Hojicha Ice Cream Mini Cheesecakes are a delicious combination of ice cream and cheesecake, with Hojicha’s unique flavour blending into the delicate consistency of the cheesecake and the cool freshness of the ice cream, creating a truly extraordinary taste experience.
What is Hojicha?
Hojicha, also known as houjicha, is Japanese for roasted tea. It’s a type of green tea that’s roasted at high temperatures, which gives it its brownish colour and special, delicious caramel-like roasted aroma, while reducing its caffeine and acidity. It’s also an excellent coffee alternative for this reason.
What’s the difference between hojicha and matcha?
Both come from the same tea plant, but roasting changes everything about hojicha. Instead of matcha’s grassy, slightly bitter sharpness, you get a mild, warm, gently sweet flavour with a caramel note. The caffeine content is also significantly lower.
You can find hojicha as loose leaf tea or finely ground into powder – for this recipe, you’ll need the powder.
What else do you need for the Hojicha Ice Cream Mini Cheesecakes?
- Vegan oat cookies, which we crumble with vegan butter to make the cheesecake base. Check the label for gluten if you want the hojicha ice cream mini cheesecakes to be gluten-free.
- Agar agar, a natural gelling agent derived from red algae and a plant-based alternative to gelatine. It has strong gelling power and is flavourless, making it perfect for giving the hojicha ice cream mini cheesecakes some extra firmness.
- Vegan whipped cream, it must specifically say “whippable” on the packaging, otherwise it won’t work for this recipe. I prefer the ones by Alpro or Oatly, found in the refrigerated section.
- Hojicha powder for the signature flavour and warm brown colour.
- Coconut blossom sugar, which has a slight caramel note that pairs beautifully with hojicha.
Hojicha Ice Cream Mini Cheesecakes
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 100 g vegan (gluten free) oat cookies
- 20 g vegan butter
- 100 ml plant milk
- 80 g coconut blossom sugar
- 1 teaspoon agar agar
- 250 ml whippable vegan cream
- 100 ml vegan skyr or yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon hojicha powder* see blogpost
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- some more Hojicha for dusting
Instructions
- Crumble the cookies and butter, preferably using a small food processor.
- Then evenly distribute and press the crumbs into 4 baking rings. This works particularly well with a coffee tamper. Place them on a large plate or the base of a large springform pan and refrigerate.
- In a small saucepan, bring the plant-based milk, coconut blossom sugar, and agar agar to a boil while stirring and let it simmer for a minute. Set aside.
- Whip the vegan cream in a large bowl. Then fold in the skyr, vanilla, Hojicha powder, salt, and the cooked mixture until a light brown cream forms.
- Heap this mixture onto the crumb layer in the baking rings and place them in the freezer for 2 hours.
- Before serving, leave them out at room temperature for 10 minutes. Now you can carefully remove the rings and sprinkle the mini cheesecakes with more Hojicha powder. You can do this easily with a small sieve and a spoon, gently tapping the sieve.You can now also store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days, but they will become very soft in texture. They will still taste great though.
Nutrition
FAQ
Can I use loose leaf hojicha instead of powder?
For this recipe, you need the finely ground powder so the flavour distributes evenly through the cream. Loose leaf tea can’t be ground finely enough for this result.
Can I skip the agar agar?
Wouldn’t recommend, agar agar gives the mini cheesecakes the firmness needed to slice them cleanly. Without it, the texture will be noticeably softer and runnier.
How long do the hojicha ice cream mini cheesecakes keep?
Up to two to three weeks in the freezer, well wrapped.
More hojicha and matcha recipes
Hojicha Latte – hot or iced, low-caffeine and nutty-caramel
Vegan Matcha Popsicles – creamy, no ice cream maker needed
