Easy No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

Easy, no-bake, strawberry and cheesecake, oh what a lovely collection of words amirite? 

Truthfully I have a bit of penchant for cheesecake and there are certainly times when I think it is the most delightful dessert in the world. One such moment was yesterday morning, when I shoved down a few spoonfuls of this strawberry cheesecake before rushing out the door because I was almost late for work. Now I know that cheesecake for breakfast it slightly toeing the line, but in my defence I was concerned that by the time I'd get home late in the evening, the dessert loving residents of my house would have scoffed the whole thing.

I suppose the silver lining in that sordid scenario would be that this cheesecake is ridiculously easy to make - I whipped it together at 11pm at night when I was undeniably exhausted, but it was worth it because I got delicious homemade cheesecake for breakfast.

 Lil' life update - I started an extra job at the start of Feb working for a charity organisation and although I'm enjoying it الحَمْد لله  my schedule has become a whole lot more hectic. I'm still wanting to find time to bake and blog but it will definitely be more intermittent than ever. 

Now back to more important matters such as this delightful cheesecake, it is velvety smooth, creamy and indulgent. Sweet yet slightly tangy, made with whipped cream and soft cheese swirled with a strawberry conserve and spread on a crumbly, buttery biscuit base. Oh and decorate it with pink heart shaped jellybeans if you want because you deserve all the love, just saying (the jellybeans were actually part of a wedding favour - the bride made the cutest little sweet mason jars).

So to make this easy, no-bake strawberry cheesecake you will need the following ingredients: 

- Digestives biscuits

- Butter

- Brown sugar

- Double cream

- Soft cheese

- Icing sugar

- Strawberry conserve

 Begin by putting 100g of digestive biscuits (or other crumbly biscuit of your choice) and 35g of brown sugar into a ziplock bag. Using a rolling pin or other heavy item bash the biscuits until they resemble crumbs. An alternative option is to use a food processor. 

Melt 45g of butter then pour in the biscuits crumbs and sugar - mix until well combined.

Press the mixture into a 20cm circular cake tin with detachable base, lined with baking paper. Use the back of a spoon or you fingers to ensure that the mixture is compact. Place this is the freezer to set whilst you prepare the topping. 

For the topping whip up 250ml of double cream and 85g of icing until stiff. To this, beat in 80g of soft cheese and 6 tblsp of good quality strawberry conserve. Taste and adjust as you see fit i.e. add in more strawberry or icing sugar if necessary. If you want you can also reduce the cream to 200ml and use 130g of soft cheese for a tangier flavour.

Spoon the mixture over the cold biscuit base and smooth the top using a palette knife, then leave in the refrigerator to set overnight until firm, this step is required as we haven't used any gelatine or thickening agent. 

Once the waiting game is over, decorate with whatever you like (within reason!) - fresh fruit such as sliced strawberries or flowers like sprigs of lavender and baby's breath.

Or even jellybeans and love hearts! (p.s. this copy of Dracula from Roads is my absolute fave).

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x 

Choc Chip & Brownie Yin-Yang Cookies

It's bank holiday weekend and by some stroke of luck I've had five whole day off. It'd been blissfully tranquil maybe bordering on boring, but it makes a nice change. I did have a brush with some (poisonous?) ivy during some hillwalking in the Pennines in Wales the other day but apart from that its been very domestic; some late-summer cleaning, gardening and picking this years apple crop, lots of lemon cake a la Sansa (hyped to watch the finale!) and I've started reading Lord of the Rings because of a stunning vintage edition I discovered in a second-hand bookshop locating in Chirk Castle in Wrexham.

Saying 'late-summer' does make me a little sad, but the upcoming autumn season definitely has its perks, apart from getting to wear my preferred get-up of coats and wooly scarves, it is also the perfect baking season. Now it may be apparent to everyone but I prefer making cakes, nothing can quite hold a torch to those beautifully easy baked goods. However cookies do come a close second and these cookies in particular take the absolute cake (pun appreciation).

The first time I baked them was the night before Eid and because its a big celebration you do have to go all out, no excuses. In which case these cookies were ideal, they have the looks and the personality and were worth every bit the effort. And I will admit they do require some extra work as you're making two cookie doughs - the chocolate chip dough and the white chocolate brownie dough & chill time is necessary. So do take into account prep time, but other that its plain sailing to the best yin-yang cookies you can imagine.

To make the chocolate chip & brownie cookies (batch - approximately 25) you will need the following basic ingredients:

- Butter

- Caster sugar

- Soft brown sugar

- Plain flour

- Eggs

- Milk chocolate & white chocolate

Additional ingredients include: vanilla extract, salt, bicarbonate of soda, cornflour, cocoa powder & milk

☯

The chocolate chip cookie dough

To start with combine 50g of caster sugar, 150g soft brown sugar and 170g butter in a stand mixer with paddle attachment and beat until soft and fluffy. The addition of the brown sugar lends a subtle caramel taste, so be sure to include it.

