Cream cheese, poppy seed & apricot pie

Yes it’s that time of year again! – December is here and the Christmas market is up in Zagreb. Each street coming to the main square is lit up in Christmas lights, your taste buds go crazy at the scent of delicious food coming from the food stands at the market, you can hear groups of young people playing instruments at the corner or singing on stages set at each Zagreb square.

The thing I love most about December and Christmas time, isn’t snow as some might guess because here in Zagreb, Croatia it’s been ages since we had a snowy Christmas, it’s actually food that brings me joy. Seems like when the whole Christmas time comes we cook more delicious food, or the food just tastes better than before.. don’t know, but what I do know this winter I’ll prepare more food than ever, from winter classics to new recipes I’ve picked up here and there. Starting off with this delicious pie, maybe an unlikely combination of ingredients, but let me tell you the flavours come together in such a delicious way, you’ll be asking for more before even finishing the first slice.

I wish you all the best for the upcoming season, many delicious recipes, from dishes you’re grandparents’ used to make to those traditional holiday desserts!.. and also stay tuned for more recipes!!

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Enjoy & happy cooking!

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Preparation: 30 min

Cook time: 45 min

Servings: 8

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Ingredients

Crust:

• 300 g whole-wheat flour
• 150 g butter
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp yogurt
• 1 tsp orange zest

Cream cheese filling:

• 100 g butter
• 3 eggs
• 700 g cream cheese
• 3 tbsp corn starch
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 100 g sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp lemon zest

Poppy seed filling:

• 200 g poppy seed, ground
• 2 egg whites
• 200 g cream cheese
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 200 g fresh compote apricots

How to

1. Sift together in a large bowl whole-wheat flour, sugar and baking powder. Mix in softened butter, combine and then add orange zest, yoghurt and egg yolks. Mix the ingredients until you get a firm dough. Press the dough onto a plastic foil and place it in the fridge for 30 min – 1 h.
2. Butter a round pie tray and preheat the oven to 180° C.
3. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and place it in a buttered pie tray. Poke the dough with a fork.
4. For the cream cheese filling mix together butter at room temperature with sugar until fluffy. Mix in cream cheese, eggs, corn starch, vanilla extract, baking powder and lemon zest until all the ingredients are combined.
5. For the poppy seed filling mix in ground poppy seeds with cream cheese and brown sugar. Beat egg whites until stiff in a second bowl and manually stir them in with the poppy seed mixture.
6. Pour the cream cheese filling over the pie crust, then top it with the poppy seed filling and finish off the pie with fresh peeled apricots cut in half. Bake the pie in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 min. Enjoy!