At the top of my pantheon of sweet flavors sit the sesame, maple, and pistachio triad. When I plan a special occasion bake for myself, there is a 90% chance that a member of this triad will be featured. To wit: The Birthday Cake Project, a Pinterest board that houses ideas accumulated over about 11 months out of the year, has a 38% sesame presence, 23% pistachio, and 7% maple. The rest is a smattering of caramel/browned butter, citrus, and white chocolate, among others. The under-representation of maple may have something to do with the fact that I am quite content with pouring maple syrup or maple sugar on just about anything, including a spoon, and calling it a day. That helps keep the cravings at bay.
The triad makes sense, I suppose. I grew up on maple syrup. My mother and her mother are both maple syrup fiends, and to this day keep me well stocked with the nectar. Pistachio is the flavor of gelato relentlessly pursued and tested by my father and I (in an almost Quixotic search for the perfect one) and a must-have for our baklava as well.
But sesame? Even as a kid I was a fan of halvah, but living in Cyprus changed everything. Peanut butter was hard to come by there, but tahini was ubiquitous. I never did get over the tahini pies of our neighborhood bakery, and have been chasing that taste every since, in all possible forms of sesame dessert I can imagine.
Molly Yeh understands me uhohshe'spostednewtahinirecipessincelasttime.
The first iteration of this cheesecake was made over Thanksgiving break. My sister had requested a salted caramel cheesecake and I wanted to have something I could enjoy. I started by halving the recipe by A Virtual Vegan for a baked NY style cheesecake, which combines raw cashews with chickpeas and arrowroot to give a dense, firm texture when baked. The mixture wasn't quite sweet enough to my taste so I increased the amount of maple syrup (and added some brown sugar) and if you're going to add tahini to something, make it count. The flavors were pretty subtle, but a dream was born.
Disclaimer: I barely measured, and didn't take notes, as I adjusted the flavorings and created the various garnishes for this cheesecake, so I cannot vouch for the above. This is a reconstructed recipe, with notes to my future self as to how to make v. 3 even more incredible.
What kind of jerk writes a recipe in APA-style format (minus what Wix and my limited HTML skills will allow), even though this is not at all baker-friendly? Someone who knows no one will every try to make this except herself, and who has just submitted two papers that had been the bane of her existence. Right on time for the official beginning of winter break. See the Limitations and Future Directions for all the tweaks I recommend and plan on implementing.
If you're reading this now and you're cursing me for my flight of fancy because you MUST make a sesame maple cheesecake? Drop me a line and I'll write this up properly for you. Heck, I'll even make a video. Because clearly we must be soulmates if this cheesecake calls to you.
Method
This makes enough for three 4 x 1 3/4" springform pans. The resulting cheesecakes will be quite tall (almost to the top edge of the pan), so it may be possible to divide the mixture into four pans, especially if creating a thicker bottom crust as recommended.
Materials
Crust. This was a shortbread style base with partially defatted sesame flour. Having used insufficient amounts (to my taste) in each pan, I had plenty left over, which was pressed into mini tart pans and eaten as biscuits.
115 g (1 stick, 1/2 c) salted butter (Earth Balance or whatever else you have), cubed and softened
62.5 g (1/2 c) icing sugar
125 g (1 c) all-purpose flour
84 g (3/4 c) sesame flour
Filling. Prepared as written, this results in a fairly dry and dense cheesecake reminiscent of some baked NY-style cheesecakes. This is just how I like it, but I have some ideas about increasing the creaminess. I highly recommending peeling the chickpeas to show this recipe just how much you care.
175g (1 c +3 T) raw cashews, soaked overnight (or at least 15 minutes in boiling water), then drained
100 g (1/2 c +) chickpeas, canned, drained and rinsed.
200 ml full fan coconut milk (about 1/2 of a standard can, save the rest for my korma sauce)
120 ml (1/2 c) maple syrup, or to taste
60 g (1/4 c) tahini
22g (1.5 T) apple cider vinegar
8 g (1/2 T) vanilla extract
18 g (2 T) maple sugar or equivalent (palm sugar?), or to taste
28g (1/4 c) sesame flour
8g (1 T) arrowroot powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
optional (I forgot it): up to 1/4 t toasted sesame seed oil
Glaze. This is an ad-hoc creation based on the reduced juices produced in soaking the dates for the sauces below; I will more systematically make this and measure as I go next time. I thought I remembered using 1/4 t agar agar, but this seems insufficient for the amount of liquid so I'll play it safe for now with a more conservative ratio. I cannot guarantee replication. In the amount stated, this would be sufficient to glaze only the tops of 3-4 cheesecakes or to encase at least one as shown, with some left over. Note that this does not produce a completely clear glaze, as some small specks of date will remain. If this is an issue, try a Spinzall (you perfectionist) or thin out a commercial date syrup.
Reduced date juices (approx 1/2 c)
1/2 t agar agar powder (dissolved in a small amount of cold water if your date juices are still hot)
Sauce and Garnishes
1 cup dried dates, soaked overnight or 3-4 hours and drained (save the liquids!)
