Mareena's Recipe Collections

In my earlier post, I had mentioned that my next mission was ‘Mission Cheesecake’. Having left with no digestive biscuits, I made a fresh batch..that too when sonnyboy was in school Well, I didn’t want him to polish off the plate like the other day..Of course I kept aside the remaining ones for him. I am not a mean mom after all.. The recipe I had bookmarked was from Anushree’s blog, Divine Taste. As she is a vegetarian, the recipe calls for chinagrass or agar agar. I didn’t have either of them stocked. So I substituted that with gelatin. J, who is not much of a chocoholic never said No for extra helping..They say “Action speaks louder than words”. I got my answer . However, I wish I had waited for a couple of hours more for the cheesecake to firm up better (for the purpose of clicking a better shot). Next time I think I will make it in the evening so that it gets all the time to firm up overnight. D doesn’t have the patience to wait, especially when I am making something new..and more so if it has something to do with Chocolate.. Whatever brings a smile on your face is a keeper, right?

Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake
Source: Divine Taste

Ingredients

For the base

125 gm (8 large or 10 regular) Digestive biscuits
1 tbsp cocoa powder
60 gm (1/4 cup) butter at room temperature

For the cake filling

5 gm (5 tbsp) agar agar or chinagrass (I used 1-1/2 teaspoons Gelatin)
250 ml (1 cup) water (I used 1/2 cup)
500 gm (2 cups) mascarpone cheese
160 gm (1 cup) icing sugar or confectioners sugar
200 gm (3/4 cup) thick yogurt
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste
250 gm dark chocolate (1- 1/2 cups) chopped or semi sweet chocolate chips + 2 tbsp butter

Method

Place the biscuits in a zip loc pouch, seal it and with the help of a rolling pin, crush the biscuits to a fine powder. Alternatively, process the biscuits in a food processor until they turn into a fine powder. Put the biscuit powder in a mixing bowl, add the cocoa powder, the butter (at room temperature)  and mix with your finger tips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Ensure that the butter is well mixed into the biscuit powder. Alternatively, make this in a food processor. Press this mixture over a the base of a deep 8” (20 cm) or regular 9” (23 cm) spring form pan or a pan with a detachable base. Refrigerate for half an hour or place in the deep freezer for 10 min.

If the china grass is in bars, process it into flakes in a blender. Place the chinagrass in a bowl of water (1 cup, 250 ml) and allow it to soak while you prepare the other ingredients for the filling (If using gelatin powder, sprinkle them in 1/2 cup cold water and keep aside for 5 minutes).

In a large bowl, with a wire whisk or a hand blender, beat the mascarpone, sugar & yogurt until smooth and creamy. Stir in the vanilla, mix well and keep aside.

Melt the chocolate with the butter in a double boiler. Allow it to cool slightly and then slowly stir it into the mascarpone mixture and mix well.
Place the chinagrass with the water and allow it to melt, stirring all the while, over a low flame (If using gelatin, heat the gelatin in a double boiler on low heat till it melts). Once it melts completely, pour it over a strainer into the cheese-chocolate mixture, stirring the cheese mixture all the while. It is important to keep stirring the cheese mixture as china grass sets very fast and we need to prevent the formation of tiny lumps. Immediately pour the prepared mixture into the prepared crust. Allow to set in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours before serving. Garnish with grated chocolate if desired.