Pistachio cheesecake, 2 ways: Super simple and simply showstopping
Winsome and delicate with an intense perfume, pistachio is popping up all over the place, adding its pale green charm to cream puffs and croissants, lattes and cocktails. But how, I wondered, would it fare in a cheesecake, that timeless queen of rich and plush desserts?
I came up with two iterations of one recipe: a simple version that anyone could make, and a more complex, special version guaranteed to make heads spin.
The shortcut version needed to be easy, accessible and able to hold its own next to the showstopper, which could be as extravagant and time-consuming as it takes to perfect.
The strategy for the showstopper seemed obvious. I’d simply buy the freshest and finest possible pistachio nuts I could find, grind them into a paste and add that to the cheesecake batter.
Yet I found that no amount of grinding raw nuts at home could turn them into a smooth paste without any grittiness. I had to blanch the pistachios, then painstakingly slip the skins off each slippery nut by hand. It was slow, fiddly work, like peeling peas, but messier. And frankly, while the resulting paste was creamy and aromatic, it wasn’t as good as a jar of store-bought pistachio paste.
Happily, jars of high-quality pistachio paste are available
online. Once my jarred paste arrived, I swirled it into a creamcheese-based cheesecake recipe to create two layers — one white, one green — which looked so pretty when cut into slices.
I also used a streamlined baking method. Instead of the usual water bath, I just popped the cake in a low oven for a long time (70 to 90 minutes). This yielded that classic satiny texture, without having to maneuver a springform pan into and out of steaming, drippy water.
Surprisingly, the shortcut recipe was harder to crack. For the sake of ease, I wanted to riff on a no-bake cheesecake. But I wasn’t sure about how to achieve
that inimitable pistachio flavor with supermarket ingredients.
First, I tried a box of pistachio pudding, then pistachio milk. Neither tasted like actual pistachios. A walk past the freezer section offered the solution. Melted pistachio ice cream or gelato, added to the no-bake cheesecake batter, instantly gave me just the perfumed, nuanced flavor I was looking for.
The brand of ice cream or gelato makes all the difference. Some brands use flavoring and extracts instead of pistachio nuts, so read the label before buying.
In the end, both cheesecakes were excellent and showed off the pistachio’s range.