[Recipe]: Fruity, ginger cheesecake (-with limited baking).

Undeniably there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different cheesecake recipes. This recipe that I would like to share with you today, keeps things simple yet easily adaptable to your preferences. My version basically derives from a ‘New York’ cheesecake recipe, just without the addition of eggs or the requirement of baking the cream cheese part of the cake.

Ingredients (serves 4-6).

For the base:

• 250g of crumbled ginger biscuits.
• 3 tablespoons of melted butter (-preferably unsalted).
• 3 teaspoons of caster sugar/sugar substitute (-I use brown sugar or sweetener).

The cream cheese mixture:

• 250g of cream cheese (-I always use Phildelphia as it has a typical cream cheese undertone, but is quite creamy).
• 1 cup of double cream* (-double cream has a full fat content, however using single/low fat cream makes the cream cheese mixture too runny thus making it difficult to combine the ingredients; even during the chilling process).
• A dash of vanilla essence or a vanilla pod.
• 100g of same sugar/sugar substitute that you used of the base.

*If you have a sweet tooth, you can use condensed milk as an alternative to double cream.

Top layer decoration:

• Fresh fruits of your choice (-I used green grapes, mandarin segments and sliced strawberries).

Recipe:

1. Crush the ginger biscuits in a zip-lock bag or a sturdy bowl; you can do this easily by using the back of a spoon or the flat end of a rolling pin. (Please be careful when doing this, otherwise you’ll be treading and spreading biscuit crumbs all over the floors of your home for a week. Trust me).
2. Set the biscuit crumbs aside and melt the butter in a small saucepan, on a low heat.
3. Once the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat. In the saucepan which contains the butter, add the biscuit crumbs and 3 teaspoons of sugar. Stir together gently.
4. Take a round 8 inch or a small rectangular baking tin and press the biscuit base into the bottom of the tin until even. (There is no need to grease the baking tin).
5. At 180°, blind bake the biscuit base for 8-10 minutes; this allows the base the become more solid and less crumbly when the cheesecake is sliced.
6. Whilst the biscuit base is in the oven, you can begin to form the cream cheese mixture. Using an electric-whisk cream the cream cheese, the double cream and sugar together. This should take only 3-5 minutes, becoming thick enough to be of a spreadable consistency. Chill the the cream cheese for later use.
7. After 8-10 minutes you may remove the the baking tin from the oven. Leave the biscuit base to naturally cool down to room temperature.
8. Approximately after 1 hour, the biscuit base will have cooled down enough to layer the cream cheese mixture on top. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly: using a palette knife makes this simple.
9. Return the cheesecake to the refrigerator for 5-6 hours.
10. Finally the cheesecake should be completely chilled and well formed together. Decorate with your chosen fresh fruits. You can additional graze the fruits with gelatin.