Sorry, I haven’t been around for a while, other things have taken over and I haven’t found time to type anything up. The challenge is now complete, but I still have X, Y and Z to blog about.
This is a recipe I came across a few years back now after trying to find something different to make at Christmas. Helen is the owner of the great website The Crazy Kitchen where she develops recipes to share with all of us – take a look you’ll be there for ages – https://www.thecrazykitchen.co.uk/ and although I spent a while thinking what I could bake for the letter ‘X’, this suddenly sprung to mind. It’s a fantastic, easy recipe and certainly hits the mark where Christmas is concerned. The first time I made it was for a gathering of friends, where I took the ‘puds’ along. The feedback was amazing, everyone loved it, even the person who didn’t like Christmas pudding!
So, if you fancy something a little different this Christmas, give it a go… Helen was inspired to make this from a hamper she received from Selfridges. She had to take the said cheesecake along to London to be judged with three other bloggers. Unfortunately, she doesn’t say whether she won – I’m sure she did. The cheesecake is a winner in our family.
Ingredients
- 200g shortbread (homemade or shop bought)
- 90g brandy butter
- 400g full fat cream cheese
- 400ml double cream
- 40g caster sugar
- Zest of 2 clementines
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 450g Christmas pudding (cooked, cooled and crumbled) (shop bought or left-over homemade)
To decorate
- 200ml double cream
- 3tbsp Baileys (or other favourite Christmas liqueur – I used Cointreau the second time)
- Milk chocolate
- Cranberries
Method
- Melt the brandy butter, crush the shortbread and mix it together. Press the mixture into the base of a 20cm tin and place in the fridge to set.
- Beat together the cream cheese, caster sugar, double cream, cinnamon and zest from the clementines/satsumas until smooth.
- Fold in the Christmas pudding.
- Spread the filling over the shortbread base and smooth the top. Place in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours.
- Melt a small amount of chocolate and pipe into the shape of holly leaves.
- Before serving, beat together the cream and Baileys (or whatever liqueur you decided to use) until the thickness of clotted cream.
- Remove cheesecake from tin and smooth the cream over the top.
- Decorate with the holly leaves and cranberries. I didn’t have any cranberries, so just made the berries out of swirls of chocolate.
- Serve.
Self Raising Flower 