White Chocolate Pistachio Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

• ½ cup (50g) biscuit crumbs (e.g. honey biscuits)
• 50g pistachios, ground
• 30g unsalted butter (or alternative), melted
• ½ teaspoon honey (optional)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Filling:

• 1 packet (250g) cream cheese, softened
• 100g ricotta (or greek yoghurt)
• 50g icing sugar
• 100g white chocolate, melted
• 50g pistachios, chopped or lightly ground
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

METHOD

1. (For baked version) Preheat oven to 140°C.
2. Prepare crust: Combine biscuit crumbs, ground pistachios, butter, honey and cinnamon; press into prepared pan, and about 2cm up the sides. (Optional) Bake for 10 minutes or just until dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Melt white chocolate using bain-marie method (i.e. over steaming water) or in a microwave and set aside to cool slightly.
4. Combine cream cheese and icing sugar until blended. Add ricotta (or yoghurt) and stir until blended.
5. Combine melted chocolate with cream cheese filling mixture and hand-mix until blended.
6. Add remaining liquid ingredients (vanilla extract if using), then mix just until blended.
7. Roughly mix chopped or lightly ground pistachios into filling mixture, then pour into crust.
8. (Optional) Baking is not strictly necessary, but will ensure chocolate is well-combined with rest of filling. Place pan in a larger baking tray part filled with water (i.e. a water bath). Bake 20 minutes or until centre is almost set (or skewer comes out clean if not concerned about cracking). Allow to cool.
9. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.

Partly based on: White Chocolate Pistachio Cheesecake at Jane's Patisserie