I have to admit.. I have never made speculoos cookies myself until now! And using them as the crust for this heavenly German cheesecake was the best decision ever!
Spekulatius Käsekuchen
About this Recipe
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Spekulatius, or Speculoos in English, is never a cookie my family made from scratch growing up. They were just too common to appear on a saucer when ordering a latte macchiato at a German restaurant or café, and apparently nobody in my family ever questioned that there could be a homemade version of this cookie. Then one day last month, as I was trying to figure out what Christmassy cheesecake to bake with all the Wünder Creamery quark I had in my fridge, the idea of using spekulatius cookies as the crust of my Käsekuchen came to me. And suddenly there I was, making Spekulatius from scratch and scouring Amazon Prime for the cutest, wintery cookie stamps to use for the extra cookie dough this recipe makes. I must say, I love the cookies on their own, but as the crust of this Käsekuchen, they add such warmth and deliciousness.. I’ll definitely be making this German cheesecake again!
If you have not yet used quark before, I LOVE plain quark for baking German cheesecake especially. And Wünder Creamery by far makes the best quark you can buy on this side of the Atlantic. It’s creamy, tart and delicious and their flavored quark (you HAVE TO try the coffee quark) is not too sweet and the perfect mid-afternoon treat. So give them a try and use code ‘SOPHIE15’ at checkout for 15% off your first order. Happy quarking!
When baking this cheesecake, make sure to cover it up with some foil about halfway through the baking, so the top of your cake doesn’t get too dark. And yay for extra cookie dough! Make sure to bake it off, too, and serve the cookies along with your Käsekuchen creation. You’ll definitely want to use a spring form when making this cake, so if you don’t have one already, I can recommend this one. Scroll on down for the recipe.
Spekulatius Käsekuchen Essentials
Next Up:
Schupfnudeln mit Sauerkraut
Next up is another Christmas market favorite, although Schupfnudeln mit Sauerkraut are really good all Winter long! Make sure to subscribe to my blog now, so you’re not missing out when this new German recipe post goes live!
Spekulatius Käsekuchen: German Speculoos Cheesecake
Ingredients
Spekulatius Crust/Cookies
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 250 g brown sugar
- 250 g butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Ingredients for Käsekuchen Filling
- 240 g butter
- 250 g sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 840 g quark
- 6 eggs 10.5 oz
- 40 g cornstarch
- 40 g all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Bring all cold ingredients to room temperature. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit or 160 degrees Celsius (convection setting). Prep a spring form with parchment paper on the bottom, and butter the sides.
- For the cookies/crust, beat the brown sugar with the eggs and butter until creamy and combined. Then add salt, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.
- Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the mixture and knead until combined.
- Press 400 g of the cookie dough on the bottom and sides of the spring pan (you can cut out and bake the remaining dough on the convection setting at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.)
- For the cheesecake filling, whisk together the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth, but do not overwork. Gradually whisk in the eggs.
- Sift together the corn starch and flour, then whisk into the butter-egg mixture until smooth. Lastly, whisk in the quark.
- Pour the mixture onto the cookie crust and bake for about 85 minutes, covering the cheesecake with foil halfway through to prevent it from getting too dark. Allow to rest in the oven for a couple of hours and place in the fridge overnight before serving.
- Serve with more cookies!
Notes
Nutrition
I received compensation from Wünder Creamery in exchange for writing this post. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions, thoughts and recipes are my own. This post contains affiliate links, which means that I may be compensated if you click certain links.
