Baking

Appenzeller Schlorzifladen

Cheese and Pear Tart

A salty-sweet take on the Schlorzifladen: mild Appenzeller cream cheese over a pear filling, which it complements without overpowering.

From the Valley EchoSpring 2026

Appenzeller Schlorzifladen on a cake stand, with a slice showing the dark pear layer under the cheese filling and a wedge of Appenzeller cheese — Photo: Appenzeller®

Zutaten

Ingredients

Tick off ingredients as you go.

Nährwerte

Nutrition · per serving

Energy	3465 kJ / 830 kcal
Fat	47 g
of which saturates	26 g
Carbohydrate	74 g
of which sugars	31 g
Fibre	8.4 g
Protein	23 g
Salt	1.7 g

Pear filling counted as dried pears.

Estimate for the original amounts, per serving. Salt added to taste is not included. Calculated from the Swiss Food Composition Database (V7.1, FSVO).

Zubereitung

Directions

1
For the dough, mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut the cold butter into cubes, add and rub into a crumbly mixture. Add the water and bring together into a dough without kneading. Flatten a little, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
2
Grate the cream cheese on a Rösti grater and mix with the flour. Cold cheese is easier to grate.
3
In a 1-litre measuring jug, whisk the milk and eggs and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
4
Preheat the oven to 200 °C, top and bottom heat. Roll out the dough into a circle on a floured surface and prick it with a fork.
5
Spread the pear filling evenly over the dough, add the cheese, then pour the egg mixture over it. Bake for about 30–40 minutes.

Tipp · Serving

As a main meal, add a salad and pickled onions. It is just as good on its own as a snack or dessert.

En Guete!

Bon appétit · Buon appetito · Bun appetit · Enjoy your meal

First published in the Arizona Swiss Society's Valley Echo newsletter, Spring 2026.

A bit of history

Geschichte

Where Appenzeller Schlorzifladen comes from, gathered from reliable sources such as the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory.

The Schlorzifladen is a round, flat tart filled with puréed dried pears under a cream topping. According to the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, its oldest mention is in the first volume of the Swiss German dictionary Idiotikon in 1881, where it is called Birnfladen, or pear tart. The Idiotikon explains Schlorzi as various foods cooked or mixed together, a mushy liquid. In the Appenzell region, cream, cheese and pear tarts were once baked around Christmas and New Year in almost every household, and in the Obertoggenburg the tart was traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve. By the 1990s it had nearly been forgotten, until a group of eastern Swiss hobby cooks rediscovered and promoted it. Topping it with Appenzeller cheese is our own twist.

Sources