A simple dessert that will satisfy your cheese cake cravings without going overboard with the calories. And making it is as easy as, well, pie!

Cheese Pie with Peaches

This isn’t a savory cheese pie like a spinach or a tomato cheese pie. It’s a dessert recipe I got from my Third Aunt a long time ago. It’s really very similar to a cheese cake except that the base is made using crushed Marie biscuits. You also don’t use as much cream cheese (only one 250g block) as most cheese cake recipes. And I would say it’s not as rich as a New York-style cheese cake.
Unlike some previous cheese cake attempts, I have never had any cracking issues when baking this cheese pie. I’ve even over-baked it a few times and it still comes out pretty good. So for those who don’t like the hassle of a bain marie (water bath) or if you like cheese cakes but would rather have a lighter version, this is the recipe for you.

Tips and Techniques

To make the cheese pie crust, you need to crush some Marie biscuits (if you cannot find Marie biscuits, cream crackers will work just as well, I imagine). Now normally, I would use a food processor to just blend them up. However, now that I’m in Malaysia, I haven’t had a chance to get myself a food processor. Thankfully, the mortar and pestle has been seriously handy in all my food preps. And even though it’s a lot more humbug, it does the job just as well.

Besides the cream cheese filling, my aunt used to always add canned peaches to the pie. You could use peaches, apricots, mandarin oranges, cherries or even sliced pineapple. And once the pie is baked, you can also decorate the top with more canned fruit. Of course, if you want to use fresh fruit to decorate the top of your pie, you definitely can. I don’t recommend using fresh fruit in the filling part as the fresh fruit will cause the filling to become too watery.

Cream Cheese Pie with Peaches

Ingredients:
For the crust:
150g Marie biscuits, finely ground
62g butter, melted
For the filling:
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
4 oz sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp gelatin dissolved in 2 Tbsp hot water
1 can sliced peaches (you may have leftovers)
Method:
1. Mix ground Marie crackers with melted butter evenly. Press into a 9 inch pan and up the sides. Refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).
3. Beat cream cheese with sugar until well mixed.
4. Add egg and vanilla and mix till incorporated.

5. Add in the dissolved gelatine.
6. Arrange peaches on the crust. Pour cream cheese mixture over the peaches.

7. Bake pie for about 20-25 minutes until just brown on the edges of the pie (mine was just a little overbaked).
8. Cool the pie and then decorate with more fruit if desired.

Enjoy!

Cheers, Annie