Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Cheesecakes
This is an improv-recipe that I want to revisit and revise later. Overall it was really tasty, but I found the cheesecake a little dense, not quite sweet enough, and too potato-y. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it kind of had a starchy aftertaste. Anyway, roasting fresh sweet potato was definitely not worth the extra effort. I will likely try this using canned sweet potato or pumpkin next time and amp up the amount of sweetener.
The garnishes really made the dessert. The cheesecakes were crustless, so a pretzel topping replaced the crust. The rich cheesecake, sweet vanilla ice cream, and salty crunchy topping was a stellar combination with lots of textural and flavor contrast. I REALLY liked the crunchy pretzel topping. In fact, I recommend that you bake a double batch of the Pretzle-Almond Mix for solo munching. Don’t make a quadruple batch because you WILL gobble it all down, and that’d just be irresponsible.
Sweet Potato and Peanut Butter Cheesecakes
Makes 4 individual cheesecakes
Ingredients:
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 large egg, lightly beaten, room temperature
2 tbsps. honey
Tiny pinch of cinnamon
⅓ cup sweet potato puree
1 ½ tbsps. salted smooth peanut butter
Crunchy Pretzel-Almond MIx, for serving, recipe below
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Preparation:
1) Preheat oven to 300˚ F. Place four 6oz ramekins in a water bath. (An 8 inch square baking pan works well for holding the ramekins.)
2) Mix together the cream cheese, egg, honey, and cinnamon with a fork. It’s okay if there’s a few lumps. Separate out ¼ cup of the mixture and set aside.
3) Mix in the sweet potato puree into the remaining cream cheese mixture and pass through a fine mesh strainer. Mix the peanut butter into the ¼ cup of cream cheese mixture and pass through a fine mesh strainer.
4) Divide the sweet potato mixture evenly among the ramekins. Divide and dollop the peanut butter mixture on top. Run a butter knife through to marble the mixtures. Bake in water bath in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until almost set.
5) Cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. To serve, top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and scatter with Crunchy Pretzel-Almond Mix.
Note: Crunchy Pretzel-Almond Mix can be baked simultaneously with the cheesecakes.
Crunchy Pretzel-Almond Mix
Ingredients:
½ cup sliced almonds
¾ cup crushed pretzels
2 tbsps. melted butter
2 tbsps. brown sugar
¼ cup raisins
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 300˚ F. Line a flat baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Mix the almonds, pretzels, butter, and sugar. Spread in a single layer on baking pan and bake in preheated oven at for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and stir in raisins. Let cool on wire rack. Can be stored in an air-tight container for a few days.
