Gluten Free Cacao Pistachio Crusted Vanilla Goat Cheese Mini Cheesecakes Recipe and Food Photo Shoot

lily-da-vine (73)in #food • 6 years ago (edited)

I've been hoping for some creamy goat cheese cheesecake since before @anarchaforko's main event now over a month ago at this point. I finally got down to it and made it happen today in the form of mini cheesecakes to ensure same day eatability. I went for a gluten free crust, just pistachios, cacao nibs and butter. It was the perfect combination and was honestly one of the best parts.

For three little cheesecakes I used probably like 20 pistachios and maybe 7 cacao nibs, crushed in the food processor. Then maybe a tablespoon of room temperature butter, mix untilit combines into a sort of chunky paste.

200 g of natural goat cheese, 1 big spoonful of greek yogurt, somewhere between one and two teaspoons of mexican vanilla and 3 chicken eggs (I like to use duck eggs for most desserts but cheesecake needs those whites to hold up I've found), mix until creamy.

Set the instant pot on the manual setting for 10 minutes with a cup of water in the base and the trivet in the bottom to hold the ramekins. I mashed the crust evenly between the three then put them into the pot. Using a glass measuring cup to pour, I filled each while in the pot already to avoid spilling. I also put a piece of parchment paper over them before closing the lid. There will be condensation on the lid that'll drop down and this will keep the majority of the water out of the cheesecakes. Not totally necessary but is a trick for nice tops. Once the timer went off I quick released the pressure, took of the lid and carefully removed the cheesecakes immediately to a spot to start cooling off.

From there to the fridge and then to the freezer for a half hour because I'm a cheater and wanted my cheesecake today, dammit. Generally there's a rule of thumb to make it a day ahead of time to allow it to chill and set but one can speed it up as I did if they are desperate for cheesecake.

Cajeta, which is goat milk based Mexican caramel sauce, on top for me but you could put just about anything you find appealing.

A glimpse of today's sunset scene that was occurring as I took these pictures.

Cheesecake and a view. :)

Considering the fact that I'm lactose intolerant cheesecake was one of those "forbidden foods" for me until recently as it most certainly spelled stomach ache in my head upon thinking about the cream cheese confection. Once I came up with the idea to replace it with natural goat cheese I was in love, and have made possibly too much cheesecake since. With an instant pot to cook things perfectly and keep it super moist, its' a bit hard to resist.

I've considered cacao nibs in the crust so many times but held off as I didn't want any sort of overpowering bitter cacao flavor. Turns out I was wrong, it added just the right amount of bitter to set off the nearly too sweet tone of this. Seriously will likely be a secret ingredient in most of my cheesecake crusts as it was subtle but defiantly there and would likely compliment just about any sweet cheesecake combination.

It's got the texture of flan but the taste of goat cheese and no stomach hurt for me, not now or in the future.

John makes fun of me for adding pistachios to food, commenting on the green stuff and I honestly add it partially for the color, and because pistachios are fucking amazing.