Imagine a creamy dessert with wonderful pistachio flavour garnished with delicious chocolate brownies… That’s exactly what I was craving few weeks ago. That’s how I came up with this Pistachio Cheesecake Mousse with Brownie Bites.
Why is this dessert so great
As much as we all love cake slices, sometimes we just want to have a dessert in a glass to indulge with a spoon. That’s a very easy and convenient way to make a cheesecake, actually. I love pistachios, that’s why I decided a cheesecake with them would be just fantastic. And I wasn’t wrong! The brownie bites in this fantastic desserts are another great touch. They are perfectly nice and a great alternative of the usual buttery crust that most cheesecakes have.
Well, in fact this delicious dessert is a hybrid between cheesecake and mouse. It is thick due to the chocolate but also very creamy and with light texture. It is incredibly good!
Tips for preparation
The brownie bites are quite easy to prepare: this is one of the easiest brownie recipes that exist on earth. The yield is quite small so consider using the smallest pan that you own – no matter its shape. After baking the brownie batter, let it cool and then cut it into bite sized pieces. Arrange half of the bites on the bottom of the glasses and the rest – on top of the mousse. And even though it consists of two parts, the complete recipe of this dessert is very easy and straight forward: in fact I managed to make it from scratch in just an hour one Saturday morning while also baking another recipe at the same time!
The cheesecake mixture is quite easy as well. Make sure you whip the cream very well and add each ingredient carefully to the cream cheese, mixing gently with your rubber spatula. You need to keep the air inside to create that wonderful fluffy texture.
I called this dessert “Cheesecake in a glass” because it is made with cream cheese. Nevertheless its texture is very light and fluffy, so it feels like a mousse. The brownie bites are a delicious compliment to the wonderful airy feeling.
This is an excellent dessert for Valentine’s Day but it is also great to have on any other day. I am sure everyone in your house will appreciate it, same as we did!
Want to check more pistachio flavoured recipes? I have few more in the blog and they are really great as well:
Lemon pistachio cake with apricot frosting
White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies
Pistachio Cheesecake with Brownie Bites
Ingredients
For the Brownie Bites:
- ⅓ cup /40 g self raising flour
- ¼ cup / 25 g cocoa powder
- ½ cup / 100 g sugar
- ¼ cup / 50 g butter, melted
- 1 egg
For the Cheesecake Mouse:
- ¾ cup / 75 g ground pistachios, raw
- ⅞ cup / 200 g whipping cream, cold
- ⅞ cup / 200 g cream cheese
- 3,5 oz / 100 g white chocolate, chips or block
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup / 60 g powdered sugar
Instructions
Brownie Bites:
- In a bowl combine cocoa powder, sugar and self raising flour and stir to blend.
- In a separate bowl beat together egg and melted butter until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir until the mixture becomes smooth.
- Transfer the batter into a greased pan (6 x 6 inches/ 15 x 15 cm or even smaller as this is half the yield of a normal brownie), lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let cool until room temperature and then cut into bite sized pieces.
Cheesecake Mousse:
- Using an electric mixer beat together cream cheese, vanilla, ground pistachio and powdered sugar until creamy.
- In a large mixing bowl whip the cream until very thick.
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (double boiler).
- With a rubber spatula gently fold the melted chocolate into the cream cheese mixture. Fold in also the whipped cream, mixing very carefully until uniform.
- Arrange half of the brownie bites on the bottom of 4 to 6 glasses (depending on their size). Spoon the pistachio mixture over the brownies. Arrange the rest of the brownie bites on top.
- Alternatively you can make 2 layers of cheesecake and 2 layers of brownie bites in each glass.
- Cover with cling film and let sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.
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