No-Bake Pistachio Cheesecake

What do you do with a 600 gram jar of pistachio cream from your local Italian bakery?  Why, you make a pistachio cheesecake, my dears.  I'd have to say pistachio gelati is my fave flavour, so I knew I'd enjoy this cheesecake too.  Or at least, Mr P. and the neighbours would :=)  I am not usually a cheesecake-eater, but I did partake of a small piece.  Not bad at all.

We had a busy weekend, so I made the base in the morning, went to visit a friend at lunchtime, then came back to make the filling.  Sunday was another busy day, with friends over for cheesecake, and making an omelette for our neighbour's dinner, and taking my afternoon walk and doing laundry and heading out bayside to have lunch with friends, and having a friend over in the morning for cheesecake too!!  Bed was a welcome sight at about 7pm!  

I based this on Nigella Lawson's recipe for Nutella Cheesecake from her cookbook Nigellissima.  I love Nigella's books and tv shows (except for that godawful interview-type show she did), and have been using her method of kitchen scissors for chopping herbs etc for many a year.  Her book Feast is one of my most-used.  Our niece was living with us for a few months some years back, and we had quite a few Nigella dvd sessions!  

the Divine Ms. A. about to indulge

Makes a heap of thin slices (Nigella says 8-12):

ingredients:

The Base:

160g./5.6 oz. pistachios, toasted and divided into 25g. + the rest! - you will be blitzing half of the rest (67.5g./2.4 oz.) in the food processor, and chopping the other half into chunky pieces for the top

250g./9 oz. digestive biscuits (or other plain biscuits)  see Notes

75g./2.6 oz. butter, softened (not melted)

30g./1 big oz. of pistachio paste

The Filling:

500g./18 oz. cream cheese, at room temp.

60g./2.2 oz. icing sugar

400g./14 oz. pistachio cream   see Notes  

50mL/1.7 oz. pure cream

100g./3.5 oz. white chocolate, melted

Method:

First toast your nuts!  I just tipped 'em into a small, cast-iron frying pan and tossed them around for a few minutes - don't let them burn!

Break up the biscuits into big pieces, and throw them into your food processor

Add the butter chunks and the 30g. of pistachio paste, and give it a good whizz till well-combined and clumping

Now add 25g./1 scant oz. of the chopped nuts and keep pulsing till you have a damp and sandy mixture

Grab a 22cm/8 inch or 23cm/9 inch springform tin, tip in the sandy mixture and press very firmly into the base and sides of the tin - you want it even and thin!

Into the fridge to chill while you make the filling

Blitz the cream cheese and icing sugar together till smooth and well-combined

The pistachio paste goes in next; give it a good whizz, then add the cream and melted white chocolate, with a quick blitz

Then stir in the blitzed nuts, and spoon this heavenly mixture over the chilled biscuit base

Top with the other half of the chopped nuts, and let it rest in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours - but overnight is so much better!

Take off the springform wall/ring/whatever you call it, and leave the cheesecake on the base, which will make for easier cutting!

Notes:

I used McVitie's Digestives as per Nigella's recipe, but you can use whatever plain biscuit you can get hold of

I bought an Italian spreadable pistachio cream from the Italian bakery, but I'm thinking you could use any nut cream/paste you fancy!  And the appropriate nuts of course

toast your nuts!

ingredients (for the base) gathered

press the sandy mixture into the base and sides till even and thin

whizz up the cream cheese et al.  (looks like pond sludge really - hehehe)

stir in the blitzed nuts

into the fridge it goes 

hoe in, my dears!

Dino the wee dinosaur (made by Dion from holyshititsdion) did his best to help!
 (check out Dion's Insta account: @holyshititsdion)

c. Sherry M.