Cheesecake Fruit Flan

For other desserts we tried to make healthier alternatives to some standard dishes. But in a complete turn-around, we proudly present today's dish, one that's pretty much as bad for you as anything else you care to make. Sure, we cut the sugar and used whole-wheat flour instead of white. Plus we have real fruit. But that's not going to make up for all the fat and calories that we left in.

Still, it tastes great and is easy to make. And it looks divine. Should we do it? Da Original Gangstur says "yea!"

This recipe makes enough for a rectangular flan pan that's about 25 x 40 cm (10 x 15 inches), which is a fairly large pan. We cut the quantities by about a third for our smaller pan that is about 25 cm in diameter.


Ingredients

Crust

• 500 g (2 cups) whole-wheat flour
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) cream of tartar
• 10 ml (2 tsp) baking soda
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) icing sugar
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) butter
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla extract

Filling

• 250 g (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) white sugar
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla extract

Fruit toppings

• Just about any kind of fruit you want. We used strawberries, blackberries, a kiwi and an apricot. Also good are other kinds of berries, mandarin segments and even banana slices. Try to get an assortment of colours so it will look yummay.

Glaze

• 15 ml (1 tbsp) cornstarch
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) white sugar
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) water
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) orange juice
• The juice of half a lemon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F). Grease the pan with butter.
2. Crust: in one bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar and the baking soda. In a larger bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, oil, egg, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend well. Spread the dough evenly on the bottom of the greased pan. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Put the pan on a rack and cool to room temperature.
3. Filling: cream together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread on the cooled crust.
4. Fruit toppings: slice and arrange the fruit on the flan.
5. Glaze: mix the sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Add the water, orange juice and lemon juice. On medium heat, boil slowly for one minute. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Spoon or brush the glaze evenly over the fruit.
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

And Bow-Tie Calico approves. Of course she does.