Another pretty empty week, well other than applying for jobs that will be lovely enough to ignore me completely, I decided that I would do at least 2 creative things with my time.
Firstly, I decided to have a go at creating a cheesecake. Mama used to make gorgeous ones when we were little but, like me, she wrote it down on a piece of paper and has since then lost it somewhere. We’ll probably find in the next 20years or so. So I spent hours trawling recipe books, cookery programmes and the internet looking for a recipe that doesn’t involve baking said cheesecake. If I’m honest the whole idea of baking a cheesecake makes me want to boke. It just doesn’t seem right and I’m going to stick to my guns on this one! I just wish I’d done the same and not tried that prawn mayo sandwich the other day – completely ruined mayo, prawns and brown bread for me…
Anyways I’ve finally been successful and found the recipe I’ve been looking for thanks to Gordon Ramsey and Channel 4! I think Gordon was going for individual mini, la di da, ponsely presented cheescakes with the biscuity bit on top but I’ve rebelled from his design and have been boring and traditional and kept the biscuit as the base. But other than that I’ve followed the recipe pretty much spot on… well except the vanilla pod but surely essence will fair just as well for me?
Here’s the recipe, courtesy of www.channel4.com
Ingredients
Topping
- 8 digestive biscuits
- 6 tbsp caster sugar
- 100g unsalted butter
Berries
- 300g blueberries (or blackberries)
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- Splash of crème de cassis or water
Vanilla cream cheese
- 400g cream cheese
- 6 tbsp icing sugar
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 vanilla pod, split
- 600ml double cream
To finish
Method
1. Make the topping first. Coarsely grind the biscuits in a food processor. Melt the sugar in a heavy-based non-stick pan until it begins to caramelise, then carefully add the butter, shaking the pan to mix the caramel with the butter as it melts. Add the ground biscuits and toss to coat in the caramel. Tip on to a plate, chill for 5 minutes until firm, then break into pieces. Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper.
2. Tip the blueberries into the pan and sprinkle with the 2 tbsp sugar and a splash of cassis or water. Cook over medium-high heat for a minute until the blueberries are slightly soft. Spread out on a plate and leave to cool.
3. For the vanilla cream cheese, put the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl. Add the seeds from the vanilla pod and beat until smooth. In another bowl, lightly whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold into the cream cheese mixture.
4. To shape individual cheesecakes, line 8 ramekins with cling film. Fill with the cream cheese mixture and level the tops with the back of a knife. Chill until ready to serve.
5. Sprinkle the crumbly topping on top of the cheesecakes and spoon the blueberries around the plate. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
And this is what they’re supposed to look like…
And this is what mine came out like…
Blurry but tasty!
My second creative output of the week saw me heading back to my Art roots and creating my own Batiks again. A quick search on the web will tell you that Batik is the method of applying designs onto material by waxing the parts that are to remain without dye (pretty much based on the principle that water and wax repel). Batik can be done on silk or cotton. Traditionally Batiks are abstract and originated as early as 4BC in Egypt and is found in India, Japan, Thailand, China and Africa but to name a few. And below is what they are supposed to look like…
When it comes to my own Batiks I prefer to make them with a modern twist using bright colours and embellishing them with buttons and sequins and whatever else I can stitch onto them. I also quite enjoy using a simple pattern or design, focusing on building up layers of wax and dye and embroidering areas of significance. Here’s one I made earlier.
Now this is something which I haven’t done since ALevel so it’s safe to say I’m a little rusty…
