Nothing says breakfast at babusya‘s house like a strong black coffee and some Ukrainian cheesecake. These personal sized Ukrainian cheesecake tarts are a great way to make different flavors, as well as for gifts. This style of cheesecake is one of the most popular traditional Ukrainian recipes, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I do!
So this is pretty similar to the standard Ukrainian Cheesecake except they are in tart form, and filled with various fruit jams instead of apricot pieces. Just like my other recipe for Ukrainian Cheesecake, these tarts are light, fluffy, and use cottage cheese instead of cream cheese like in the American counterpart. Normally a Ukrainian would drink tea or coffee with a cheesecake as the bitterness counteracts the sweetness, but you can always go for a traditional Ukrainian Kompot!
The only amendments to the original recipe is making it in a muffin pan instead of a cake pan, and using a squeeze bottle to pipe fruit jam into the center of each tart after baking.
You can choose whatever fruit jams you like as anything goes well inside these in my opinion. They can be store-bought or home made, it is entirely up to you. Pictured in clockwise order are blackberry, strawberry, peach, and pomegranate.
Note: these are slightly different than a Lviv cheesecake which is more dense and usually covered in chocolate.
Ukrainian Cheesecake Tart Ingredients
- 800 grams Cottage Cheese; known here as home cheese or farmer’s cheese. Similar to quark but a bit more dense.
- 7 Eggs
- 100 grams Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Powder, can use vanilla extract as a substitute.
- Various Fruit Jams and Fruit Pieces for fillings and/or garnishes. Pictured are Blackberry, Strawberry, Peach, and Pomegranate in clockwise order.
- Butter – for the muffin pan
Ukrainian Cheesecake Tart Instructions
1. Butter your muffin pan to prevent sticking. Mix all the ingredients (except the fruit jam) together in a large bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes so everything gets well absorbed.
2. Pour the mixture into the muffin pan. You can make a swirl pattern or design on the top with a small spoon, or you can bake in a textured mold upside down. Then place in an oven preheated to 200°C or about 380°F for 25 minutes. When done, pull out, let rest for 15 minutes and using a squeeze bottle, or food safe syringe, inject various fruit jams into the center of the cheesecake tarts. Serve with hot black coffee.
Ukrainian Cheesecake Tarts
Equipment
- 1 Muffin Pan
Ingredients
- 800 grams Cottage Cheese try to use a dry cottage cheese, normally here is used tvorog which is more similar to quark than any of the wet cottage cheeses
- 7 Eggs
- 100 grams Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Powder can sub for vanilla extract if needed
- Fruit Jams or Pieces for the filling/topping
- Butter for the muffin tins
Instructions
- Use the butter to grease your muffin tins and preheat your oven to 200C or 390F.
- Mix all the ingredients together except the fruit/jam.
- Scoop the cheesecake filling into the muffin tin. You can use a spoon to make a pattern in the top. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove and let cool. Use a food syringe to inject jam into the center, otherwise just spoon on top. Enjoy!
