Anyone who owns an instant pot has probably made cheesecake with the apparatus. I've made instant pot cheesecake using Amy and Jacky's New York Cheesecake #17 recipe multiple times over the years, and it's great. But recently, I've been playing around with the recipe to see if I could incorporate some purple sweet potatoes.
Yes, I guess you can say I'm still obsessed with purple sweet potatoes.
I've written about my Costco haul of Stoke's purple sweet potatoes in the past, and the different colors it produces depending on the pH (acidity) of the dough here. Since a cheesecake is slightly tangy and doesn't require baking soda (basic), I thought this was the perfect vehicle to incorporate the purple sweet potato to yield a vibrant purple colored cheesecake. The addition of sweet potatoes also cuts down on the fat a smidgen by eliminating the sour cream. Plus a dose of healthy anthocyanins in your dessert is never a bad thing, right?!
I think this experiment turned out pretty good and would even be a nice unique dessert to make for Thanksgiving with all the warming spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. The Biscoff cookie butter crust will also be especially decadent for the holidays.
How to Make the Biscoff Cookie Butter Crust
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| Place cookies in food processor |
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| Pulse until crumbs are fine |
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| Add melted butter |
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| Pour out into a 7.5 inch diameter springform pan. Spread to even thickness and press crust down. Place in freezer while you prepare the filling. |
How to Make the Purple Sweet Potato Cheesecake Filling
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| Mix mashed purple sweet potatoes with cream cheese. |
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| Make sure it is thoroughly mixed |
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| Add vanilla and eggs |
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| Mix until smooth |
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| In a separate bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cornstarch and salt |
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| Make sure there are no lumps of cornstarch |
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| Pour sugar spice mix into cream cheese mixture and stir to combine |
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| Take crust out of freezer and pour in the filling. Tap the pan several times on the counter to remove air bubbles |
Cooking the Sweet Potato Cheese Cake
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| Add 1 c cold water to the instant pot. Place trivet inside. Place cheesecake pan on top of trivet |
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| Close lid. Set vent to seal. Cook on high pressure for 20 min. Natural release 10 min. |
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| Remove cheese cake from instant pot and set on the counter to cool uncovered |
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| As the cheese cake cools the moisture from the top will evaporate off and the sides will pull away from the pan. After the cake is cooled, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge overnight before slicing and eating |
Recipe adapted from Amy + Jacky's Instant Pot New York Cheese Cake #17
Yields 6 servings*
Ingredients for Crust:
- 15 Biscoff cookies
- 3 T melted butter
Ingredients for Filling**:
- 8 oz of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened^
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ c mashed steamed purple sweet potatoes
- 1/3 c white sugar
- 1 T cornstarch
- 1 t vanilla extract
- ¼ t salt
- 1 t cinnamon
- ½ t ground nutmeg
* Special equipment needed: A springform pan (7.5 inch diameter or smaller) that fits the instant pot. I also like to switch out the silicon sealing ring to one that I reserve for making desserts so that the instant pot lid doesn't smell of curry or pork or whatever funky smells it picks up from my previous instant pot adventure. It's not totally necessary, but I like to play it safe when making instant pot desserts, so I have a few spare "clean" silicon sealing rings on hand.
** This filling recipe will yield a sweet potato cheesecake that is only 1 inch thick. If you want to double the filling to make a 2 inch thick sweet potato cheesecake to serve more people (8 to 10 people), you can! Just cook the cheesecake for 26 minutes under high pressure, and natural release for 10 minutes to account for the thicker cake. And of course make sure your springform pan is taller than 2.5 inches.
^ I used the full fat version Philadelphia cream cheese. I haven't tried the other brands of cream cheese such as Lucerne or Sunnyselect that have additional additives in their cream cheese; nor have I tried using the half fat Neufchatel cheese, so I don't know if they will perform similarly in this recipe if used.
Procedures for Crust:
1. Place cookies in a food processor and pulse until cookies turn to a fine crumb. Alternatively, place cookies in a ziplock bag and smash with a rolling pin to a fine cookie crumb.
2. Add melted butter (I melt it in the microwave for 30 seconds) to the cookie crumbs and mix until crumbs are moistened.
3. Pour mixture onto a 7.5 inch diameter round springform pan. Spread the mixture evenly across the bottom and press down with your hands.
4. Place the crust and pan in the freezer while you prepare the filling.
Procedures for the filling:
1. Make sure your cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature.
2. Place the cream cheese and mashed sweet potatoes in a bowl and cream together either with a hand held mixer or a fork. Make sure the sweet potatoes and cream cheese are thoroughly combined and there are no white streaks of cream cheese left. (If these are not mixed well at this point, you will end up with a lumpy batter.)
3. Add in the vanilla and two eggs. Mix well to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, add the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir to combine and break up any cornstarch lumps. This separate mixing of the dry ingredients is to ensure the cornstarch doesn’t end up as lumps in the batter.
5. Pour the sugar spice mixture into the cream cheese mixture and mix to combine.
6. Take the crust out of the freezer and pour in the sweet potato cream cheese batter.
7. Tap the pan several times on the counter to remove large air bubbles.
Procedures for cooking the cheesecake:
1. Place 1 cup of cold water into the instant pot.
2. Place a trivet into the instant pot.
3. Carefully place the sweet potato cheese cake on top of the trivet.
4. Close lid to instant pot, and place vent to seal. Set the instant pot to high pressure cook for 20 minutes, and natural release for 10 minutes. (^IF doubling the recipe for the filling to make a 2 inch thick sweet potato cheesecake, then set the instant pot to high pressure for 26 minutes, and natural release for 10 minutes.)
5. After the timer is up, release the remaining pressure. Carefully open the lid.
6. Remove the cheesecake from the instant pot and set it on the counter to cool. Do not be alarmed at the amount of moisture on top of the cheesecake. As the cheesecake cools, the moisture will evaporate and the sides will pull away from the pan. After the cheesecake has cooled down, cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for several hours to overnight to allow the cake to set up further before slicing and eating.