White chocolate green tea truffle cheesecakes

I decided to try a new recipe this weekend by combining green tea and white chocolate into a cheesecake. The idea was to use white chocolate to sweeten and add richness to the regular green tea cheesecake. It resulted in a truffle-like texture and a delicious sweet-tart taste due to the combination of white chocolate and green tea powder. I used mini-muffin tins to portion these cheesecakes.

The recipe: The crust: I combine 1/4 cup dark buckwheat flour, 1/2 cup barley flour, 3 tbsp melted butter, 1/8 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar in a bowl and divide and press into the bottom of 24 mini-muffin tins. These bake in a 300 F oven for 10 minutes and allow to cool. The cheesecake: I combine 3/4 cup plain, light cream cheese with 1/2 cup plain, fat-free greek yogurt in a bowl. Then I stir in 3 oz melted white baking chocolate, 1 tsp green tea powder, and 1 tsp cornstarch. Finally, I add 1/2 cup liquid egg, and 1 tsp vanilla extract if desired. Once the cheesecake batter is thoroughly mixed, I divide it into the 24 mini-muffin tins and bake in a 300 F oven for 12-15 minutes. Once they cool for 10 minutes or so, they can be gently eased out of the muffin tins and and chilled for a few hours before serving. Yum!

Note: The base to these cheesecakes can be substituted with the base for the purple cheesecake or a traditional graham cracker cheesecake base if preferred.