Belgium’s Lotus Bakery has been operating for 90 years, but until recently their Biscoff biscuits were generally best known as a freebie to be enjoyed with a coffee or plane food. In recent years, however, they’ve grown a cult following, with so many people having become obsessed with the little speculoos biscuits, heavily flavoured with caramel and just a whisper of both cinnamon and salt. In addition to the biscuits, myriad other Biscoff products are now available, most notable of which is the Biscoff spread, while huge brands such as KitKat and Krispy Kreme have teamed up with Lotus to produce Biscoff-flavoured products.
Elsewhere, hundreds of Biscoff recipes are also available, incorporating either the biscuits or spread into creative dishes. This Biscoff cheesecake recipe uses the biscuits for the base, topped with a classic cheesecake filling, then marbled with a thick blueberry topping.
Blueberry Biscoff Cheesecake Baking Tips
Either fresh or frozen blueberries can be used for this recipe. Fresh will be slightly sweeter, but frozen are inexpensive and more readily available. If using fresh blueberries, however, you’ll need less cornflour than the recipe suggests, as they’ll leech out less water when cooking. Begin with a tablespoon, but add another if need be.
The blueberry topping isn’t absolutely essential, but it adds an extra dimension to the dish, as well as an aesthetically pleasing finish to the Biscoff cheesecake.
If you don’t have a food processer, the Biscoff biscuit base can be made by adding the biscuits to a food bag and crushing them with either a rolling pin, steak tenderiser, the bottom of a pan, or something else heavy.
When pouring the Biscoff biscuit crumbs into the baking tin, the bottom of a glass or cup measure can be useful for firmly pressing all of the crumbs into the base.
An electric mixer isn’t especially necessary for beating the cream cheese. It can be done by hand, but will take far longer and require a fair amount of energy.
300gblueberriesfrozen or fresh, add less cornflour for fresh
3tspcornflour
50ggranulated sugar
1/2lemonjuice only
For the Biscoff cheesecake base
150gbuttermelted
500gLotus Biscoff biscuitsor other speculoos cookies
For the Biscoff cheesecake filling
600gcream cheese
1/2lemonzest only
1tbspvanilla extract
20gfloursifted
100ggranulated sugar
3large eggs
Instructions
Line a 20cm X 30cm tin with baking paper and set aside.
Preheat oven to 170C/Fan 150C/Gas 3.
To make the blueberry topping
In a small saucepan, combine blueberries, a pinch of salt, the sugar and lemon juice (a few tbsp of water may be needed for fresh berries if too dry). Cook over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the berries have broken down and released their juices. This will take approximately 10 minutes for frozen berries.
In a small bowl, combine the cornflour with a small amount of water and add this to the berries. Boil the mixture, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Continue to boil for a minute more. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
To make the Biscoff cheesecake base
In a food processor, blitz the Biscoff biscuits until they’re fine crumbs, or alternatively break down the biscuits in a food bag using a rolling pin or something heavy. Combine the crumbs with the melted butter and a pinch of salt, the mixture should resemble wet sand. Pour the crumbs into the lined tin and press in firmly, the bottom of a glass or cup measure is useful for this. Bake for 12 minutes then set aside to cool.
For the Biscoff cheesecake filling
Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until it’s smooth, creamy, and light in texture (4-5 minutes).
Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in the eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, sugar, pinch of salt and sifted flour, then beat together until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
Pour the cream cheese filling over top of the chilled crust. If needed, level and smooth with a spatula. Spoon the cooled, thickened blueberry sauce over top of different areas of the cheesecake filling. Then, with a knife or skewer, swirl the sauce around to create a marbled effect.
Place in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, it should still have slight jiggle in the centre when baked.
Allow to cool to room temperature before chilling for at least 2 hours and slicing into bars.
Jonathan is Food Editor for The London Economic.
Jonathan has run and contributed towards a number of blogs, and has written features for publications such as Eater London, The Guardian, i News, The Independent, GQ, Time Out London and more.
