Ultimate White Chocolate Cheesecake

Years ago I made a white chocolate cheesecake for some friends who loved it so much that it has become something of an urban-legend among our urban-family. Sadly I seem to have somehow lost the original recipe and I have been experimenting with various others for the past few months in the hope of rebottling the lightning. None of the recipes sampled were quite right until I found this fabulous number and adapted it to make it 'white chocolate' flavoured. It's seriously creamy and seriously moreish - the extra effort of baking in a water bath really makes all the difference.

INGREDIENTS

• 100g butter, melted
• 300g wheatmeal biscuits
• 500g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 200g white chocolate
• 200g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• few drops pure vanilla, or vanilla extract to taste
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Brush the base and sides of a 22cm x 6cm deep springform tin with a little of the melted butter. Remove the base from the tin.
Cut a round of baking paper to fit the base of the tin, brush the paper with a little butter and set aside.
Tear off an 80cm sheet of foil and double it over so it measures 40cm in length. Lay the foil over the base of the tin, then put the buttered round of paper on top. Sit the springform tin over the base and lock the sides into place, leaving excess foil outside the tin. Draw up the excess foil around the tin and fold the top out of the way. You now have a watertight container.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor. Add the remaining butter and process. Press the crumb mixture into the base of the tin (and up the sides if you wish), tapping firmly with the base of a glass tumbler or similar as you go.
Beat the cream cheese and sugar in an electric mixer until smooth. Add the white chocolate and then beat in the cornflour, then add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating each time just until smooth. Add the lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Add the sour cream and beat briefly to combine. Be careful not to over-beat or the cake will deflate in the oven.

Pour the batter into the tin and stand the tin in a large baking dish. Pour boiling water into the dish to come halfway up the sides of the tin. Bake for 50 minutes, then turn off the oven but do not open the door for a further hour.
Lift the tin from the water bath and flatten the foil away from the sides just in case there is any water trapped inside. Cool completely in the tin on a wire rack and refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.
This would be particularly delicious with a raspberry coulis...

Banoffee Pie

The Banoffee Pie was invented by The Hungry Monk restaurant of Sussex, U.K., in 1972. Traditionally the recipe includes a hint of coffee in the cream and a shortcrust pastry base. The hybrid of three or four recipes seen below was due to my not having all the ingredients on hand to make the bona fide version.

200g blanched whole almonds
300g icing sugar
2 x 400g tins condensed milk, boiled for 3hrs in their tins
6 bananas
600 ml double cream
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
150g butter, melted
250g digestive biscuits, crushed
Cocoa for dusting

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Equipment:

20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, greased and based lined.

To make the base:

Crush the biscuits in a food processor (or the old-fashioned way by putting in a plastic bag and whacking) until like fine crumbs then put into a bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Press the mixture into the base and up the sides of the tin. Chill the base while you make the filling.


Filling:

Give the almonds a rinse in water, drain them a little and mix them quickly with the icing sugar in a bowl until they are really sticky. Tip them on to a baking tray and toast for 15 minutes in the oven until they are golden and crispy, turning them every couple of minutes. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool.

Spread the toffee as thick as you like across the base of the pastry. Slice the bananas and place on top of the toffee, then whip the cream with the vanilla. Then dollop the cream on top of the bananas, as high and as rough as you like.



Sprinkle the almonds over the top of the banoffee pie, dust with cocoa (I didn't have any) and serve immediately.

Mrs Fields: eat your heart out!

I've found it, the holy grail of cookies.

I baked these with my daughter over the weekend and they were exactly what I wanted: chewy, chocolatey and horrifically more'ish. I made them with Nestle choc bits and I think next time I would use a less sugary chocolate, something richer and more oomphy. Other than that, they were perfect (and oh so simple!). These would be amazing made with white chocolate and macadamia...

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 170g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 165 degrees C. Grease baking trays or line with baking paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy, then add the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time on to the baking trays. Be sure to space the "mounds" apart as they spread significantly during cooking.
   
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool on trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Mmmm Lemon Delicious

The first time I had this dessert, it was made for me by a dear friend, an Irish woman of considerable taste and distinction.  I mention her nationality because, as it turns out, Lemon Delicious seems to be a mostly Australian phenomenon. Certainly other countries have their own versions but they are usually rolled out as "Lemon Self-Saucing Pudding" or with other, similar monikers. At any rate, that first taste of Lemon Delicious was so overwhelming that I have never quite forgotten it - nor the experience of being caught by my hostess as I was licking my plate clean!

I plan to try to make little, individual servings of this pud for serving at dinner parties as I always find that part of the splendour is lost as the big, fluffy, proud pudding is mulched into a pile of syrupy lumpiness. Plus, in truth, I never want to share any of it so individual servings would mean less violence at my dinner table...If I manage to work out an effective recipe, I'll share it here.

60g unsalted butter softened
¾ cup caster sugar
3 eggs separated
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1/3 cup self-raising flour sifted
¼ cup lemon juice (approximately juice of one lemon)
¾ cup milk and icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Grease a 1 litre oven-proof dish with butter.
Using electric beaters, beat the butter, sugar, egg yolks and lemon rind in a bowl until light and creamy.
Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Add the lemon juice and milk and stir to combine.
Beat whites until soft peaks form then gently fold into lemon mixture.
Spoon into the oven-proof dish and place the dish in a baking dish.
Pour in boiling water into the baking dish to come 1/3 of the way up the side of the pudding dish. Bake for 40 minutes or until you can see from the top that it is set in the centre.

There will, of course, be a runny element to this pud so if you see stuff slurping around at the bottom, never fear, it's meant to look like that!


Serves 4

Flo's Pumpkin Scones

I am not sure whether scones are technically a 'dessert', I certainly consider them as more of an afternoon-tea treat but since everyone is now asking me for it, here 'tis: Florence Bjelke-Petersen's famous pumpkin scone recipe!! Enjoy.

Pumpkin Scones, makes 16

20g butter, at room temp
110g (1/2 cup) sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 egg
235g (1 cup) cold mashed pumpkin
375g (2 ½ cups) self-raising flour, sifted
Butter to serve

Preheat oven to 225C.

Use a wooden spoon to beat the butter, sugar and salt in a medium mixing bowl until combined.

Add the egg and beat until combined.

Fold in the mashed pumpkin.

Add the flour and use your hand to mix until evenly incorporated and the mixture begins to hold together. Do not over mix.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until just smooth.

Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough until about 2 cm thick.

Use a round 5cm pastry cutter to cut out scones from the dough.

Place the scones about 1cm apart on a baking tray.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 min. or until golden.

Remove scones from oven and wrap them immediately in a clean tea towel.

Serve warm with lashings of butter or the trad treatment of cream and jam!