Mastic Cheesecake
Mastic is ideal for cream and milk based desserts. It is often used in confectionery- it’s not hard to find sweets made with mastic all around Chios and Turkey. Its delicate flavour, combined with the creaminess of yogurt makes this inspired Greek cheesecake recipe simply delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups graham crackers, crumbled
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 6 egg whites
- 500g cream cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp mastic, ground
- Pinch salt
- 3 cups Greek yogurt
Garnish
- Fruit in syrup of your choice (cherries, confit of lemon or orange peel, pistachios, etc.)
Method
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1
Preheat oven to 375 °F.
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2
In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumble with the honey and cover the bottom and sides of a cheesecake pan (22 cm) with the blend. Keep the crust in the fridge until it is needed.
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3
With an electric mixer, whip the egg whites, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, mastic and salt together.
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4
Then add the yogurt and blend well.
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5
Pour the filling into the cookie crust and bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes. The cheesecake should still be a little soft.
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6
Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let rest at room temperature for around and hour.
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7
Add the fruit for garnish and refrigerate for several hours before serving.
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8
Liberally adapted from “Cooking with Mastic” by Diane Kochillas
