Sweet Cheeses: An Instant Pot Story

I’ve been working on several of the dishes that Doug and I are planning for the Winter Solstice Banquet next Saturday. One has been vexing me particularly; cheesecake. Last year my results were pretty awful looking though edible. I was determined that I would solve the last of my cheesecake problems this time and be proud of what we set before our guests at the end of the ritual meal. Here are my results:

I ate one already

Sweet Cheeses

Mini lemon cheesecakes fit for a low-carb queen

Yields six cupcake-sized servings

Equipment

Medium and small mixing bowls
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Hand mixer Do not over-mix things
Spatula
Silicone baking cups
Cooking spray
Instant Pot (just go get one)
Wire rack

Ingredients

8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated erythritol
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 drop lemon essential cooking oil or 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1 beaten egg at room temperature

Make batter

Take your cream cheese, sour cream, and egg from the refrigerator the night before to be sure they are not even a little chilly. The reason for this is that if they are cold you will have to over-beat them to get the batter smooth and that is a disaster waiting to explode inside your Instant Pot.

Using a hand mixer, blend the cream cheese and sour cream until fairly smooth. Do not over-mix.

Pre-mix the erythritol, cornstarch, and salt.

Add half the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.

Scrape down sides of bowl with a spatula.

Add the remaining half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.

Add the vanilla extract, lemon juice, and either zest or drop of lemon oil and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.

Put away your hand mixer. Put the beaters into the dishwasher and forget they are there. Hand mixer? What’s that?

Using your spatula, gently fold the beaten egg into the batter until just combined. Do not over-mix. Stop it. Quit mixing now.

Pressure cook

Spray the bottom of your baking cups with cooking spray.

Ladle batter into cups. Gently lift cups a half inch or so and drop them on the counter repeatedly to smooth the top of the batter and encourage air bubbles in the batter to rise to the surface. Use the tines of a fork to pop the bubbles, then repeat the dropping to re-smooth the surface.

Put a half cup of cold water into your Instant Pot. Depending on which kind of rack you have, you might be able to fit six silicone cups in all at once. I’m doing two batches of three so that they cakes aren’t distorted by being crowded on the rack.

Set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 26 minutes. Allow 8-12 minutes after the cooking cycle for full natural pressure release. Remove the cakes and place them on a wire rack to cool to room temperature. If cracks have formed in the top of the cakes, they will mostly or fully close up during cooling.

When cool, put your cakes into the refrigerator overnight. Do not skip this step.

Serve with some fruit element. I make a mixed berry compote. If you make that with erythritol as well you can keep your overall carbohydrates down to ~ 2 grams per serving.