Although the Tonka Bean has been on many cooking shows for some time (e.g. for desserts such as créme brűlée), it is still one of the exotic unknowns and, in our opinion, is used far too rarely. It is native to the tropical rainforest in northern South America. The Tonka Bean is the core of the Tonka fruit. After harvesting, it looks like an almond and has no aroma or taste. It only develops its bewitchingly sweet scent and dark color through a fermentation process that requires the core to be placed in rum for a few days. Their aroma is difficult to define. It is reminiscent of vanilla, marzipan and woodruff. But especially because of its similarity to the vanilla aroma, it is often used as a vanilla substitute. And especially in view of the poor availability of vanilla, we would like to bring you to the taste of this special bean. For use in cakes, the Tonka bean is simply rubbed into the dough with a nutmeg grater. The beans are boiled for approx. 10 minutes in desserts based on cream or milk (e.g. milk rice, créme brűlée) and then rinsed under running water and dried. Because you can use them several times because of their intense aroma. Get inspired and try the exotic bean!
Recipe for American cheesecake with tonka beans
For the ground:
- 300 g butter cookies (finely ground with a hand blender)
- 30 g cane sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 90 g melted butter
Mix the ingredients and spread them in a springform pan (diameter 26 cm) lined with baking paper, press well and bake at 180 ° C (forced air) for 10 to 15 minutes, take out and let cool.
For the filling:
- 7 packs of cream cheese
- 250 ml sour cream
- 350 g cane sugar
- a ground tonka bean
- 80 g of flour
- 4 eggs
Mix the cream cheese, sour cream and cane sugar well in a bowl. Add the ground tonka bean and flour and stir in carefully. Mix the eggs well in a separate bowl and gradually stir in under the filling (do not stir too quickly).
Put the relatively liquid mass on the cooled bottom and bake at 160 ° C (forced air) for 50 minutes. Let the cake cool for 1 to 2 hours with the oven door open. Chill overnight, preferably in the refrigerator.
Our tip: refine the cheesecake with pureed strawberries (fresh or frozen).
Have fun trying!
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