Guava Cheesecake with Browned Butter Maria Cookie Crust

A match made in fluffy guava heaven. Also, a thiqqq crust appreciation recipe.

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This was the cheesecake that made me go viral for the first time on TikTok.

A few hours after posting, the views started climbing by hundreds, then by thousands, then by tens of thousands. I started freaking out. To be honest, it wasn't because of the excitement around going "viral", I was freaking out because I was used to getting a few hundred views and little engagement, but now tons of people started commenting on it, saying that they would start making it. I started getting anxious, hoping that my video did a good enough job at explaining how to do it.

It felt surreal once I started getting tagged in people's baking videos. It was amazing seeing people making and enjoying the guayaba cheesecake in the video I made. That's the whole reason behind sharing recipes at the end of the day.

But enough about TikTok, the reason why I wanted to make this recipe is because as the good Cuban-Colombian I am, I LOVE guayaba. Being that I mainly post latino recipes or recipes with a latino twist, that fruit is already a major theme here at Sweet Spanglish. Another theme however is my love for cheese/dairy (check out the flan de leche recipe!)

Guayaba cheesecakes are a common cheesecake flavor here in Miami (Fireman Derek's makes a great one) but I wanted to make one to my own liking. Something that wasn't too heavy with the guayaba flavor, and lets some of the creamy cheesecake get through on its own. I'm also a fan of a heavily crusted and tall cheesecake, so I wanted to make sure we can have all of that, while working with the classic Maria cookies. I like using Maria cookies for their flavor, and honestly, that little hint of nostalgia; since they always remind me of being at my Abuela's house. And since I was in my browned butter era since making endless batches of Bon Appetite's best chocolate chip cookies, I had to add that in there.

And this is the result.

Guava Cheesecake with Browned Butter Maria Cookie Crust Recipe

Ingredients for Crust

• 14 ounces of Maria cookies (essentially a standard sleeve)

• 12 tbs of butter

• 1/4 cup of sugar

Ingredients for Cheesecake

• 4 8oz cream cheeses at room temp

• 3 TBS of flour

• 1 Cup of sugar

• 1 Tsp of vanilla

• 6 large eggs

• 1/2 cup of sour cream

• Guava/Guayaba marmalade

Special Equipment

• 10 inch spring pan

Instructions

Make a day ahead

For the crust

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F

2. Grease a 10 inch spring pan and set aside

3. Place cookies into a food processor and pulse until you get crumbs. If you do not have a food processor, you can place the cookies in a ziplock bag and hit it with a rolling pin, or any other blunt object until you get a nice fine crumb structure.

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine cookie crumbs with sugar.

5. Place a small sauce pan over medium heat and add butter. Using a heatproof spatula, stir the butter often. You're trying to make sure that the butter foams and and starts to brown. Once browned pour butter into the mixing bowl and combine.

6. Press the crust mixture into a greased spring pan. Make sure to press evenly as possible and to also press going up the sides of the pan.

7. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

8. Cool on counter while preparing filling and lower oven temperature to 320°F.

For the filling

1. In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, begin to whisk all packets of room temperature cream cheese on medium, until smooth. Scrape down the bowl then add salt, sugar, flour and vanilla until well combined.

2. Scrape down the bowl and then one by one add in the eggs until well incorporated. Then add in the sour cream continuing to whisk until fluffy and with a silky consistency.

3. Pour batter into crust. Using a spoon, get spoonfuls of the guayaba marmalade and place it on top of the cheesecake making sure to leave some space in-between each other. Do this repeatedly all over the top of the cheesecake until you add enough guayaba to your liking. Using a large skewer or another fine pointed object pull from the guayaba pockets and drag them around the cheesecake. This will let you create a beautiful and delicious abstract design on the top of the cheesecake (you can see how i did this here).

4. Bake for 90 minutes. Depending on your oven it could be less or more, what's important is that there is still a bit of jiggle in the middle of the cheesecake when you take it out. It will continue to set as it cools.

5. Cool on the counter. Once cool, cover and let it rest for a few hours, preferably overnight, in the fridge.

6. Carefully remove spring pan, cut and serve.

Notes and Tips

1. I like to leave my cream cheese out for a few hours, maybe overnight if i'm baking in the morning, so that its soft enough to properly beat and fluff up.

2. All my recipes use diamond kosher salt

3. For a better cutting experience, wait a bit before cutting after it is taken out of the fridge since the crust is delicate.

4. You can find guayaba marmalade in specialty food stores, latino markets or on amazon.