(just enough boiling water to completely cover the dates)
45g (3T) tahini + extra for drizzling
30 ml maple syrup
sea salt, to taste
Toasted sesame seeds
Maple sugar chunks, if available
Procedure
Prepare your instruments. Preheat the oven at 350F. Fill a large baking dish or pan with boiling water and place on the lowest rack of your oven. (If you want to give your cheesecakes an actual water bath, be my guest, though.) Depending on intended presentation and need for flawless sides, lightly grease the sides of your springform pans with coconut oil or vegetable shortening, or go one step further by lining them with strips of parchment paper and then greasing said strips.
Have some sort of receptacle into which any leftover shortbread crust mixture could be baked. I always have silicone muffin tin liners or nonstick mini tart pans at the ready when making these types of crusts.
Make the crust. Using a handheld or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the two flours and beat on a low speed until just combined. The mixture should be fairly crumbly, but come together when pressed between your fingers. Press a fairly generous layer of shortbread (recommended, for 3 pans: 60 to 90 g in each - I used 45g and wished I had more) down into each pan. Compact with your fingers or a small ramequin, making sure to press all the way into the sides.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly golden. Remove to cool completely. Lower the oven temperature to 325F (300F convection).
Prepare and bake the filling. If your blender isn't great, begin by blending the drained cashews (with the coconut milk, for instance) so you can closely monitor the consistency as you go before adding the rest. Otherwise, just add all ingredients minus the maple syrup and sugar to a blender and blend for a looong time. Patience and periodically scraping down the edges of the bowl will get it done. Consider hearing protection, those hair cells don't come back.
Add the maple to taste, and check for sufficient sesame flavor while you're at it: add tahini and/or toasted sesame oil to taste. Add the filling to the springform pans with the cooled crust, smoothing the tops as best you can as the filling will not spread or even out much during baking. Gently tapping the bottom of the pan against your work surface may help.
Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the middle of the cakes only barely jiggles. (I left mine in for the full hour, at which point the tops were completely dry and no longer jiggled, but would recommend less for a creamier result.)
Turn off the oven and crack the door open with a towel and let cool gently for about 45 minutes before removing to chill to room temperature. Transfer to refrigerator, still inside their springform pans, to chill fully before glazing.
Get started on the garnishes. Drain the dates and bring the soaking liquids to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat to a gentler boil and let reduce until a thicker, almost syrup-like consistency is achieved (you will know you are there the mixture starts to form large bubbles). Set aside while your cheesecake chills. You can even pop them briefly in the freezer if space allows - this will help the agar agar set quickly.
When the time is right, sprinkle on the agar agar powder and heat back up, simmering for about 3 minutes tops while stirring occasionally (if the mixture is too thick, add some water). Remove from heat for a few minutes and pour over the cold cheesecakes, making sure the mixture pours down the sides of the tins. Chill for 30 minutes to ensure the agar agar is fully set prior to removing from the pans. Using an immersion blender or a small, bullet-style blender, puree the dates until smooth. Divide the mixture into halves (or thirds, if you have leftover shortbread to snack on). To one, add tahini and salt to taste. To the other, add maple syrup and salt to taste. Plate stuff as pretty or messy as you like.
Results
A firm but pliable glaze envelops a dense, creamy delight that is subtly flavored with sesame and hints of maple. The crust is an unobtrusive and thin layer of shortbread, barely sweet. A trio of sauces add accents of salty, rich, and sweet while toasted sesame seeds and maple sugar nuggets offer a potent reminder of the flavors within the filling. (Which is why I sprinkled more of those two ingredients with almost every bite I took. Oops.) I'm not a fan of null hypothesis testing, but you know this was significantly incredible... to me, anyway.
Discussion
Limitations. The amount of glaze produced with 1 cup of dates and their liquids would probably not suffice to fully encase three cheesecakes, as I only did this with one and covered the tops only for the other two. I felt like the shortbread, while pleasant, could be thicker (see adjusted weights in Procedure) and would benefit from more crunch and potent sesame flavor, perhaps even a touch more sweetness. The sesame flavor of the filling could be intensified as well.
Future Directions. Toast all sesame flour to be used in the recipe in a skillet on medium heat until fragrant, or in the oven. Replicate this general procedure with a closer eye to amounts of sesame flour, tahini, and maple syrup used in the filling. Take one cheesecake out at 45, 50, and 60 minutes to compare textures. Double the shortbread crust amounts per pan (to 90g) and, in the dough , include between 2 T to 1/4 c toasted sesame seeds, coarsely ground, and some extra maple or brown sugar. Additional fat may be needed due to the partially defatted sesame flour type vs. ground nuts used in base recipe. Verify glaze and agar agar amounts. Test a creamier version that increases the coconut milk by 50 ml and includes some melted coconut oil (up to 30g). Look into whipped aquafaba to test a lighter variant.