Quesada pasiega – Cantabrian fresh cheese dessert

Preheat the oven to 200°C with conventional top and bottom heat. Grease a wide ovenproof dish about 28 × 20 cm and at least 4 cm high with the weighed 5 g butter. Melt the remaining 75 g butter over low heat and set aside until lukewarm. Use soft, moist cheese without free whey, weighed in that state.

Put the cheese in a large bowl and mash it thoroughly with a fork, breaking down larger lumps. Add all the lemon zest and all the cinnamon. Stir until the mixture is soft and finely textured. The cheese should mash easily while retaining its moist consistency.

In another bowl, briefly mix the weighed whole eggs with the sugar just until combined, without whipping into a fluffy foam. Pour in the lukewarm melted butter and mix. Add the prepared cheese and combine with a spoon or hand whisk, breaking down any remaining larger lumps.

Mix the flour with the salt and sift into the mixture in two or three additions. Stir gently with a spatula each time until the dry streaks disappear. Stop mixing once evenly combined; do not aerate it by prolonged beating.

Transfer all the mixture to the prepared dish, scraping the bowl thoroughly with a spatula. Spread evenly and level the surface. The layer should be about 2 cm deep and not exceed 3 cm so the dessert bakes evenly.

Put the dish on the middle oven rack and bake for 30–40 minutes. The top should turn golden, the edges lightly brown, and the center be set and moist, without any runny raw mixture. Bake a few minutes longer if needed. Do not extend the baking just to make the center dry; quesada should stay moist.

Remove the dish and leave on a cooling rack for about an hour, until the dessert is no longer hot. Then refrigerate for an hour to let the center firm up. Cut into eight servings in the dish and serve chilled. Keep any remaining dessert covered in the refrigerator.