Cooks' Corner

[maggiepie]

Cheesecake, based on New York Cheesecake.

Preheat oven to 350F

For crust
I packet of shortbread biscuits ( you can use graham crackers but I don't like them)
1/2 cup butter

For Filling

3-4 8 oz packets of philadelphia cream cheese, softened ( can use no name doesn't seem to make a difference)
3-4 eggs, you need one egg for each packet of cheese
1/2 to 3/4 cup raw sugar ( I use 1/2 cup)
1 tspn vanilla

1 250 ml carton sour cream
I tblspn sugar
Vanilla to taste


Strawberry topping.

1 punnet strawberries
Sugar to suit, I use a few tablespoons.
1 sachet or 1 tblspn gelatine
tspn lemon juice
pinch salt
Water as per gelatine instructions.

Whipped Cream.

Crush biscuits ( I put them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin on them)
Put into 9 inch springform pan and add melted butter,mix it with the crumbs and press to fit pan.
Cook for 10 mins in 350F oven or chill for half an hour.

You can mix the cream cheese, sugar and egg with a wooden spoon but I use a kitchenaide mixer.
Place softened cheese and sugar into bowl of mixer, mix until smooth then add the eggs one at a time mixing until egg is incorporated before adding the next egg.
Add the tspn vanilla with last egg, then mix till smooth.

Pour into spingform pan and cook for half an hour.
Let sit for 10 mins

Stir sugar and vanilla into sour cream, then smooth over top of cheesecake and put back in oven for an extra 10 mins.

Cool cheesecake.

Strawberry topping.

Wash and hull strawberries, cut in half, sprinkle sugar over strawberries and crush. I use my bamix for that but a fork would work or food processor.
Sprinkle pinch of salt over them.

Put 1/4 cup cold water in cup with teaspoon lemon juice, sprinkle gelatine over top, then when the gelatine has been absorbed add 1/4 cup boiling water and stir until dissolved.
Pour over strawberry mix and stir.
When strawberries start to set around the edge of bowl, pour over cheesecake and leave to chill for at least a few hours.
Overnight is better.

If you use more strawberries you can add an extra packet of gelatine.

Serve with whipped cream and dig in!!

Sorry if the instructions are a bit odd, I am typing this from memory.

You can also use any type of fruit on top or none, but with the strawberries it is fantastic!!

edit by maggi.... adding the recipe in a pdf for easy downloading for your files....
right click on the title below and "save as".....

[Maggi Young]

Helen,this  sounds and looks delicious!

Now, some serious business:


Robin, this is a severe warning, wearing my Moderator's hat:    I will not tolerate the use of such offensive four letter words in this forum.  ...... you used the "D" word in your last post, please do not do so again! 
It is permissable, in extreme circumstances, to substitute the words "healthy eating", since that can encompass a necessary medical  regime, but the "D" word is more than enough to cause palpitations in this Moderator  and its use infringes just about the strictest rule we have here in the Forum. Please be aware of the distress such careless use of language can cause 
My sympathies, of course, for the fact that you are your husband are currently subject to such horrible privations, I hope it is just a fad which will soon pass 

I urge others to be mindful of these vocabulary guidelines... particularly in this thread!
.....Or else:   

 

[David Nicholson]

RR, I think it's very unfair you being singled out for the "Maggi Hammer" after all the word "DIETes" has been used many times on this Forum and no action has ever been taken. I think there is a very serious breach here of the European Convention of Human Rights. My Solicitor's, Grabbe, Sewit and Runne, are at your disposal, subject to my 10% of course.

[Maggi Young]

David, since you raise this delicate matter, I will have to declare publically that I have had extensive counselling to enable me to cope with the use of DIETes in conjunction with flowers of that type  on this forum. Before this expensive and gruelling therapy I was barely able to cope with some threads because I got so upset....



it was hard for me not to react too strongly.....



and, I am always so  busy, since, as you know.... .......


however, I have regained my equilibrium..........


and I won't be dissuaded by any argument.....

 or



my mind is made up




so, chill,  or else I'll be ......


really cheesd off!  

[David Nicholson]

 

[Paddy Tobin]

Helen,

With strawberries in season and in abundance in the garden it is a perfect time to try out your cheesecake.

Re this speedy bread. I am not in a rush to leave my tried and tested reliable behind altogether. This morning I kept an eye on the clock for interest sake and had a loaf of soda bread and a few dozen scones prepared and cooked within an hour.

Maggi, stay cool. Have a bar of chocolate.

Paddy

[maggiepie]

Paddy, how about sharing your soda bread recipe, oh and the scones too.
I have been trying the scone recipe from a guy on Prince Edward Island who has a tv cooking show.
You use a stick of frozen butter, ( grated) makes a bit of a mess making them but they are fantastic, each scone is layered like puff pastry.
Of course, they call them biscuits here!!

Maybe you're better off leaving the no knead bread until winter when having the oven on high will help keep you warm.
Please do try the cheesecake and let me know what you think.

[Lesley Cox]

Just type it out once, right here in the Cooks' Corner. (a Cheesy grin seems appropriate for a cheesecake. )

[Ragged Robin]

RR, I think it's very unfair you being singled out for the "Maggi Hammer" after all the word "DIETes" has been used many times on this Forum and no action has ever been taken. I think there is a very serious breach here of the European Convention of Human Rights. My Solicitor's, Grabbe, Sewit and Runne, are at your disposal, subject to my 10% of course.

Thanks for your gallant support David under the threat of censorship, which would be an absolute CATastrophe, I would rather DIE-t-han be hit with the proverbial hammer or even the sword of Maggi-cles so please take 12% and call you solicitors in the morning  

Helen I will try your strawberry cheesecake forthwith....I wonder how many wild strawberries I will need for the topping  

[Lesley Cox]

Oh, I see you already did that. I hadn't noticed page 4.

[Lesley Cox]

My God! For a moment there I thought we had recipes for cooked cat!

[Maggi Young]

RR, I think it's very unfair you being singled out for the "Maggi Hammer" after all the word "DIETes" has been used many times on this Forum and no action has ever been taken. I think there is a very serious breach here of the European Convention of Human Rights. My Solicitor's, Grabbe, Sewit and Runne, are at your disposal, subject to my 10% of course.

Thanks for your gallant support David under the threat of censorship, which would be an absolute CATastrophe, I would rather DIE-t-han be hit with the proverbial hammer or even the sword of Maggi-cles so please take 12% and call you solicitors in the morning  

Helen I will try your strawberry cheesecake forthwith....I wonder how many wild strawberries I will need for the topping  

Good grief! In the words of Kenneth Williams  ( as Caesar in  the film 'Carry on Cleo', if I remember correctly):
Infamy, infamy! They've all got in in for me!

I'm shocked by this mutiny.    I feel all too clearly the pain of one who is destined to be a  a "herder of cats" ( as a fellow moderator describes her task .

I need to regroup, I feel there may be  a spy in the camp who is planning this insurgence....
 

[Lesley Cox]

Four furry slippers. The one on the left probably bites.

Here the Neenish Tarts. The shells are quite crisp so they are better today than yesterday, when the filling has had time to soften the shells slightly.

[maggiepie]

Lesley, these look so much different to what I had been picturing, they look YUMMO!!
Will go back and print out the recipe.
I'm not very good at pastry though 

[Eric Locke]

Wonderfull thread this.
Had a good laugh and made me hungry too.

Eric