Japanese-new York Fusion Green Tea Chocolate Cheesecake

Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 8 tablespoons butter (one whole standard stick, make sure it's good and soft but not melted)
• 24 ounces cream cheese (softened, or else it will clump)
• 4 eggs (on second try, using egg whites only worked great)
• 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt (one 6-8oz container works...or mix 1/2 cup plain yogurt with 1/2 cup sugarless green tea with a smid)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar (caster's sugar is the best( if you're like me and don't keep it handy, measure out 1 1/4 cups regula)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 teaspoons green tea powder (authentic matcha)
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 30 g cocoa powder (1 envelope drinking cocoa)

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 400.
• 2 make sure the butter is softened (but not melted!) then mix it with the other crust ingredients.
• 3 beat these ingredients well with an electric mixer, it may appear very crumbly at first if the butter wasn't very soft. if that's the case let it sit for a few minutes to let the butter soften then beat again, it should have a very smooth consistency and wonderful smell.
• 4 smoosh the moist shortbread into an ungreased pie pan (see prep notes), so it is fully and evenly covered. be sure to poke holes in the crust with a fork first so it gives it room to breathe.
• 5 bake for 10-15 minutes, then remove the pan and let it cool for 8-10 minutes-- the crust may have risen a bit if you didn't poke it first, the cooling will naturally let it fall too. let it cool as you mix the filling.
• 6 meanwhile, raise the oven temp to 450.
• 7 beat the cream cheese and eggs together--followed by the vanilla, lemon juice, flour, and sugar.
• 8 mix in the vanilla yogurt. the mixture should have a runny consistency.
• 9 strain the mixture carefully in a fine-net colander if your cream cheese wasn't too soft and clumps got in there.
• 10 add in the matcha packets, and blend on low speed. use a wooden spoon or rubber scraper to get all the green tea powder bits off the sides of the bowl and make sure it's all thoroughly mixed.
• 11 pour half the mixture into the pie pan (if making 2 cheesecakes) with your now cooked and cooled shortbread crust. if you're making just one large cheesecake, pour the entire mixture inches.
• 12 bake for 10 minutes. (if you're doing 2 cheesecakes--save the other half of the mixture in an airtight container, and refridgerate.).
• 13 lower the temperature to 300 and bake for 25-45 minutes according to your oven strength. i found that for the 8" cake this size in my convection oven, i only needed about 25 minutes because the top was nice and brown and it hardly moved when i tried to pull it out of the oven. it needed 35 for the 10" cake. the cake should be set in the center, that's how you'll know it's ready.
• 14 pull the cake out and let it cool for 5-10 minutes-- but leave the oven on at 300.
• 15 in a medium sized bowl, mix the the glaze by first putting the plain yogurt and vanilla together.
• 16 add the sugar and mix well.
• 17 to fully incorporate the cocoa powder, add the cocoa powder bit by bit (about 1/2 tsp at a time) and mix each time until there's no more cocoa left. you should have a bowl of what appears to be rich-looking chocolate mousse.
• 18 when the cheesecake is done cooling, spread half of the chocolate glaze on top of the cheesecake (if doing the 2 cheesecake route, use the whole thing if you're doing the one large cheesecake). if you're making 2 cheesecakes put the other half of the mixture in an airtight container and refridgerate.
• 19 bake for another 10 minutes.
• 20 turn the oven off, and let the cheesecake sit in there for 45 min-1 hour.
• 21 cover the cake(s) in foil then refridgerate for 2-3 hours.
• 22 slice, serve, and enjoy!