Want a no-bake, fluffy, smooth, refreshing cheesecake? This is the one! Add this one to the Shavuos menu and it’ll be part of your Yom Tov memories forever.
My mother-in-law used to make this cheesecake, and I remember always loving it. So light and airy, almost like whipped cream…it was so different than the typical thick North American cheesecake. The lightness and creaminess was always really perfect for a hot Shavuos day.
A few years ago, I asked my mother-in-law for the recipe, but she had lost it. Then, just last year, she called me up, all excited…she had found the recipe! It’s everything that I remember.
Israeli-Style Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crumble:
- 3 ½ cups flour
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) margarine or butter
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
Cheese filling:
- 1 (8 oz.) container whipped topping or heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 box instant vanilla pudding
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 (8.8 oz.) containers Quark 9% soft cheese
Instructions
- Prepare the crumble. Preheat oven to 350℉.
- In a bowl, combine all ingredients and knead with your hands to form a crumble. Set aside ⅓ of the dough. Spread remaining crumble in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Don’t press the crumbs down too hard. Bake until light brown, about 20-25 minutes. Place the remaining ⅓ crumble in a separate baking pan and bake just a few minutes less. Set aside.
- Prepare the filling. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat whipped topping until stiff. Slowly add in milk while the mixer is running, then add pudding and sugar. Turn the mixer off and stir in the cheese using a spoon.
- Add the cheese filling on top of the first dough. Crumble the second dough and sprinkle it onto the cheese. Refrigerate for 4 hours. Slice into squares when ready to serve.
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Looks yum! By instruction #2 it says to bake until light brown, about X minutes. Can you replace that with a number?! Thanks.
Updated! Thanks for pointing it out.
Is there a sub for the quark cheese?
No, I’m sorry, this needs Tnuva Israeli cheese. You can search other cheesecakes on our site.
what would the cups/tablespoons measure for the pudding
One box is 2.8 oz
My mother makes a similar recipe, but for the filling she uses sour cream instead of quark cheese, and it comes out AMAZING! Looks similar to the picture shown too.
Mia, could you share your mother’s recipe? Thanks!
Can this be frozen?
Yes!
How much thawing time in the fridge?
Will 3% Quark cheese also good?
5% would be better, but 3% should be fine as well.
Will 5% tnuva quark cheese be ok. I can’t find the 9%. If not I’ll keep looking. Thanks
Yes it should be fine.
I made your cheesecake for Shavuot, excellent, a new favorite. Thank you
Hi,
I really want to make this cheeseball.
I checked out all my local groceries, and could only find tnuva labaneh, low fat sour cheese spread, 5%.
Do you think it could work?
Thanks!
Autocorrect argh!
Cheesecake, not cheeseball!
It should work!
Quark cheese is impossible to find in Lakewood. No stores carry it, and if they happen to carry it they might only have a 3%.
Hey, what’s quark cheese in hebrew please?
Gevina levana
Where in Lakewood could you buy the quark cheese? Which store sells it?
All kosher supermarkets sell it. It’s from Tnuva.
Have you seen it specifically in any store cuz I checked in Evergreen and they didn’t have it (unless they get in more types of cheeses closer to Shevuos)
gourmet glatt and evergreen both have it on their websites
https://www.gourmetglattonline.com/search/9%25%20soft%20cheese?catalogProduct=181089
https://www.shopevergreenkosher.com/search/9%25%20soft%20cheese?catalogProduct=181089
I was in Bingo today and there were tons of 5% Tenuva cheese although I didn’t see the word “quark”.