🍰 Saffron Cheesecake

Name: Saffron Cheesecake
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Gulf · Arabian Peninsula
Ingredients: 200 g plain biscuits; 40 g pistachios, finely chopped; 500 g cream cheese, softened; 100 g sugar; 1 pinch saffron (about 0.3 g) soaked in 2 tbsp warm water; 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Origin: Gulf · Arabian Peninsula

420kcal

per serving · 120 g

350kcal

per 100 g

7 gProtein6 g / 100 g

26 gFat22 g / 100 g

38 gCarbs32 g / 100 g

Saffron cheesecake is a creamy, no-fuss dessert popular in Gulf cafés: a crumbly biscuit base mixed with chopped pistachio, topped with a smooth cream cheese filling perfumed with saffron and cardamom. It is rich, gently floral and golden in colour, and is usually served chilled in thin slices with coffee or tea.

Diets

✓

Vegetarianno meat or fish in a typical recipe

✓

No pork

Not veganbecause of: cream cheese

Contains glutenbecause of: biscuit

Contains dairybecause of: cream cheese

Not keto32 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Eggs ⚠ Milk ⚠ Tree nuts

What it is made of

cream cheesebiscuitsugarsaffroncardamompistachio

Recipe

8 servings30 min

Ingredients

200 g plain biscuits
40 g pistachios, finely chopped
500 g cream cheese, softened
100 g sugar
1 pinch saffron (about 0.3 g) soaked in 2 tbsp warm water
1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Method

Crush the biscuits and mix with the pistachios; press into a 20 cm tin lined with paper.
Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth.
Add the saffron water and cardamom and beat until evenly golden.
Spread the filling over the base and smooth the top.
Chill for at least 6 hours until set, then slice and serve cold.

How to make it lighter

Cut thin slices: a 60 g slice has half the calories of a 120 g one.
Use a light cream cheese to cut fat noticeably.
Skip extra syrup or sauce on top; saffron already gives plenty of flavour.

History

It is a modern café creation that blends the Western cheesecake with the saffron and cardamom flavours long used in Gulf sweets and coffee, and it is widely sold in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait today.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →