If you can get your hands on some, my paw paw cheesecake recipe needs to be on your list of things to make. It's a recipe from one of the most talented pastry chefs I worked with. His cheesecake was the first thing I ate made with paw-paws. It takes some work, but the finished product is fantastic.
The paw paw's fruity flavor makes it a natural thing to enjoy in cheesecake form as they pair especially well with dairy, and really could be used in anything with a creamy texture, like a pudding, custard or ice cream. It's also necessary to cut the flavor of the paw paw a bit as I do here with cheese, when eaten raw they can have a slightly bitter note.
The inside of the paw paw and the presence of the very large seeds means what you get is a bunch of stringy, sticky pulp after cleaning. With this funky texture, I like to puree paw paw fruit for use in cooking.
The favor of a wild banana-mango
The flavor of paw paws is really rich and tropical, almost like a banana-mango. Its hard to believe that it is the largest indigenous fruit in the United States. I always thought that they had to be grown on specialty farms, but it turns out that they grow wild on the east coast. A couple months ago I started running across recipes for wild-crafters that had discovered these forgotten fruits again.
In Eastern America, there are apparently about 8 different varieties of paw-paw that grow, I have cleaned and processed every one, and they are pretty fascinating. Each type has subtle differences, mostly in the flavor and color of the flesh. I remember when processing a bunch last year that some flesh was a dull yellow, some extremely vibrant yellow, and some others varying shades of orange.
The flavor of the different varieties seems to range from slightly bitter to intensely custardy and sweet. For consistency reasons, the paw paws are pureed together en masse, and then used for cooking.
Ordering your own paw paw puree
Most likely if you order some online, you will probably just receive one species though. Paw paws can be ordered online anytime from Earthy Delights, I would recommend experimenting with the frozen pulp they offer first, since it would involve much less work as far as cleaning the paw paws, which can be messy/sticky.
Garnishing and serving
This is just a simple recipe for cheesecake. When serving in a restaurant, I would garnish it with something crunchy (the black walnut crumble takes the place of the crust here) and maybe an acidic, fruity sauce, to give it some zip and play down it's richness a bit.
Here I garnished it with a sauce made from wild blueberries and a few leaves of fresh wild mint. It would be just as good with some simple strawberry or raspberry preserves.
Individual vs large cheesecakes
Originally, this recipe made small cheesecakes in ramekins, which are easier and faster than making the real deal, which takes time, skill and patience.
But, eventually I wanted to adapt the recipe to make a big, beautiful, and most importantly, perfect cooked cheesecake. The key to success is steaming the cheesecake by cooking it in a water bath. Read the recipe closely to understand how that's done in a springform pan.
How to make individual, small cheesecakes
If you attempt the big one, it's worth it. If you don't have the time or patience, the individual version is good too.
To make individual cakes, just make the filling as directed, then fill ramekins with the filling, bake in a tray or pan lined with a towel, with water coming up at least halfway of the ramekins, cook gently until just barely set, cool, and turn them out, garnishing with something crunchy like toasted nuts or seeds, granola, fruit preserves, etc.
Paw Paw Cheesecake
Equipment
- Stand mixer, 8-9 inch springform pan, roasting pan or another larger pan the springform pan can fit on/into.
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 cups (1 lb) paw paw puree
- 1 lb high quality cream cheese
- ¾ cup sugar
- Zest of half a meyer lemon + 2 tablespoons juice or substitute fresh lemon juice
- 2 large eggs + 3 yolks at room temperature
Black Walnut-Graham Crust
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1.5 cups graham crumbs (roughly 12 crackers)
- ½ cup finely chopped black walnuts or regular walnuts
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground cinnamon
Instructions
Crust
- First bake the crust. Preheat the oven to 350, then melt the butter and mix with the graham crumbs cinnamon, salt, and the ground walnuts.
- Press the mixture into an 8 inch spring form pan, or square baking dish, then bake for 12-13 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Cool the crust while you prepare the filling.
- For the filling, beat the eggs, yolks and sugar with a whisk in a stand mixer until light and doubled in volume. Meanwhile, puree the cream cheese and the paw paw puree in a food processor until smooth.
- Add the paw-paw cheese mixture to the whipped eggs and continue mixing with the whisk attachment for 15 minutes, then fold in the lemon juice and zest, and pour into the cooled crust.
Cooking / Steam-Baking *Read thoroughly*
- Put a large pan filled with hot water on the bottom tray of the oven, and put the cheesecake on the middle rack, uncovered.
- Bake at 300 F for 70-80 minutes, making sure to check on it regularly at the end.
- The cheesecake needs to be appear slightly under-baked, and should giggle gently in the middle. If you've cooked a custard before, this will be familiar.
