At my workplace, it is customary, to the point of it being an obligation, to hold a morning tea to celebrate your birthday. It is usual to buy sausage rolls for everyone (what happened to birthday cakes??), but since I don't like sausage rolls (my stomach doesn't either!) I figured that I didn't have to buy them, so I decided to make something sweet instead..
This is a recipe from Rob's mum, and it is the only cheesecake that Rob can eat without feeling too OTT. I did this for Christmas two years ago I think and it turned out well so I thought I'd give it another go. Mind you, it's not foolproof - it can go wrong. Just make sure that the ingredients for the cheesecake are added gradually. We kinda thought it'd be okay to chuck all in at the same time and it wasn't a good idea. The blender was brought out as a last resort (whilst desperately hoping it was okay to use a blender), and never fear, all was nice and smooth. The cheesecake set beautifully and was enjoyed by all. I must admit that it was slightly lighter than usual, which is a good thing as I can't enjoy rich things. One of my collegues did ask if it was a cheesecake or a mousse. Hm. Must be the result of using the blender. Must keep that in mind next time I want that effect.
Base
Ingredients
1 pkt Granita Biscuits - Crumbed
3oz (90g) Melted Butter
2 tsps Hot Water
Method
Mix all ingredients well. Press into base of springform tin. Chill
in refrigerator.
Cheesecake 'topping'
Ingredients
1 tblsp Gelatine
1/4 cup Hot Water
340g Philedelphia Cream Cheese - Softened at Room Temperature
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1/4 cup Lemon Juice (we used 1 lemon)
15oz can Strawberries - Drained (Keep the Juice)
1/4 cup syrup from can of strawberries
250mL whipping Cream
Method
Dissolve the gelatine in hot water. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add the sugar, dissolved gelatine, vanilla essence, lemon juice and 1/4 cup strawberry syrup. Blend well (this part gave us the idea it was okay to use a blender). Beat cream until just stiff (it helps if you have a mixer, even a manual one - it would take forever to beat the cream with a fork!). Fold in cream and drained fruit into cheese mixture. Pour onto prepared crumb crust. Chill until firm.
Strawberry Jelly
Whenever we use canned fruits, we always have leftover juice and I use them to make jelly (we don't buy the syrup ones hence no artificial flavours or added sugars). Last week, we opened three cans of fruits (can of peaches, can of two fruits and the strawberries from making the cheesecake) and hence had lots of leftover juice. So I decided to make jelly using plain gelatine and the juice (yep I chucked all three different types of juices together) and some fresh strawberries. It turned out surprisingly well (I didn't really expect the juice to mix so well together). I was somewhat surprised that the berries floated but that just added to the aesthetic effect. It was not overly sweet, and according to Rob, who loves having his jelly with ice-cream (is it just me who thinks that's a weird combo?), the jelly goes well with the Connoiseur passionfruit panna cotta ice cream. Hm.. I didn't agree with him, but everyone is entitled to their own tastes.
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