yay for steamed cheesecake... for all of you non-oven, cheesecake lovers hahaha

I was so excited to eat my cheesecake that I didn't take the time to take a nice picture. Haahah.  This was my first picture of the finished product. 

I found myself left with 2 oz. of cream cheese and thought, hmmm, what can I do with it before it goes to waste. First thing that came to mind was yes, Cheesecake!  Since 2oz would probably get overcooked by even the lowest temperature in my oven, I thought, hey, why not steam it.  

I scoured my cabinets and found one of my favorite cookies, Ginger Nuts, and thought that it would make a perfect crust.  At the end, it really did and from now on, I will be using this cookie for any pie recipes that I make in the future.  

I used white chocolate chips and an egg to help make the cheesecake firm and vanilla yoghurt for extra vanilla flavor and also to give it that "NY" kind of texture (usually New York cheesecake is made with sour cream, but I didn't have any at the time).

Baking cheesecake in the oven can either turn out a success or a complete failure, and rarely anything in between.  With steaming, this is not the case.  Even if you were to over cook it a bit, it still comes out nice.  

I won't be buying cheesecake anytime soon from outside hahaha. Enjoy!

2 servings; ~30min

Ingredients:

2 oz cream cheese (it's okay if you add in a bit more)

2 heaping tbsp vanilla yoghurt

1/2 tsp white sugar

1 egg

3/4 tsp vanilla extract or essence

2 heaping tbsp white chocolate chips melted (you can do this over a water bath or in a microwave on low)

optional: splash of lemon or lime juice and/or zest.

2 ginger nut cookies

butter for greasing custard cup

Directions

1. Mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Add yoghurt, egg, and vanilla extract.

2. Melt white chocolate in microwave on low (constantly check to prevent burning).  whisk  fast in circles to create a smooth consistency.  quickly mix in yoghurt egg mixture. 

3. Generously grease custard cup with butter.  Either place cookie on bottom, or top of batter.

4. Cover with a piece of foil just small enough to cover the top (too long of a piece will catch steam and can make your cheesecake watery.  Take your funger and crease the edges down to prevent any steam from getting in.  

5. Take a pot (with lid), fill it with water so that the water reaches 1 inch beneath the steaming basket. steam under the lowest flame for ~15-25min (depending on the strength of your stove).  The water should be at a rolling boil.  If this is your first time making this recipe, I suggest checking up on the cheesecake a couple of times to make sure that it's ok. 

6. The cheesecake is ready when the middle just barely jiggles (a jello kind of jiggle is too much).  Refrigerate until completely cool ( I found that the longer your refrigerate it, the better it texture and taste it has. I cooled mine for 8 hours).

*You can buy custard cups at creative do it your best or foodfair.

*You can buy a steaming basket at Hubbards (Foodfair) for 12EC.

****UPDATE:  Don't have a pot nor a steamer?  That's fine because you can easily make one of your own.
Take a long piece of foil.  Fold it length wise, up, making about 1/2''-1'' strip.  Shape the strip into a circle, according to the size of your custard cup.  Tuck an end into the circle to close it tight.  The base of your custard cup should be able to lay on your mold without touching the bottom of the pan/pot.  TADA!