Then add in 2 tsp vanilla and 1 egg, mix until well incorporated

Next is the powders: sift in 250g plain flour, 2 tsp cornflour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (referred to as baking soda in America) and 1/2 tsp salt (omit if you used salted butter). The addition of the cornflour will keep the cookies soft.

Finally chop up about 175g milk chocolate or use quality chocolate chips, stir this into the cookie dough and place everything into a tupperware container. Adjust chocolate amounts depending on your preference.
☯
The brownie cookie dough

The method is the same as the other dough - begin by beating together the sugars (100g caster sugar + 100g soft brown sugar) and the butter (115g) until soft and fluffy. Add in 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla and combine.
As for the powdered ingredients, we require 125g of plain flour, 1tsp bicarbonate of soda, 50g cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp of salt if necessary. Alternate with 30 ml of milk and mix until well combined.

Finally chop up 175g of milk chocolate and stir this into the cookie dough. Once again, place it into a tupperware container.

Place both of the cookie doughs into the fridge for a minimum of two hours, this chill time is particularly necessary for the brownie dough as it is softer that the choc chip dough and therefore more difficult to handle. If you wish to freeze the dough and use it another day then now is the time to do so. 

When it comes to baking the cookies, preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 and line baking sheets with greaseproof paper. 
Grab 1 tblsp of brownie dough and 1 tblsp of choc chip dough, press both together to shape into a ball. Place the balls a reasonable distance apart on the baking sheet allowing room for spreading. (p.s. my tray is a mess because I had to relocate all the dough balls!)

Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes depending on how firm you want the cookies. Allow them to remain on the baking sheet for a further five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Whilst the cookies are still warm you can pop on a few extra pieces of chocolate, these will melt slightly and be oh so delicious.

These cookies are great with milk as per the traditional combo and they can also be packaged in quirky tins as given as gifts.

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x  

Pomegranate Oat Cookies

I have the tendency of basing my recipes & what I’m going to bake on the ingredients I have to hand. Reminiscent of the challenge portion on the early 2000s show ‘Ready Steady Cook’ where the contestants had to cook a meal from a bag of ingredients (anyone else remember that?), although if I’m honest I’d be completely terrible at that and that’s mostly due to my inability to function too well under pressure.

Anyway, today a rummage through the freezer unearthed a bag of arils from a long finished batch of pomegranates and I really wanted to use them. I’ve previously snacked on them, put them in muesli, ice cream and they’re particularly yum in sweet yellow rice; however this time around I wanted to add them to a bake. Enter the humble oat biscuit, I’ve had this particular recipe in my repertoire for the longest time, in fact it’s the very first recipe in my notebook – my mum’s friend gave it to her years and years ago and I adopted it. Since the early days I’ve made it a great deal of times and I love altering it a little bit every now and then.

This time I added in the pomegranate arils along with some chopped up walnuts and almonds, the combination of crunch from the nuts and tangy bursts from the pomegranate compliment the soft oat cookies quite well. 

In terms of the recipe I've always used cup measurements - it makes it really easy and you can increase or decrease the amount accordingly. 

So to make these oat cookies you will need a few ingredients:

1.   Margarine

2.   Granulated sugar

3.   Oats

4.   Plain flour

5.   Bicarbonate of Soda

6.   Cinnamon

7.   Honey

8.   Pomegranate arils & chopped nuts 

To begin with, combine 2 1/2 cups of regular oats, 1 1/2 cups of plain flour, a pinch of cinnamon and 1 cup of granulated sugar in a bowl - mix it all together and put the dry ingredients aside.

To prepare the raising agent, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda or baking soda in 2 tablespoons of water (or milk). 

Stir the soda water into melted margarine (1 cup) and to this add 3 tablespoons of honey - golden syrup is also an option but honey adds the right amount of stickiness and sweetness without being unhealthy; this concludes the required wet ingredients.

The final step is to add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine, its good to press the ingredients together with your hands to form a dough (add a splash more water or margarine if required).

Then mix in your chopped nuts and pomegranate arils, mine were still quite frozen at this point but that's completely fine.

Make small sized biscuits and flatten in the palm of your hand - place then evenly spread apart on a lined baking tray.

Cook in a Gas Mark 7 oven for around 8-10 minutes, do not over bake if you want a soft chewy biscuit, as these cookies do have a tendency to harden upon cooling. 

Enjoy with a hot drink at tea-time or as a quick but filling breakfast. Either way I hope you give this recipe a try, its highly adaptable i.e substitute the nuts for chocolate chunks or the pomegranate for dried cranberries?

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x