How to make Sous Vide Strawberry Cheesecake Jars | Easy Cheesecake Pots Recipe

For long, I have stayed away from baking desserts or breads that require me to take that additional step of caution, such as wrapping cake tins with foil, or placing ramekins in a water bath or creating steam to bake crisp crusted breads. For this reason, I haven't made cheesecakes in a while. I love them and seeing the small bites of the silky sweet cheesy treats, especially during the Christmas Eve holiday parties always brings joy and smile to my face.

Making cheesecakes at home aren't tricky anymore, especially after discovering a new alternative to cook them to perfection. Making these Strawberry Cheesecake Pots in my new KitchenBoss Sous Vide Cooker to celebrate the daughter's birthday earlier this week on Monday was such an absolute delight! The cheesecake was cooked to perfection and most of the job was done unattended. I love desserts in jars, and making sous vide way has got to be my new favorite. It cooks unattended, there's no overcooking, results are perfect because the temperature is regulated, I love serving individual portions and the longer life because of the sealed mason containers - these are good enough reasons for me to love sous vide. I've been experimenting with quite a few recipes the sous vide way and I've been able to ferment a big jar of yogurt and dosa batter successfully! Loving the ease of using my new KitchenBoss Sous Vide Cooker, hence will be using it more often.

For the uninitiated, Sous vide means “under vacuum” in French. This technique has been long used by restaurant chefs to slow cook the food in a water bath for longer time at a precisely regulated temperature, which makes food more succulent and retains the flavors. And now KitchenBoss has made access to this gadget so much easier by bringing this to our homes.

I have a giveaway going on my Instagram handle so I can introduce to the world of Sous Vide cooking too! Yes, it's a KitchenBoss Sous Vide Cooker Newest Model (G320) Giveaway!

KitchenBoss has generously agreed to select one of you to receive their newest Sous Vide Cooker (G320) for free and learn about their feedback! If you’re interested, you could participate now by following these steps:

1. Like the post and leave a comment.
2. Follow @kitchenboss_official and @vegbowl on IG On March 26, 5:00 pm (PST)

KitchenBoss will randomly select and tag the lucky audience in a comment underneath this post and he/she is going to receive a direct message from @Kitchenboss_official on IG on how to proceed. This giveaway is open to USA only. But if you know of your relatives and friends who reside in the US or have a US shipping address, you are free to participate too.

Sous Vide Strawberry Cheesecake Pots

INGREDIENTS

For the base
8 Lotus cookies
1 ½ tbsp melted butter

For the filling

226 gm cream cheese (I used 1 pack of Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
1/3 cup condensed Milk (I used Nestle Milkmaid)
1/4 cup thick Greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

For the cookie base, pulse the Lotus cookies and butter in a food processor until it forms a coarse mixture. Take 2 tbsp of this mixture and press them to the bottom of 4 mini mason jars. Keep the jars in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Meanwhile proceed to make the cheesecake filling.

In a bowl whisk the cream cheese until smooth. Next add condensed milk, yogurt and vanilla extract. Whisk till well blended. Divide the prepared cheese batter into the 4 mason jars that was layered with biscuit butter. Leave about 1 1/2 inches of room at the top of each jar for the cheesecake to expand slightly during the cooking process. Tap the jar against the counter top gently to remove any air bubbles and smooth out the top with a spatula. Cover the jars with lids and seal it just enough to close, but do not tighten them.

Cook the cheesecakes:

Place the sous vide cooker in a pot of water and set it to temperature of 194 deg F at 1 hour. Once the water has come to the set temperature, place the jars in the water and cook for an hour. Once coked, remove the jars carefully and allow them to cool. For the best tasting cheesecake, refrigerate the jars for atleast 4 hours or overnight to allow them to set well before serving.

Make the strawberry topping: Finely blend 6 strawberries with 1 cup water and 1/2 tsp agar agar powder. Pour it into a pan and cook on medium heat till it comes to a rolling boil stirring well continuously. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Pour over the prepared cheesecakes till it fill up to 1/2 inch in height. Place the pots in the refrigerator for the topping to set well.

Recipe Notes

Use only thick Greek style yogurt or hung yogurt for this recipe. Homemade yogurt will have to be strained through cheesecloth overnight till it's water is drained out and it's thick for use.
You can top the Cheesecake with any fruit compote of your choice. It goes well with fresh fruits, berries and a dollop of whipped cream too.
You can also make these cheesecake pots the traditional way in a preheated oven, placing the mason jars / ramekins in a water bath and baking them for an hour. The lack of eggs here really helps and is not missed, yet the cheesecake is moist and decadent.

