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El Salvador, Americas · Quesadilla Salvadoreña

Brown Butter Triple-Cheese Quesadilla

Nutty brown butter, three cheeses, a crumb lightened with meringue and a crackly sugar-sesame top: the café-counter version of El Salvador's cheese cake.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time1 h
DifficultyMedium

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170 °C and line a 15×10 cm tin with baking paper. Take the cream cheese and eggs out of the fridge ahead of time.

    oven

  2. Brown butter: heat the butter in a small pan on medium-low heat for , stirring. When the foam settles, the milk solids on the bottom turn hazelnut brown and it smells nutty, pour it straight into a bowl, brown bits and all, and cool for 10 minutes. It can burn in seconds, so don't walk away.

    Add in this stepUnsalted butter 55 g

    medium-low heat

  3. Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a clean, grease-free bowl. Beat three-quarters of the sugar and the cream cheese into the yolks until smooth and lump-free, then mix in the crema, milk, grated cheese and the cooled brown butter.

    Add in this stepEggs, separated 1Caster sugar 45 gCream cheese, at room temperature 30 gSalvadoran crema or sour cream 85 gMilk 30 mlParmigiano Reggiano or queso duro, finely grated 50 g

  4. Sift in the rice flour, baking powder and salt, whisk until smooth and leave for .

    Add in this stepRice flour (regular) 80 gBaking powder 1 tspSalt 1 pinch

  5. Whisk the whites with an electric mixer until foamy, add the remaining sugar and whisk for more, to soft peaks that curl over at the tip. Fold the meringue into the batter in three additions, lifting gently from the bottom with a spatula.

    Add in this stepCaster sugar 15 g

  6. Pour into the tin, level it and scatter the sesame seeds and topping sugar evenly. Bake in the oven for , until the top is deep golden, crackled and crisp and a skewer comes out clean. If the top darkens too fast, cover with foil for the last 10 minutes.

    Add in this stepSesame seeds (topping) 1½ tspCaster sugar (topping) 2 tsp

    oven

  7. Cool on a rack for , then lift out and slice. The top is crunchiest while warm; once fully cool, the inside settles and turns even moister.

Cook's tip

Brown the butter in a light-coloured pan so you can see the moment before it burns. Stiff meringue is hard to fold in and makes the top crack open in the oven, so stop at soft peaks. Cold cream cheese stays lumpy, so let it come to room temperature.

Cooking it at camp

You can make the brown butter and batter at home and whisk the meringue by hand at camp, but it's a real arm workout. More realistically, bake it at home and warm slices in a covered cast-iron pan over low heat for 3–4 minutes to re-crisp the top.