- Turn off the oven, and allow the cheesecake to continue cooking, uncovered, until room temperature, then remove, and refrigerate until needed, uncovered.
- The cheese cake can also be cooked ahead and frozen, then thawed.
Notes
Jennifer
Hey, I recently got a box of pawpaws from a friend who has a tree. I only got 1-1/4 cups pulp out of them though, and the tree is done for this season. Is there anything I can substitute for the remaining 3/4 cup? Pumpkin puree, perhaps? I thought of banana, since the flavor reminds me of a banana-mango custard, but bananas have an overpowering flavor so thinking that would defeatthe pawpaws.
Alan Bergo
Hey there Jennifer. You can easily cut the recipe in half or scale it and bake the cheesecake in ramekins or smaller vessels. Sometimes I bake them in 4oz mason jars for a tasting portion, crumbling the crust on top for a variation. You will need to adjust the cooking time accordingly and keep an eye on them so they don’t overcook. Make sure to put a wide tray of water in the oven so they can steam gently.
Geary B.
Do you actually put the pan with the cheesecake in it into the water bath, or let the water bath sit on a lower rack in the oven while baking?
Alan Bergo
Put a pan of water in the oven on the bottom rack. Put the cheesecake in the oven on the middle rack. Sorry if that was unclear.
Laura Paul
I’m slightly confused by your recipe. Do you use 2 cups AND 2 pounds of paw paw purée? Or 2 cups? Or 2 pounds? Other paw paw dessert recipes seem to be 1-2 cups of paw paw.
Thanks!
Alan Bergo
HI Laura. Well, as millions of people around the world see my recipes monthly, so you'll see conversions in my recipes as I need to make sure I use more measurements than cups. When a second measurement is in parenthesis in a recipe next another measurement, it means the same thing. 2 cups of paw paw puree is 1 lb. 1 lb is 2 cups. That means you can use 2 cups, or measure out 1 lb-not 2 lbs as you mention in your comment, which would be 4 cups.
Melissa
A note of caution with any recipe that cooks/bakes pawpaws— they can cause gastrointestinal distress from mild to severe for some people even if the fresh ones are fine (I know from experience). Recipe looks delicious though if you are able to eat it— just taste first and wait a bit..
Alan Bergo
Hey thanks I haven't heard of that, I'll make a note of it.
Kelly Moss
Thanks for these paw paw recipes! We have them growing wild on our property in NE Missouri...and we’ve befriended a person who has a PROLIFIC mature grafted paw paw tree.
So, my husband loves paw paws and asked for pa paw cheesecake for his bday.
I made this in a 8” baking dish with a yummy crust.
I think paw paw is delicious with pistachio so here’s what I did:
1/3 c almond flour, 1/2 c ground shelled pistachios, 4-6 tbs coconut oil, melted; a tbs Oreo coconut flour, and 1/8 tsp salt— mixed together and pressed into the dish.
Poured the pawpaw/creme cheese mix in and baked it in a (water bath) pan of water at 300F for 40 mins. It was just a little jiggly in the center when I took it out. Let it cool completely, et, voila! A happy beloved enjoyed his favorite food. I tried the elderberry syrup (Hand picked berries) and was impressed! The flavor of the syrup did not overpower the delicate paw paw flavor.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!
Kelly Moss
*a tbs of coconut flour
Alan Bergo
Great. glad it worked for you. And good on you for actually using a waterbath.
Alan
Charlene-glad it worked out. I have tasted bitterness with some species. Back at the restaurant we worked at where we would order them all the time during their season, the pastry chef would pick and choose the species out of the boxes-many different ones showed up at the same time. If yours have a little bitterness, you might try making a mousse or something where paw paw purée is folded into something without applying heat, that should solve the problem. Modifying a no-bake cheesecake could also work.
Charlene Groves
Thanks for the cheesecake recipe! After about a decade, we are finally having a paw paw crop (dwindled squirrel population). I am wondering if I could use this recipe in a traditional oblong glass cake pan with a graham crust? I do not want to waste my precious paw paws on a recipe that's doomed to fail! If you think this method will succeed, what baking alterations should I make? Thanks
Alan Bergo
You'll be fine baking it in a larger pan with a traditional crust. If you can, put a pan of water in the oven underneath to help steam the cheesecake, and cook on low-ish heat. I cook mine as low as possible, 250F-300F whenever I can.
Charlene Groves
Alan, the cheesecake turned out beautifully! I served it to about 20 women who were fascinated by the idea of paw-paws! Most thought they only existed in the childhood song they remembered. There were lots of compliments (even though I detected a bitter aftertaste, so I served it with some black raspberry preserves). Thanks again for your help. Happy foraging!
!