So it came finally. The tail-end of September wagging its way out and giving way to the rolling acorns and lazying dawns of October. I feel giddy and selfish at the moment, with all that summer, and its bounty warmth we are parting away. I'm unwilling to let go of the September coziness, its weather so impeccable, yet, October is right around the corner knocking to besiege. For our little girl, it holds promises of play-a game of picking the fallen acorns and bringing them home each evening to fill her jar of what she calls her little craft goodies. She counts by numbers and makes sure no one gets to mess around with them. The sun is up late these day, like us on Sundays, stretching out at ease and retiring to bed sooner than should.

October, my herald, you are finally here! Riding along with Autumn, bringing all things nice and beautiful in its direction. So have I heard, from D and my colleagues, books and magazines. You are D's love more than mine. He lauds you with a twinkle in his eye, like a teenager dizzy in infatuation. You are his season, his reason for admiration. I've been waiting for you eerily, the hallelujah he's been all about. D is a huge fan of you; he's a sucker for colors, the leaf peeper, our foliage tracker, the nature lover, a sincere admirer. "You MUST watch fall colors, there's nothing like it", he'd say all the while. I'd reel in excitement, like in glee of a kindergartner counting on her Christmas gift. With several videos and photographs of autumn spreading its golden hues that D had been aptly sharing with me on watsapp over the past 2 years, I wondered if this was so surreal in pictures, what the heck would it look like in real. I had seen the spring and the summer landscape of New England, narrowly gotten glimpse of winters, their snow capped rooftops and bare tress too. Of what was remaining to witness was this season sandwiched between summers and winters -the autumn, or the fall as they call - the transition - getting into the skin of winters.

So you are here, out of your closet after months of solemnly hiding; playing with my sunshine, my daily dose of Vitamin D. You frisk us with your bouts of chill, make us miss our morning alarms, after all its still gloomy outside, sky blemished with neutral hues of blacks and whites dangling high, it has us snuggling longer with curled toes in our beds. You make people on walks wear boots and scuffle in their coats, their hoods still flapping their backs. You peek-a-boo the sun, filling skies with grays. You daub our backyard with shades of reds, burgundies and browns. You make the poor squirrels run helter skelter, scouring for their hibernation. Those sparrows are gone too. You spill acorns, pluck crisp maples and oaks, line them on our sidewalks to crackle as we tread on.

You know I am excited, I want you around. I've been waiting, waiting this long. I am anxious though about the chill ripples you'll bring soon. I smell your autumn perfume, the air sweet in its giving. I worry for those naked trees, all their browns you'll soon skin away. I worry for the squirrels, hoping they'll stay warm. I worry for the flakes that will come pouring down, the streak of gloom, and the white blanket you'll engulf all things with. I worry about winters, of what I've heard and seen, about shoveling the driveway, of making it to office on time, and being back home. I worry for my daughter burying herself into layers of warmth. I worry for myself. I can't bear cold even as I am prepared. I worry what you'll soon bring along.

I want to hold on to this for a while longer. I fear losing these golden sweet peaches, the last of my summer treasures as you'll soon fill them with apples, winter squash and sweet pumpkins. Not that the apples won't be welcome, but I lament my berries were long gone; what's left of it is a handful of them sought from our berry picking days, clung in clusters, glued by ice, sitting high in my freezer, their box cover identical in color as these navy beauties. Just by chance.

These waffles don't have much to speak for, except that they are belong to realm of classics, and ofcourse have some buttermilk in them like their name suggests. They were made inspired from one of the cookbooks I rented from the library last year, jotted down roughly on scraps of kitchen towels and placed randomly in between pages of a cookbook I own.

I made these a few weeks ago, in a brand new waffle pan that I put to use since I received as a gift from my cousin's wife last year. I met her for the first time after several years, and we bonded very well. I love such gifts that conjure up old memories each time I use it. Peaches and blueberries make a light summery topping. Maple syrup brings the right touch of sweetness to these waffles. Overall its the right kind of breakfast for these days - warm and comforting for those lazy Sunday mornings.

Classic Buttermilk Waffles

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 5 min each | Makes: 5-6 waffles, 6" in size

INGREDIENTS

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup buttermilk*
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp. vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

To serve:

Pure maple syrup, sliced peaches and fresh blueberries, to serve

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the waffle iron as per your manufacturer's instructions.

