Ivy, Phyllis and Me!: LEMON CHEESECAKE WITH GINGER BISCUITS

Thursday, 28 April 2016

LEMON CHEESECAKE WITH GINGER BISCUITS

Good Morning to you,

I wonder, are you like me?

Do you have a drawer in your kitchen where random items, spend their lives, for a period of time?

The one drawer, where bits and bobs end up. You know the sort of thing, odd bits of string, elastic bands, takeaway menus, which funnily enough we never use, so I have no idea why they are in the drawer in the first place, it just seems to be the place they end up.

A drawer where random recipes live. The type of recipe, which over the course of time, have been cut from magazines or handwritten and shared by friends, then placed into plastic wallets, in the hope that one day they will see the light of day and be made. Don't be misled, not one plastic wallet per recipe, but one plastic wallet for about 50 or more recipes.

I have a drawer which is packed to the gunwales and really does need sorting out, but the problem is, I can be a bit of a procrastinator. No, that's not true, I am a procrastinator. But on this occasion, as the drawer was filling up, I couldn't procrastinate any longer. I decided to spend an hour or so, having a little sort out. The takeaway menus were easily sorted, they went straight into the recycling bin, but when it came to the many recipes written on bits of paper, well, that was a whole other matter. Instead of just throwing them away, I decided to read through them... now that was a huge mistake.

One of the recipes I came across, was a recipe from 2005, which I had cut from the Cyprus Weekly newspaper. The recipe was for a Survival cake, which I had always meant to make, because I loved the ingredients, but todate, it has not been made. That's 11 years which have gone by, I wonder when I will get around to making it.

Then I found a snippet from a daily newspaper for back exercises.... have I done them....nope not as yet, but you never know, at some point, they might prove useful.

Then I found a recipe for roasted figs and walnuts, which I thought looked delicious. The recipe called for Acacia honey from the Pyrenees... consequently this was never made.

Then I came across an article about the Chelsea Flower Show.... date 2010. I kept it because I had meant to buy the new rose 'Beatrix Potter' and yes, you've guessed it again, I didn't.... but I might.

....and the oldest piece of paper I discovered, was a diet sheet from 1975, called The Human Diet.

It was not produced on a glossy sheet of paper as diets are today, no this diet, was produced using a stencil. Now that took me by surprise. I remember using stencils back in the day, way before we had photocopiers. In the early days, if a letter needed to be sent to 10 or more people, I would type the information on a waxed stencil. The next stage which I always disliked, was the inking of the Gestetner drum.... and the stage I always dreaded, was laying the stencil on top of the ink, hoping that I would not make any creases in the stencil and I always kept my fingers crossed, that the ink did not bleed and that I would not be covered in ink, which invariably I was. You can see by my choice of words, how much I disliked using the Gestetner duplicating machine.

Now that is 5 pieces of paper, which I have kept and not used and this is only the tip of the iceberg. So why do I feel the need to keep this stuff. What I do know is, I just have this love for old recipes, but the back exercises I cannot explain those, they are a mystery.

.... but I digress, why on earth have I kept a diet sheet from 1975? For posterity? Again who knows, but keep it I have, so I thought it would be fun to share with you a couple of the meals which were recommended on this diet.

Breakfast. 1/2 a grapefruit, 1 slice of starch reduced bread, spread with 1/4oz of butter and 1 teaspoon of marmalade or honey.

Now if my memory serves me correctly, wasn't the bread called Nimble.... and such tiny slices.

Lunch. 1 portion of Cadbury's snack soup,

2 cream crackers with 1oz Edam cheese or cucumber. Notice I say or, not both.

Supper. Beans on Toast. A 5oz can of baked beans placed on a thin slice of toast. Topped with a poached egg.

My word, did I do this diet. I don't remember it. Maybe it was one of those diets a girlfriend recommended, which I didn't get around to. I'm glad I didn't because I feel there's not enough food to feed a sparrow.

.... luckily George does not have the appetite of a sparrow. That is why he loved this,

Lemon Cheesecake with a ginger biscuit base. Do you remember when I used my Lakeland moulds for the Pearl Barley, Chicken and Feta Cheese Stack, well I decided, instead of making one large cheesecake, to make 4 individual cheesecakes. I have to say, I am using these moulds such a lot and I love how, whether I make something savoury or something sweet....the presentation is impressive.

So it's on with the pinnie and the music I am listening to today is,

source

Justin Bieber's 'What Do You Mean'.... does that surprise you? This is a song, the minute I hear it, I want to dance around the kitchen.... I can't help myself.

So listen to this song, and I bet you will be foot tapping as well. Now I haven't included the Utube clip, because I think it is a little raunchy, you however may not, but it doesn't take away from the fact that I love this song.

I think I had better get on now, and organise my ingredients, before time runs away from me.

INGREDIENTS YOU

WILL NEED

TO MAKE

LEMON CHEESECAKE

WITH GINGER BISCUITS

FOR THE BASE

200g dark chocolate coated, ginger biscuits

75g melted butter

THE TOPPING

250g mascarpone cheese

200g single cream

1 tin (397g) condensed milk

2 large lemons - juiced

You will need: a baking tray lined with
greaseproof paper
4 Lakeland moulds
or
1 x 9" springform cake tin

HOW TO

MAKE

LEMON CHEESECAKE WITH

GINGER BISCUITS

Oil the 4 moulds

and

place on a baking tray lined with

grease proof paper.

Blitz the biscuits

in a food processor

place the biscuits in a plastic bag

and

using a rolling pin gently tap

the biscuits until they become

biscuit crumbs.

Slowly melt

the butter in a saucepan

then
add the biscuit crumbs
and mix together.

Divide the crumb mixture

between the 4 ring moulds.

Gently press the biscuit crumb

with the back of a spoon.

Place in the fridge for half an hour.

While the biscuit base is firming,

place the cream

and

the mascarpone cheese

in a large bowl

and

using a balloon whisk,

mix together

to combine the ingredients.

Add the condensed milk

to the bowl

and

add the lemon juice
a tablespoon at a time.

Whisk until the mixture

becomes thick.

As you can see from the picture,

I made a pretty mess when I whisked

the ingredients together.

Divide the

mixture between the 4 moulds

and

place in the fridge for at least

4 hours to set.

By which time,

these fabulous cheesecakes

will be ready to eat.

Now you can eat them as they are,

you can decorate them as I have

with either a strawberry

some some chocolate curls.

On this occasion I plumped for

the

strawberries.... now that's a surprise, as you know
how much I love chocolate.

Then all there is left to do,

is,

enjoy.

You might have noticed an odd photograph.... the lemon. I had forgotten to photograph the lemon, so I used the photograph from another dish. It does look a little odd I know, sorry about that.

.... and guess what, this is a recipe I discovered in my plastic wallet, which I haven't made for years. Now that the recipe has seen the light of day, I am going to start a book and write out all the recipes I have discovered.... I'm not sure how long that is going to take.... probably a little while, so hopefully, before not too long, you will see the Survival Cake appear on Ivy, Phyllis and Me!

Before I take my leave. Do you remember earlier, I mentioned, that George really loved this cheesecake.