Crush, Blend & Pour = 1, 2, 3.
Baking to me is like Accounting - lots of terms to measurements and units that are beyond my capability. If my trial balance sheet balanced, I attributed it to luck. That's baking. If it didn't turn out as sweet scrambled eggs, then that's damn lucky. It's not an intimate knowledge of how to balance the books, it's pure chance.
So it was my father-in-law's birthday. He does a lot for us, he's often our driver, counselor, wine merchant and nanny - sometimes all at once. So to celebrate I thought I would 'bake' him a cheesecake.
I had almost a full tin of condensed milk to use - left over from making Vietnamese Iced Coffee - so I decided that I would get the ingredients for the cheese cake from the recipe on the tin. D'oh, it's a coconut cheesecake - I don't want a coconut cheesecake. So I shop, free-style, cream cheese, cream, strawberries and Scotch Finger biccies. Tick, tick, tick and tick. Turns out I didn't need to use the cream.
The night before the birthday dinner I pull out all the ingredients - let's call it 'The Profit and Loss Statement'. At this point I look up a cheesecake recipe - I know, Organisation Queen! In my 1 minute website skim there seemed to be no recipes that quite did what I wanted;
1. Needs to use condensed milk, cream cheese and Scotch Finger biccies.
2. Did not involve the oven.
3. Isn't a coconut cheesecake.
So I decide to do some creative accounting/baking.
Ingredients to the Accounting Cheese Cake
1 Packet of Scotch Finger biscuits
75g butter melted
500g Cream cheese
1 tin of condensed milk - doesn't even have to be full.
2 teaspoons of gelatine powder dissolved in 1/4 cup of boiled water
1 Lemon - juiced
Zest of one lemon
Punnet of quartered Strawberries - just cut these prior to serving.
Step 1
Crush biscuits and mix with the melted butter. Pack it into the base of a 20cm springform tin, or a square casserole dish or 8 ramekin dishes. It's up to you how you want to serve it.
Step 2
Blend together first the Cream cheese and condensed milk. Then blend in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Then blend in the dissolved gelatin. Everything should be smooth and creamy.
Step 3
Pour onto the biscuit lined receptacle of your choosing. Pop it into the fridge to set overnight. Serve with chopped up strawberries.
The scene of my kitchen after baking is worth sharing... carnage!
I served this cheese cake up with Strawberries but you could probably top it with any fruit you have a predilection towards. Serving up the dessert for me is very much the Trial Balance stage. In this case I am glad to say it was a total blow out - that's a good thing - luckily it balanced.
