I am an Italian who loves cakes, this is a matter of fact!
Given that, when I prepare a cheesecake, which better ingredient than Nutella should I use? No one else! This is the right answer 😛
If you have read the intro of the English section of this blog you probably know what I’m speaking about.
I’m in love with both Italian and Anglosaxon cakes (American AND English), especially muffin, cupcakes, brownies, pies and cheesecakes. When I’m baking a cake I always take a look to the original recipe but I try to rearrange it using Italian ingredients, for three main reasons: 1. availability, 2. tradition 3. sometimes just because they are damn good, like nutella, mascarpone, almonds, fruit, etc.
For example we use to flavour nearly all our cakes with lemon zest instead of vanilla seeds, because you know…we have plenty of lemon trees, while vanilla it’s very expensive here!
When I have prepared these mini nutella cheesecakes i wanted to use one of the most famous italian products, Nutella, for creating a classic English cake, the no-bake cheesecake.
I have choosen the no-bake cheesecake because i think that cooked Nutella isn’t good. After undergoing a high temperature its flavour will be terribly ruined…
I also used a typical American way to serve mini cheesecakes, which i find really lovely, into little mason jars, those jars used to store home-made marmalades and conserves.
This way you can easily offer to your guests/friends a single-serving cheesecake in a tiny and cute jar without getting worried about slices and portions.
Ingredients for 8 Mini nutella cheesecake in a jar:
For the base:
- 12 digestive biscuits (about 200 g)
- 100 g butter
For the filling:
- 500 g philadelphia cheese
- 200 g liquid cream (35% fat)
- 100 g icing sugar (vanilla flavoured) + 2 extra spoons
- 3 spoons full to the brim of nutella
- white chocolate for the surface
How-to:
Put biscuits and butter (not melted) inside a cutter and mix them together until you get little crumbs, similar to wet sand.
Put a little quantity of crumbs (about 1 spoons) inside each jar and press them with the back of a spoon, or with your fingers. The base should be 1 and 1/2 cm thick.
Place the jars inside the frigde.
Combine philadelphia cheese with icing sugar, beat until stiff. Philadelphia should change consistency and become similar to whipped cream (when you can see peaks and wrinkles).
Add 3 big spoons of Nutella and mix again.
In another bowl beat the cream with the remaing icing sugar (2 spoons), it must be thick but not too much.
Then combine the two mixtures and stir gently, by hand, to avoid the whipped cream to lose its texture.
You will get a soft and creamy mixture, similar to a mousse.
Divide the mixture inside the 8 jars, and grate some white chocolate on their surface (remember to put the chocolate bar inside the fridge before doing this procedure, or the bar will melt in your hands)
Store the closed jars inside the fridge until it’s time to serve them. They can be stored for 3-4 days.