Halloween Meringue Bone Cheesecake Pie

Pastry base filled with jam and vanilla cheesecake, covered in red coloured white chocolate and topped with meringue bones

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Pie

Prep Time 1 15

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 2 45

Servings

Calories 425kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the pastry

200 g Plain flour
100 g Butter or baking spread
1 tbsp Caster sugar
45-50 ml Milk or cold water will work too

For the filling

500 g Full fat cream cheese
1 tsp Vanilla extract
200 ml Double cream
80 g Icing sugar
6 tbsp Strawberry jam

For the 'blood' splatters

40 g White chocolate
1 tsp Vegetable oil
Red food colouring

For the meringue bones

1 Egg white
65 g Caster sugar
¼ tsp Cream of tartar
¼ tsp Vanilla extract

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 180C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 5
To make the pastry put the plain flour and caster sugar into a bowl and stir together, then add the butter and rub the mixture together with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs
Add the milk or water, add it a bit at a time as you may not need all of it, and bring it together into a dough. Wrap it in cling film and chill for 30 minutes
Roll out the pastry onto a well floured surface (or you can roll it out onto cling film to make it easier to lift up) and line a 9 inch tart tin. Use a fork to prick the base of the pastry all over
Scrunch up some baking paper and line the pastry with it, then add baking beans. Bake it for 15 minutes
Take the pastry out of the oven and remove the baking beans and paper
Bake the pastry again for 10 minutes on the same temperature, or until golden brown all over and cooked through. Leave to cool fully
Turn the oven down to 90C/200F (it’s hard to convert this exactly into Gas Mark as it’s less than a half)
To make the meringues whisk up the egg whites with the cream of tartar with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form
Continue to whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer and add the sugar a spoonful at a time. When it is all mixed in, keep mixing for 4-5 minutes until you can rub the meringue between your fingers and cannot feel any grains
Put the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a circular nozzle and pipe it out onto lined baking trays in bone shapes
Bake the meringues for 1 hour, then cool fully
Fill the pastry case with a thin layer of strawberry jam
For the cheesecake filling use an electric whisk to mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla extract until smooth
Once it is smooth with no lumps, add the double cream and whisk until it is very thick and holds it's shape
Fill the pastry case with the cheesecake mixture and smooth it over. Put it in the fridge to set for 3-4 hours
Melt the white chocolate, then add the vegetable oil and red food colouring. Flick and splatter it over the top of the pie using a fork
Add the meringue bones on top
Serve immediately, store any leftovers in the fridge and eat within 2 days

Notes

If you want to give the pie a biscuit base instead, use a food processor or a rolling pin to bash up 350g digestive biscuits. Mix in 150g melted butter then line the tin all around the bottom and sides with the mixture, bake for 10 minutes on 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Leave to cool fully before adding the filling.

You can use any other jam besides strawberry but I recommend a red one for the 'blood' effect!

The meringue mixture may make a few more bones extra than you need to decorate the pie, but you can serve each slice with one.

Nutrition