Green tea cheesecake

Silla Bjerrum's Simple Japanese with east / west flavours is a book full of Japanese inspired recipes. A bit like fusion cuisine. 

I can't remember where I bought it from and I have never done a single one of it's recipes. I searched through it's pages and there were a lot of ingredients I did not have at home. I almost quit until I reached the dessert section and this recipe caught my attention.

I LOVE green tea. Let me just say this again in case the first time wasn't understood: I love green tea. So how could I resist?

The cheesecake is amazing but it is for green tea lovers. It's not as sweet as one is used to and it is intense. We cut small slices and one was enough for my partner. Suffice to say I ate two at a time...

I added more double cream and cream cheese than the recipe called for because, otherwise, it would have been a really small cheesecake. I appreciate that some people will eat small slices but there is a limit to how small a cheesecake can be, right?

The recipe called for serving it with crème fraîche and that's what we did. However, as the cheesecake isn't very sweet, I think it would benefit to be served with double cream instead as it would add a bit of sweetness to it and cut through the powerful flavour of the green tea.

Serves: 12 people.

Ingredients:

• 200g ginger biscuits
• 60g butter, melted
• 150ml double cream
• 4.5 tbsp green tea powder (matcha)
• 340g cream cheese
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 200ml double cream to serve

Method:

1. Butter a 25cm (10in) springform tin.
2. Crush the biscuits either in a food processor or with the rolling pin.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add the melted butter to the crumbled biscuits, mixing well.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Press the mixture into the base of the tin firmly then chill for about 10 min.
   
   
   
5. In a small saucepan, heat the 150ml double cream gently and mix the green tea powder into it. It takes a bit of elbow grease to get it not to be lumpy.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar together.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Add the eggs and egg yolk and then the green tea mixture.
   
   
   
8. Pour the cheese mixture over the biscuit base and bake in the lower part of the oven for 30 min at 150°C.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake to cool down in the oven for at least 1 hour before transferring it to the fridge.
   
   
   
10. Serve with double cream, sprinkled with additional green tea powder to decorate.