peanut butter pretzel cheesecake

i am becoming well known for making recipes up on the fly. i remember watching my mum do it as a kid and thinking that i would never be able to pull that off - yet here i am years later doing the same thing haha.

i have a bunch of leftover peanut butter pretzels from christmas and because i haaaaaate throwing things awy, i decided to make a cheesecake and throw them in. i used my favourite cheesecake recipe as a guide and it was pretty damn good. i don't know if i'll have leftover pretzels again, but if i dooooo...

this recipe works with pretty much any additions, go crazy! i have made it with chopped up cadbury favourites, chopped up mars bars, malteasers, honeycomb pieces... honestly, the sky is the limit

peanut butter pretzel cheesecake

1 x 250g packet milk arrowroot biscuits

150g melted butter

3 teaspoons gelatine

1/4 cup water

375g softened cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup caster sugar

300ml thickened cream

2 cups peanut butter pretzels

method

1. grease and line 24cm springform tin, place and place on an oven tray

2. process biscuits until finely crushed. add butter; process until just combined. press biscuit mixture evenly over base and sides of prepared tin. cover and refrigerate for an hour.

3. sprinkle gelatine over water in a cup. stand cup in a pan of simmering water. stir until dissolved. cool

4. beat cream cheese, vanilla essence and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. beat cream in a separate bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. stir gelatine mixture into cheese mixture with pretzels; fold in cream. pour mixture over base in tin. cover and refrigerate until set.

5. serve decorated with extra cream and crushed pretzels on top.

lolly cake cheesecake

it's our friend keryn's birthday tomorrow. she has been such a wonderful support to steve and oli over the past few years (she and her husband lyndon live next door to them) and we are super grateful and love her very much. so, i wanted to make her a special cake!

she looooves lolly cake, a kiwi dessert made from biscuits, butter, condensed milk, coconut and eskimo lollies and a few years back, i happened upon a recipe for a lolly cake cheesecake! i have made it once before, but don't think i shared it on here (sorry if i have already!) so here it is, so i can make it again if we so desire. you can find the original recipe here.

lolly cake cheesecake

ingredients:

1 packet malt biscuits - crushed

90 g butter

100 mls condensed milk

170g Pascal Eskimos

2 pkts cream cheese (500g)

¼ cup caster sugar

2 teaspoons gelatine (dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water)

1 cup whipped cream

500g melted chocolate

to make the base:

Stir melted butter and condensed milk over low heat, add chopped Eskimos, and crushed malt biscuits, mix well and press into a spring form tin, refrigerate.

Put cream cheese into a bowl with caster sugar and mix well to combine. Add gelatine dissolved in ¼ cup of boiling water. Fold in whipped cream and then melted chocolate. Mix well and pour into tin. Let set and then decorate with Eskimos and drizzled chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

the verdict:

oh my gosh. this is so insanely sickly sweet and i am a total sweet tooth. i honestly don't know if i would make it again because you can only eat such a tiny amount without feeling overwhelmed by it. keryn seemed to like it though, so win win!

baked cheesecake

i got brave a while ago and made my first baked cheesecake. it was a lot easier than i had thought it would be - and tasted delicious! i got the recipe here... and look how pretty it turned out!

easy classic baked cheesecake

ingredients:

cheesecake biscuit base:

200g crushed milk arrowroot biscuits

120g unsalted butter , melted

cheesecake filling:

500g softened cream cheese

2 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g full fat sour cream

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

zest of 1 lemon

3 room temperature eggs

topping:

berry mix, preferably not frozen

icing sugar to dust

instructions:

preheat oven to 160c or 140c (fan forced)

get a 20cm springform cake tin. turn the base upside down, butter sides and place a square piece of baking paper on the base. clip into the springform pan.

cheesecake biscuit base:

blitz biscuits in a food processor. add butter, briefly blitz until it resembles wet sand.

pour into the prepared cake tin. use a spatula to roughly spread it out over the base and up the walls.

use  a measuring cup to press the crumbs up the wall almost to the top of the sides, and flatten the base.

filling:

beat the cream cheese until smooth. add flour, beat until just combined.

add vanilla, sour cream, sugar and lemon zest. beat until just combined.

add eggs one at a time, beat in between until just combined. do not over beat. pour into prepared crust. bake for 55 minutes. the top should be a very light golden brown, not cracked, and near perfectly flat. it should jiggle slightly when you gently shake the pan. cool the cake in the oven with the door open 20 cm. then refrigerate for 4 hours+ in the pan. remove from tin. top with berries and dust with icing sugar... and if you're me, drip melted white chocolate on top too. delish! 

