These stunning cheesecake bars feature a coconut and vanilla wafer cookie base, an ultra-creamy vanilla bean cheesecake, topped with a tart layer of passionfruit gelée on top.
Yield: 16 bars
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
Total Time: 12 hourshours
Ingredients
For Crust:
5oz/ 142gvanilla wafer cookies, finely ground (1 cup crumbs)
¼cup/ 25gshredded unsweetened coconut
pinchsea salt
4tablespoons/ 57gunsalted butter, melted
For Filling:
12ounces/ 340gfull fat cream cheese, at room temperature
½cup/ 120gsour cream, at room temperature
⅓cup/ 66ggranulated sugar
2tablespoons/ 16gall-purpose flour
2largeeggs, at room temperature
1tablespoonlemon juice
2teaspoonsvanilla bean paste or extract
pinchsalt
For Passionfruit Layer:
4teaspoons/ 12gpowdered gelatin
6tablespoonscool water
⅞cup/ 200gpassionfruit juice or strained passionfruit pulp
¼cup/ 50ggranulated sugar
¼cup/ 60mLfiltered water
Instructions
Take out your cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream at least an hour before baking; these ingredients must be at room temperature or you will end up with lumpy batter.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch square pan; line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang over two of the edges.
Combine cookies, coconut and salt in a food processor and pulse until very finely ground. Drizzle over melted butter and pulse until evenly moistened. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust for 8 to 10 minutes or until set, then remove from oven and let cool completely.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
In a food processor or the bowl of a stand mixer, pulse room temperature cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and flour until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary to be sure all ingredients are evenly incorporated. Add lemon juice, vanilla and salt and pulse once or twice more.
Pour batter into cooled crust, spreading into an even layer. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the center of cheesecake is set but still barely jiggly (take care not to overbake or it may crack or shrink). Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
To make passionfruit layer, fill a small bowl with 6 tablespoons cold water. Sprinkle gelatin over top and set aside to bloom for 5 minutes. There should be no visible dry white powder left on top.
Meanwhile, heat strained passionfruit juice together with sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved.
Melt bloomed gelatin in the microwave in short, 5-second bursts for 5 to 15 seconds until melted. Pour into saucepan with passionfruit juice. Remove from heat and transfer to a heat-proof glass measuring cup or pitcher (if you notice any white chunks of undissolved gelatin floating around, pour through a fine mesh sieve to remove these first). Refrigerate, stirring every 20 to 30 minutes (set an alarm so you don't forget!) until juice is thickened but not completely set. You're looking for a thick, but still pourable liquid—if it is too thin it will flow off the edges of the cheesecake; too thick and you will not get an even layer. A good way to test is to stir in a few passionfruit seeds. They should stay suspended in the middle of the mixture, not sink to the bottom. If you find your gelatin has set too much, rewarm in short, 5-second increments in the microwave, stirring in-between until no longer chunky, then re-chill as needed to thicken.
Once your gelatin is partially set, pour over the back of a spoon or spatula onto chilled cheesecake mixture (the spoon will keep the liquid from disturbing the cheesecake below it). Tap to remove air bubbles and spread into corners. If desired, sprinkle some cleaned passionfruit seeds over top of gelatin mixture (if your mixture has thickened properly, they should stay suspended on top of the liquid and not sink completely).
Return to refrigerator and chill at least 2 hours or ideally overnight until passionfruit layer is completely set. Gently use the parchment overhang to lift the entire slab out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and slice into squares (use a large chef's knife, run it under hot water to warm it up and wipe it clean between each slice). Serve chilled or at room temperature. Bars will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
If using fresh passionfruit, you'll need about 350g fresh passionfruit pulp with seeds. After straining you should have about 200g worth.
If you have leftover seeds from straining your passionfruit pulp, and want to use them as garnish, spoon about 1/4 cup of leftover pulp into a fine mesh sieve and rinse well. Place a few seeds at a time on a paper towel and 'smear' the seeds across the surface of the towel to remove any pulp still attached to them. Repeat until you have a tablespoon or two of cleaned seeds; set aside to dry.