Pistachio Cheesecake

Recipe:

Ingredient notes:

• Pistachio paste. You will need a ready-made pistachio paste. Ideally, the only ingredients are pistachios, sugar syrup, and vegetable oil. If you don’t have a ready-made paste, you can make your own by grinding lightly toasted pistachios with sugar syrup. Ingredients for 250 g of paste (will be your reserve) 150 g of shelled pistachios, 30 ml of refined vegetable oil, 60 g of sugar and 20 g of water.
• Cream cheese. Any cream cheese will work. But before making the filling, check the consistency of the cheese. If the cheese is very soft, you can change the ratio of cheese to cream to even out the consistency of the cream: add more cheese and less cream.
• Cream. You need a heavy cream with a fat content of 30% or more. Leave 20% for sauces – it is too liquid for our purposes. Cream can be replaced with sour cream with a minimum fat content of 25%.
• Eggs. The size of eggs is M. This is about 50-55 g without shells.
• Sugar. It is better if it is fine. If the crystals are too large, you can grind it in a coffee grinder or use store-bought powdered sugar.
• Crust. Graham crackers or any kind of shortbread will work.

Let’s start cooking.

Make the crust.

Put the crackers in a food processor and crush them into crumbs. You can also do this by putting the crackers in a plastic bag and rolling them with a rolling pin.

Melt the butter and add to the crumbs. Stir. Spread the crumb mixture and tap the bottom of the spring form with a flat-bottomed glass.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170 °C (340 °F) for 10 minutes. Remove and cool. Reduce the temperature to 150°C (300 °F). Place a container of boiling water on the bottom.

Make the filling.

Mix the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. Add the pistachio paste.

Stir again. Add the cream and eggs and beat until smooth.

Put the mixture in the pan with the baked crust and spread it evenly. I recommend tapping the pan on the table to release any air bubbles from the filling.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 45-60 minutes. Place a container of boiling water in the bottom of the oven.

When the time is up, test the cheesecake to see if it is done – when you tap the side of the pan, only the center of the cheesecake should jiggle. If the cheesecake is in the right condition – leave it in a slightly open, turned off oven for one hour, then take it out and let it cool to room temperature on the counter. Then, using a very thin knife, carefully cut between the pan wall and the cheesecake, then place in the refrigerator to stabilize for at least 6 hours, or better yet, overnight.

When completely cooled, remove the cheesecake from the pan and transfer to a plate.

Prepare the glaze. Melt the white chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Remove from heat, add pistachio paste and stir.

Pour over the cheesecake and spread lightly. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

The cheesecake is ready to serve.

Have a nice tea party!