Greentea Cheesecake Tart

Adapted from :http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/matcha-cheesecake-tart.html

Ingredients (makes a 22cm tart and extra dough for 3 small tarts):

for the tart crust:
150g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, softened at room temperature
80g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten (about 55g without shell, use room temperature egg)
250g cake flour
60g ground almond (almond powder)


for the filling:
 2 teaspoon gelatine powder
30 ml water
250g cream cheese, leave to soften at room temperature
80g caster sugar
80g plain yogurt
4 teaspoon lemon juice
320g whipping cream (I used non dairy whipping cream)
 4 teaspoons matcha/green tea powder

Method:

to make the tart crust:

• Lightly grease an 22cm tart pan (with removable base) with butter, set aside. 
• Toast almond powder at 100 degC for 10 mins. Stirring in between. Let cool.
• I used the thermomix to beat sugar and butter on Speed 4 for 15-20 seconds. The mixture should look pale. I then add in the eggs and the ground almond and give it a good mix.
• Sieve the  flour into the bowl and then use the Turbo function to mix it up till it resembles crumbly breadcrumbs.
• Gather the mixture into a bowl and start to bring them together into a ball. After it is nicely combined, flattened the ball into a flat disc and use plastic cling to wrap the disc.
• Store in freezer for 15 minutes.
• Remove dough and roll it between 2 sheets of baking paper. I rolled it into a big sheet and gently put it over the tart tin..
• Use the dough that is broken off to mend parts of the tart tin that is broken.
• Prick the dough surface with a fork (this helps to prevent the pastry from puffing up when baking). Cover and chill the tart crust in the fridge for 20mins (this helps to prevent the pastry from shrinking too much after baking.) 
• Line a sheet of parchment paper over the tart base. Place baking beads/weights on the parchment paper (I used rice as baking weights), enough to cover the tart base. 
• Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 20 mins. Remove the baking beads and parchment paper. Put it back into the oven and continue to bake for another 15~20mins until the crust is golden browned. Let cool completely. Leave the crust inside the tart pan, do not unmould.

 The picture on the top left is the dough after bringing all the mixture together. It should come together nicely without being too dry or wet.
The next picture is the weights on the pie for blind baking.
Bottom left are the ingredients ready for making the filling.
Last pic is how the crust looks like after baking. Mine was abit over brown on the edges so might want to reduce baking time in the future

to make the filling:

• Dissolve the gelatine in water and set aside for 10min. 
• Combine the sugar and yogurt in a pot over medium heat to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the gelatine solution until it’s dissolved. Remove from heat.
• Place cream cheese and mix on Speed 5 for 10-20 seconds till it is nice and smooth. Add in the cooled yoghurt-gelatin mixture and then mix it again for 5 second. 
• Add in lemon juice and mix on Speed 4 for 3 second
• Whipped the cream till soft peaks form. With a spatula, fold in 1/3 of the whipping cream to the cream cheese mixture. Fold in the remaining whipping cream to the cream cheese mixture. **I tried to use the thermomix for this but somehow it did not turn out nice. I think i may have my cream on the bench for too long as it needs to be really cold before whipping. My turned into large clumps and in the end i had to add to the cream cheese and use the Thermomix to blend the entire mixture up.
• Add in the matcha powder and mix until blended. 
• Pour the mixture into the tart pan until it is full.
• Chill the tart for at least 2 hours until it is firm. Unmould before serving  

 This is the tart after chilling for more than 2 hours. it was nice and firm, abit tricky to cut as pastry is hard. I used a steak knife with jagged end to slowly dissect the tart.

 the pastry was slightly crumbly but the taste is good. I will definitely incorporate almond meal in my shortcrust pastry next time.

I did not do the motive as per the original recipe as i was so tired. This recipe has alot of steps and planning to do before getting to the final outcome. The pastry needs to be chilled and baked and cooled. The filling itself has so many sub steps too.

I will definitely not attempt this with green tea but will definitely do another version of cheesecake with this crust.