Dubai Pistachio & Chocolate Cheesecake!
INGREDIENTS
Cheesecake:
16oz Cream Cheese
1 pint heavy cream
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 cup of maple syrup ( pour less or more to taste preference on desired sweetness)
2 -5 teaspoons of lemon juice (depending to your preferred taste)
Shredded Phyllo dough or Kanefe ( can get at a middle eastern market or on amazon)
1 jar of Pistachio Butter (if you plan to not make your own)
1 bag of Shelled Pistachios ( if you decide to make your own butter)
Olive oil (if you plan on making your own butter)
Ganache
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I use maple sugar as a substitute, can find it on amazon )
Pinch of salt
1 cup of milk
1 tbsp of melted unsalted butter
1 tsp of vanilla
Notes to take before starting!
Cheesecake Layers must be placed in the freezer for at least 5 hours before assembling Ganache topping which will need to set for another 30 minutes. Make sure to plan accordingly!
HOW TO INSTRUCTIONS
Crust Style Options :
Either toast the shredded phyllo on a pan like the viral dubai recipe and mix it with the pistachio butter
Mix the shredded phyllo and melted butter and press it down onto a springform pan (cheesecake tin that has clasps) bake at 350 degrees until crispy , let it cool completely before assembling layers
Pistachio Butter From Scratch :
Have food processor ready for when pistachios come out of oven
Pour bag of shelled pistachios on a sheet tray
Roast in oven at 350 degrees
do not take your eyes off of them! they will burn quick if left too long, should only take a few minutes or less, once you smell the aroma of the nuts and its stightly turned golden green, take them out and IMMEDIATELY place in food processor and turn them on, you want them warm to turn it into butter!
Blend until its smooth, once it gets to a gravel like state slowly add a little of olive oil til desired consistency
Note* more olive oil the more runny and harder to work with, I like a crunchy butter consistency for the cake
Cheesecake Filling:
Whip heavy cream until you get a whip cream consistency in a mixer and set aside
Whip room temperature cream cheese ,maple syrup and vanilla until smoothed and whipped
Slowly add lemon juice until your preferred taste and well incorporate
Add sour cream and incorporate on medium speed
Then slowly add in whip cream at low speed until full incorporated
Set in fridge for at least 10 minutes before assembling layers
Assembling layers:
Crust with Pistachio or Kanefe Crust
Pistachio Butter (if just Kanefe buttered crust)
Cream Cheese Filling
Chocolate Ganache:
Place cocoa powder and sugar in a sauce pan and heat on medium low until it heats up and melts a little with the sugar
take it off the heat
slowly add the milk in as you mix it in
you can stop before you using the full cup as directed if you want it thicker, if its too thick, add more milk
add the butter in & vanilla and place back on heat on a low setting and mix until your ganache desired consistency
allow to cool down a tad before dipping it in on your frozen cheesecake
layout some chocolate on a parchemnet sheet and place frozen cheesecake on top so it secures the bottom of the crust better
cheeecake has to be frozen for this to work as the cheesecake filling is soft!
pour the ganache over the whole cake
garnish as desired
set in freezer for at least 30 minutes or until 30 minutes prior to serving time!