Thandai Cheesecake
Thandai (spiced almond milk) cheesecake mousse is a perfect combination of traditional Indian drink Thandai and the famous New York cheesecake.
Ingredients
For crust
- ¾ cup Marie or any other digestive biscuits crushed
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1.5 tbsp sugar if your digestive biscuits are sweet, avoid adding sugar
For cheesecake mousse
- ¾ cup or 6 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ½ tsp saffron dissolved in 1 tbsp warm milk
- 4-5 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp Thandai paste
- ¾ cup heavy cream cold
For Thandai Paste (makes 5-6 tbsp)
- ¼ cup almonds
- ¼ cup cashews
- ¼ tsp peppercorns
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 tbsp melon seeds
- 1 tbsp dry rose petals
- 7-10 saffron strands optional, soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk
- ½ cup milk or as needed
For Garnishing
- Whipped cream I’ve used store-bought whipped cream with a dispenser for this recipe
- A handful of dried roses
- Mouth freshener mukhvas
Instructions
Making Thandai paste
- Put all ingredients under Thandai masala in a blender and blend it to a smooth paste.
Making crust
- Using a rolling pin, crush digestive biscuits
- In a bowl, add crushed digestive biscuits, sugar and melted butter
- Mix everything
- The crumbs should be moist
- Now divide the crumbs equally and add into serving bowls.
- Using a spoon or your fingers, push the crumbs until compact.
- Place the glass in the refrigerator till you make the cheesecake filling
Making cheesecake
- In a Mixing bowl, take cream cheese. It is important here that cream cheese should be at room temperature
- Using a hand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth
- Now add sugar, soaked saffron strands, and Thandai paste
- Mix everything using a hand mixer and set aside
- In a mixing bowl, take heavy cream. It is important here that the heavy cream should be cold
- Using a hand mixer, beat heavy cream till it forms peaks
- Now add whipped cream in cream cheese mixture in 2-3 parts and carefully fold it
- Once you have carefully folded the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture take the glasses out of the refrigerator
- Using a spoon, pour the mixture on top of the crust
- To remove any air or bubbles in cheesecake, tap the glasses over the kitchen surface
- Cover the glasses using the cling wrap and refrigerate it for 4-5 hours or overnight
For Garnishing
- Take the glasses from the refrigerator and add whipped cream on top
- Add dried roses and mouth freshener (mukhvas) for garnishing
- Serve it immediately
Notes
- You can make Thandai paste in advance, it stays good for a week
- Instead of cream cheese you can use, Mascarpone Cheese or hung curd (should be hung overnight in cheesecloth. It is a good idea to use store bought curd here as they are comparatively thickened and less sour)
- You can put the mixing bowl and the hand mixer attachment in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before beating heavy cream