Cultured Cream Cheescake with Wild Blueberries & Thyme
By Alison Steele
Waking up in Virginia after a long day of traveling from California to the mountain south, before breakfast, before banjo, I am outside on the front porch with the sunrise. Early morning birdsong is the most heartswelling sound I have ever heard, like an old hymn from my childhood reassuring me that all is well with my soul. Summertime is my favorite season on Smoky Row. Thunderstorms, doe jumping through the meadow, fawns hidden safely in wild thickets down by the spring, mockingbirds calling late into dusk, and endless skies under which we find bushes loaded with berries watered by the warm rains.
It’s not long before I’m barefoot in the dewy grass, taking note of the cherry trees and berry bushes. Forget the baskets or recipe-dreaming because these berries won’t make it that long. They’re tart and crisp and bursting with flavors that you just won’t taste in the ones from the grocery store. I glean the berry bushes before the birds do. Our resident barn swallows have already added an addition to their nest from last year regardless of aluminum pie tins.
The Paw Paw trees have doubled in size. The Mulberry trees are loaded with spiky green berries due to ripen at the end of the month, if the season is anything like the last. The plum tree has some sort of knotty fungus, the apple, a nest of caterpillars. The concord grape is dripping with small green bunches shading the south facing windows of the farmhouse. Fiery daylilies and Black-eyed Susans dot the field just in time for Summer Solstice.
This no-bake chevre cheesecake is a beautiful creamy goat milk white to showcase the berries of the season. As I’ve learned to listen to my body, I know what it thrives on and what it must do without. Gluten is a big no for me, as both my mother and brother have Celiac Disease, the most violent form of gluten allergy that leads to damage in the small intestine. Needless to say, I tend towards nut and oat crusts when making bars and no-bakes. Cultured dairy seems to be all well and good with my gut. I do adore the tart flavor of soft cheeses for dessert especially with the addition of a good local raw honey, and since we aren’t baking this cheesecake, the cultures and B vitamins are preserved.
Cultured Cream Cheesecake with Wild Blueberries & Thyme
Makes 2 small 6” cheesecakes
Crust
1 cup walnuts, toasted
1 cup quick oats
½ cup dry shredded coconut
2 T coconut sugar
4 T refined coconut oil, melted
1 T fresh thyme leaves
1 T lemon zest
Pinch or two of sea salt
Filling
16 oz. French cultured cream
8 oz. chevre
5 T grass-fed butter
¼ c honey
¼ c cane sugar
2 T lemon juice
Directions
You’ll need two small springform pans or one large one. I make two, one for the adults, and another version for the young folks with no “little green things” and whipped cream folded in. Set butter and cultured cheeses on the counter to bring to room temperature. Cut two squares of parchment to lay over top of the bottom of the pan. Set the rim on top and lock the sides. This makes it easy to preserve a perfect crust and slide the cake onto whatever plates you’re serving from.
In a food processor grind nuts, oats, and coconut into a coarse meal. Pour into a mixing bowl adding thyme leaves, lemon zest, and salt. Add coconut oil and mix thoroughly. If using a high speed blender, grind the nuts separately from the oats and coconut on low to get it going, then add in oats, then coconut. Divide the oat mixture between the two pans, press down with the back of a spoon until level. Set in the fridge while making the filling.
Rinse the blender and add the lemon juice, honey, sugar, cultured cream and whirl until smooth. Add in the goat cheese and grass-fed butter and blend until smooth and creamy. Spoon into the two pans, spread smooth and pop both in the fridge until it sets, about an hour.
While the cream is setting, rinse and dry whatever berries you’re celebrating. I foraged some small wild blueberries off the Appalachian Trail before the black bears did. Packed with antioxidants and incredible flavor we mixed these with our cultivated ones after discovering that my son, Bjorn had munched the entire bowl I was saving for this recipe!
We found some beautiful raspberries from the garlic lady at the farmer’s market in Staunton to create our palette of red, white, and blue. When berries are freshly picked and paired with a sweet cream it’s a sin to oversugar them, especially the first ones of the season. Drizzle with a small bit of honey if you must! Place them in all their raw glory on top of your cultured cheesecake and dot with a couple sprigs of fresh flowering thyme.
A native of Virginia, Alison Steele lives with her family and cat in Boulder Creek where she raises quail, chickens, fruit trees, vegetables, and herbs. Alison plays banjo and sings in Sugar by the Pound.
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