Green Tea Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberry Sauce

Green Tea is everywhere, from soaps to drinks and everything in between. So I thought, why not try it in a cheesecake? I’m not as clever as I think I am. It turns out a lot of people beat me to the punch. There’s tons of recipes out there, but the simplest just requires two teaspoons of green tea added to your favorite base cheesecake recipe.

I didn’t feel like hunting down green tea powder as the recipe calls for, so I just emptied four bags of organic green tea and ground it up in a coffee grinder. It was just enough for two teaspoons.

I know what green tea tastes like, but I wasn’t sure what to expect when I tried my first bite. Surprisingly, it’s subtle, but definitely has that green tea flavor. It’s almost comforting instead of overpowering.

But it does need another flavor to accompany it. If you think about all the mixed green tea drinks out there, they have one thing in common and that’s fruit. I decided to use fresh raspberries in a simple syrup to give it something extra. The flavors blend quite well together. There’s nothing like a fresh fruit sauce.

You can use your imagination for other fruits to use, perhaps fresh peaches or blackberries would work as well.

Printable Version

Ingredients

4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

1 ½ c. white sugar

¾ c. milk

4 eggs

1 c. sour cream

¼ c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. green tea powder (found in Japanese shops) or 2 teaspoons finely ground organic green tea from about 4 tea bags.

Crust

1 ½ c. graham crack crumbs

¼ c. sugar

4 Tbs. melted butter

Raspberry Sauce

½ c. sugar

½ c. water

6-8 oz. fresh raspberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9-inch spring form pan.

2. In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs and sugar, then add melted butter and stir until graham cracker crumbs are moistened. Press onto bottom of spring form pan and push slightly up sides of pan, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches. Bake for 5 minutes at 350° F. Once done, let cool.

3. Once the pan is cool, double wrap bottom of spring form pan with wide foil so that water can’t seep into the pan for the water bath later.

4. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, flour and green tea powder until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.

5. Put spring form pan into a larger rimmed pan, and fill the larger pan with hot water until water is about 1-inch up spring form pan.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour 10 minutes. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven for an additional 2-4 hours. This help prevent cracking from cooling down too fast.

7. Remove from oven, remove spring form ring, and then let cool to room temperature before chilling in refrigerator.

8. For raspberry sauce, heat sugar and water until boiling and the sugar is dissolved. Add raspberries and heat just until they begin to break up. Remove from heat and cool before refrigerating.

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