Son Papri & White Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe

Looking back, the first five years of my life were something of a blissful existence. Shortly afterwards, my sister was born, and suddenly, things went rather downhill, rather quickly. Of course, those of you who follow our Instagram and Snapchat accounts will know her as “The Mistake” – an endearing nickname which I have assigned, so as to aptly sum up her standing within the family.

Occasionally however, The Mistake pulls through, and proves to us that her presence in our household is worth keeping around. Needless to say, this is mainly achieved through the medium of food, and her latest brainwave did well to trigger some serious nostalgia.

Those of South Asian origin will no doubt have had, and continue to have fond memories of Son papri – a sugar, flour, and cardamom based South Asian dessert, which is crispy, sticky, flaky, aromatic, and quite simply, utterly divine. In what can only be described as a moment of madness, she decided to incorporate this sinfully sticky dessert into a cheesecake, and the result was so good, that I had to physically restrain myself from eating piece after piece until my heart gave out.

Below, you will find a straightforward recipe that she has kindly written up, so that you too can experience the abundance of sugar, fat, and general goodness that this dessert has to offer. Have a go, let us know how you get on, and be sure to send us your snaps!

Serves: 10 (Or 1 if you’re ambitious and/or suicidal enough)

Ingredients:

• 300g digestive biscuits
• 130g butter (melted)
• 400g full fat cream cheese
• 30g icing sugar
• 300ml double cream
• 200g white chocolate
• 50g chopped pistachios (optional)
• 50g ground pistachios (to decorate)
• 50-100g Son Papri / Soan Papdi (to decorate)

Method:

1. In a food processor, crush the digestives into fine crumbs, and combine with the melted butter
2. Press the mixture into a deep 8 inch tin and set aside
3. Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler, or in the microwave, and set aside
4. Whisk the cream cheese with icing sugar until combined
5. In a separate bowl, whip the double cream until it forms soft peaks
6. Combine the cream cheese mixture with the whipped cream
7. Fold in the melted white chocolate
8. Add the chopped pistachios
9. Spread the mixture over the biscuit base
10. Place in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours.
11. Top with a generous helping of ground pistachios and Son Papri / Soan Papdi.