20cm deep springform cake tin and line with baking parchment. Tip the digestive biscuits into a food bag or the bowl of a food processor and crush or blitz to a fine crumb. Mix with the melted butter, then press into the base of the prepared cake tin and chill for 30 mins.
• Roughly chop half the chocolate mini eggs. Beat the soft cheese with the icing sugar and vanilla until just combined using an electric whisk. Clean the beaters, then beat the double cream to stiff peaks in a separate bowl. Gently fold the whipped cream into the soft cheese mixture along with the chopped chocolate mini eggs. Spoon the cheesecake mixture over the biscuit base, then smooth the surface with a palette knife or spatula. Chill overnight.
• The next day, carefully release the cheesecake from the tin (you may need to run a cutlery knife around the edge to loosen it) and top with the remaining whole chocolate mini eggs to decorate.

EASTER EGG CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Blitz the Biscoff biscuits in a food processor or put them into a ziplock bag and bash them up with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in the microwave (this takes about a minute) and pour it into the crushed biscuits and mix well.
• Use a sharp knife to cut the Easter eggs in half.
• Add the biscuit mixture inside the Easter eggs filling them about a third of the way. Press the mixture down and smooth it gently with the back of a spoon. Put the eggs into the fridge while you make the filling.
• Put the cream cheese and caster sugar into a mixing bowl and beat well. You can use a handheld electric whisk or beat it by hand. Pour in the lemon juice and vanilla extract and beat together. In a separate bowl whisk the double cream to stiff peaks then very gently fold it into the cheesecake mixture.
• To make a chocolate flavour, set aside a third of the mixture. Melt the dark chocolate in short bursts in the microwave, leave it to cool then fold it into the cheesecake mixture you set aside.
• Take the Easter eggs out of the fridge and fill them with cheesecake mixture. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Put the cheesecake filled easter eggs back into the fridge for at least an hour but preferably overnight.
• Add the toppings to your Easter Egg Cheesecake and serve.