"CRISP CREAMCHEESE"....and All-American Eggless Blueberry Cheesecake

COOKINGWITHMAVIS #10  

                CRISP CREAM CHEESE…

Friend Lee has a great little Victorian country cottage in the heart of Bredasdorp…

( pronunciation: a guttural rural ‘brey’….

”B’GGGGREHH-DAAAASDORP ” – the “g”-sound is formed by the back of your throat resonating against the back of the palate…prior to gargling!).

Just the other day she coaxed “ My M ” and Me, into joining her there…my only condition to her, via cellphone, was:  “ As long as we have crisp clean sheets ”…

Her  response to me was : ”What?...crisp cream cheese ?  ”…no doubt the background noise in that restaurant was not conducive to cellphone chat!....and so we made the 2hour journey in the hopes of climbing into our Bredasdorp bed with “crispcreamcheese”…

I cant wait to arrive in Bredasdorp…I salivate with anticipation –just at the thought of our ritual shopping sprees!...in fact……in fact, it begins before we’ve even begun our roadtrip!!...

I call ahead to “Moerse Plaasstal ” in Napier –it’s a wonderful bakery and farmstall (which is just 15 minutes en-route, before Bredasdorp) to order their “wit Ouma brood” (“white Grandma loaf”)………………….which is a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y to die for!    This is a heavenly loaf of country bread that turns your tastebuds into a tizz!        It is aromatic and yeasty, heavy-and-oily-and-rich, and rough in texture, and makes the most marvelous toast…

But that’s not enough!  What good is  Moerse’s  bread without marmalade!..…and who’s marmalade better than “ Mad’s “ Marmalade!

Mad’s  Marmalade?…

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM………….

On  our very, very first sojourn into Lee’s world of Bredasdorp-and-surrounds , she introduced us early one weekend morning, to Napier’s Saturday outdoor “market” .

Situated on the Village Green, were about 10-or-so ‘vendors’ – positioned rather horseshoe-like in a vast semi-circle.

One  fresh-produce local “Farmer’s Hand”  sold the most freshest assortment of wonderful ‘greens’….Mmmmmmmmmm !,  while all the rest had smallish ‘home-bakes’, and local honey…and local honey…and local honey…and everyone stocked the same bloody LOCAL HONEY! (turns out, they all buy from the same supplier!)

But THEN  there was ‘Mad’(-elaine ), happily promoting her marvelous ‘Rex Union Oranges’ marmalade together with husband Julian…out of the back of their well-traveled Landrover……

Lee was ecstatic, and quite sure we HAD TO SAMPLE…but ‘Cookingwithmavis’  was having none of this!

Just seeing Mad proffer her sample on the early-morning’s Tupperware-contained  cold toast. No!....I’m just too anal !

Of course Lee bought her Rex Union marmalade - so different from OTHER marmalade – it is a thick clear jelly!...a..and-and STILL !  - ‘Mavis  was having none-of-this!

– But, at home we sampled it!...Gosh!..never  has any marmalade been better!!!!!

’Mavis  was hooked !

So, now, whenever chance arises, and I find myself en-route to Bredasdorp, I call in advance to order 10-or-so jars  of Mad’s ‘Rex Union’ marmalade –she ‘imports’ the ‘Rex Union’ oranges specially from there… ‘Up North’,  where they are cultivated!

Once I took her a gift of my Beetroot, Almond and Ginger  Jam!  ……(Now… that’s another story !....)

And so to recipes…..

American cheesecake.

…My Favourite NO-BAKE “All-American”  Eggless Bluebery Cheesecake .     

After trawling recipe books for ages, I finally found the recipe I enjoy most - of this type of cheesecake! You’ll need to prepare it a day in advance…

Ingredients:

The pie crust:

A “GrahamCracker” pie crust :  Well unless you’re American , you probably wont know what this is…it’s really just sweet “Digestive biscuits” !..easy to find at our supermarkets.

1 ¾ cups Digestive biscuit crumbs

¼ cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

4 tablespoons (60g)butter (melted) – I melt the butter in a Pyrex jug, on “Defrost”…or lowest setting,  in microwave for about  1 minute

Creamcheese filling:

2 tubs(500g) real thick heavy  creamcheese

(I mean either Philadelphia, or Lancewood) = NOT  ‘smooth  cottage cheese’ !

I cup castor sugar

Grated zest of ½ a lemon

1 teaspoon Vanilla essence …(or a nice alternative is  a few drops Almond essence)

250ml ( 1 cup) cream (I use Heavy cream!)

1 Teaspoon powdered gelatin

2 tablespoons water

Berry topping:

This is the same as used on my buttermilk tart …see blog:  “ Darling Koeksusters”

Frozen berries – or fresh!   I  use a generous amount (about 350g) of supermarket-bought:   blueberries are good! ..dont use a soft mushy type of berry!

1 ½ cups water - you might want to use 2 cups?

4 heaped teaspoons “Maizena” (this is ordinary cornflour for those of you who don’t know)

¼ cup sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice (optional)

Plus a few tablespoons water to mix Maizena and sugar

                                            ……..?????????????????............

METHOD:

For the pie crust:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Line the base of a 23cm  springform  tin with aluminium foil, then secure the tin and base.

( I blitz this in a food processor ) :

Crumb the Digestive biscuits

Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest

Add the melted butter

Process until the crumbs just begin to stick.

*(but just as easy to use a rolling-pin and large Ziploc plastic bag – you  beat the hell out of those Digestive biscuits, then mix in a bowl, as with the food processor)

Cover your hand with a generous piece of cling film (plastic wrap) to form a glove, and press the crumbs evenly on the base, and up the sides – at least 4 cm up the sides.

Bake @ 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and leave to cool at least ½ hour.

Creamcheese filling:

In a large bowl, mix the creamcheese, ½ the heavy cream, castor sugar, lemon zest (of ½ lemon), and vanilla essence.

Beat on medium speed till well blended.

Dissolve the gelatin and cold water in a small bowl, over warm water.

Add the rest of the heavy cream to this, and stir.

Then fold the gelatin mixture into the creamcheese mixture, and beat till fluffy.

With a large metal spoon, spoon mixture into the completely cooled pie crust.

Cover with foil, and chill overnight till set.

                                   &……..

Berry topping:

Method:

1)      Mix the Maizena and 2 spoons sugar, then add 3 – 4 tablespoons water to mix to runny smoothe paste.

2)      In a smallish saucepan, heat the 2 cups water with the rest of the sugar then add the Maizena runny paste, stir, and when hot add the frozen berries, stir gently till it thickens, add lemon juice.

3)      Leave to cool well.

4)      Spoon over the chilled cheesecake, return cake into the fridge for topping to set.

To serve:

Run a knife around the pan sides. Release pan sides and transfer the cake to a platter.

                                   ekaceseehcmaercCCCCCCCcreamcheesecake

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"Moerse Farmstall" Napier, South Africa

                                                

                                     Napier's Main Road, South Africa

Bredasdorp Main Street, South Africa

Also the Main Street Bredasdorp!

Lee's holiday cottage - Bredasdorp South Africa

                        

                               ...more of Lee's Bredasdorp cottage!

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