In large mixing bowl, beat together all the wet ingredients, i.e., the buttermilk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla extract until they are light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients well.

Transfer the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir them together gently with a wooden spoon till they are just combined.

Using a measuring cup, spoon out about 3/4 cup of the batter onto center of hot waffle iron and spread it around to spread on the waffle pan. Waffle pan sizes can differ based on manufacturers. Depending on your pan and your first waffle, you can increase or decrease the amount of batter needed for subsequent ones. Alternatively, refer your waffle maker’s manual for the recommended quantity of batter. Close the lid of waffle pan and allow it to cook till the lights go off and the waffle pan stops steaming from the sides. It usually takes about 5 minutes to turn golden brown.

Carefully lift the waffle and serve immediately. Top with pure maple syrup and fresh blueberries and sliced peaches.

Notes: Incase you do not have buttermilk at hand, you can prepare one by mixing 1 scant cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar. Whisk well and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes. The prepared buttermilk should thicken the milk slightly. Use as required.

Alternate option is to use watered down yogurt. Whisk water into plain, unsweetened yogurt until you get a buttermilk-like consistency. The amount of water needed to thin down will depend on the thickness of your yogurt. I like to use 1/2 cup water to 1/2 cup of thick Greek style yogurt.

It takes me a while usually to compose myself a good deal of writing here, that's if I have stayed too long away from thinking or haven't perched my fingers on the keyboard for a while. Although this not being the case always, I still feel like a sophomoric with words, for today. Where do I begin? What do I tell you?

We are past a week since the 4th of July and I hope you had a wonderful one like we did. Usually, for us, the 4th of July passes by without notice. That's if we were in India, it would have been just another day. Just like how the 3rd of July rolls up on the calendar, follows into the 4th and then into the 5th. But here in the US, it means more than just that.

I did not grow up learning a lot on American history. I don't remember a streak of it either. 4th of July passed as just another date on the calendar. Many years later when I started working, as part of the corporate curriculum, we were trained on the nuances of American lifestyle, their culture, and in general, their ways of life. We were taught, that while dealing with American clients, how one had to roll their tongue to get the 'R's right; a lesson or two that might impress an American and make us sound like one among them. It also preceded into understanding their holidays - the most essential and beneficial part of the training which came with some promises that every offshore engineer had an obligation to know. A promise of leaner workloads on those holidays, one that each of us looked forward to, a promise that one could possibly take a day off and travel far off place to meet their loved ones and share an extra day for the weekend. A promise that we could catch up some extra hours of lunch and coffee breaks that day. There were just a handful few to remember. Those handful that could be counted on fingertips, all defined well by dates and not by planetary movements like ours did. What thrilled us beyond all was the fact that most of these Federal public holidays were observed on the day preceding or succeeding weekend, irrespective of the day of week or weekend it falls in the year.

It intrigues me often why American Independence Day is always greeted with 'Happy 4th of July'. It could well be wished as Happy Independence Day! But like how most cultures are woven through customs and long time traditions, this one still remains to be called Happy 4th of July. So, I ask I hope you had a good one! And, if you know better, let me know why its a 'Happy 4th of July' and not 'Happy Independence Day'!

While the blog-sphere has vast variety of recipes flooding most spaces with the symbolic red and blue colors of the American national flag, I set out to bake some red and blue berry dotted muffins as a tribute to this tradition. My plans to bake Blueberry Raspberry Muffins toppled when I realized I was out of stock on Raspberries and was in no mood to rush out early in the morning. Nevertheless, these Blueberry Muffins were made and devoured for our breakfast, just the American way.

Blueberry Muffins

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup all purpose flour + 1 tbsp to toss blueberries into
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 small egg (If using a large egg, suggest to use 1/2 an egg)
1/2 cup yogurt
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 380 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Separately toss the blueberries with a tbsp of all purpose flour and set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, egg and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir the mixture gently using a wooden spoon in figure 8 motion. Add the blueberries to mixture, stir them in, reserving a handful of blueberries to be topped on the muffins.

Scoop the mixture to muffin cups and fill up to three quarters. Sprinkle the remaining berries on top of muffins and poke down lightly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Remove from oven and turn out, and allow to cool completely. Serve warm or store in airtight container for 2 to 3 days.