side note: do not be tempted to use low fat anything in this cake. you'll end up with some runniness, which is not a good thing. resist the urge. i learned because i had low fat sour cream in the fridge and i did my usual move of "use what you have." never again.

super yum. going on the "must make again list." i love, love cheesecake and the little lemony tang was perfect. ♥

vegan cheesecake

i'm still on the gluten free and dairy free train (thank goodness i am feeling a whole lot better, it certainly makes it easier...) so decided to make this vegan cheesecake for boxing day. i had multiple questions from people that knew i had made it, wanting to know if i was going down the vegan path. here is your answer: no. i enjoying eating meat. i am sure if i desperately wanted to do it, i could. i mean really, anyone can do anything that they want to do badly enough... but i like meat. veganism is not for me at this stage in my life.

but, back to the cake. i don't eat gluten or dairy, so cheesecake was out of the question for me. and what is christmas in australia (ie. frigging hot summer!) without cheesecake or cold dessert of some description? heck to the no was i missing out. so when this delicious looking recipe appeared in my facebook news feed this week, i went looking for the recipe... which you can find here (at ever and ivy) - along with a video for you to follow along with.

vegan cheesecake

crust:
1 cup raw walnuts
1 cup raw almonds
10 medjool dates (pits removed)
3 tbs melted coconut oil
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/ tsp sea salt

filling:
3 1/2 cups raw cashews (soaked 3hrs or overnight)
1 cup coconut cream
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup blueberries

1. process crust ingredients until fine crumbs. pour into tin and press down until smooth.
2. blend all filling ingredients excpet blueberries until very smooth. set aside half of mixture.
3. add blueberries to the half of mix in blender and blend until smooth.
4. pour blueberry mixture onto crust. pour white mixture on top.
5. freeze. allow to thaw for 15-20 mins before serving.

the verdict:
so. it wasn't cheesecake and so didn't have the cheesecakey flavour. but. it was delicious! seriously. i was well impressed, as was everyone else that had some, including my skeptical husband, who i found out later had actually eaten 3 pieces! i will absolutely make it again, no doubt about that. my only comment is that it makes a lot! i made 2 cheesecakes with the mix! which was great because we are having a baby shower here for my friend this weekend, so we'll bust out the second one then, but you could possibly halve the mixture when making it? or not, obviously it is frozen, so you could store it for as long as you need. but yum yum yum. so worth the effort!

sundays and cheesecake

it was our turn to clean the chapel yesterday... and afterwards i was so proud of our efforts, that i had to take this quick snap of the building while the trees were looking so pretty.

and today, as per usual my kids were looking so damn cute, that i had to get the camera out again... like i need an excuse though. haha. church with kids is always an adventure...

we had friends over for dinner after church and i wanted to make something nice for dessert, so i tried this cheesecake recipe that i've had for ages, but never made!

lemon jelly cheesecake (but this version is mango lemon haha)

100g digestive biscuit crumbs (you could use any plain biscuits - i did)
50g melted butter
1 box lemon jelly (i used mango jelly, hence the mango lemon)
200ml boiling water
1 small lemon (rind and juice)
300g cream cheese (softened)
150ml whipping cream

stir biscuit crumbs into melted butter and press into base of a 20cm spring form tin. refrigerate until needed. dissolve jelly into boiling water, add the lemon rind and juice and cool to the point of setting. whisk jelly into the cream cheese. whip cream until it just holds its shape and fold into the cream cheese mixture. pour over the crumb base and chill for 3 hours minimum until set. can be decorated with fruit to serve.

it was delicious! and as an added bonus, i had everything in the fridge and pantry already. woo! i'll definitely be busting this one out again ♥

raffaello cheesecake

i made this cheesecake to take to the new years eve party we went to, and then again to take to a lunch we'll be attending this weekend. it turned out so well that a few people asked for the recipe, so i thought i would share it here first. 

may i present...

raffaello cheesecake

1 x 250g packet milk arrowroot biscuits

150g butter or margarine, melted

3 teaspoon gelatine

1/4 cup water

375g cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup caster sugar

300ml thickened cream

packet of raffaello chocolates (i used the christmas gift box, i think there was about 30 in there...)

method

1. grease a 24cm springform tin, place on an oven tray.

2. process biscuits until finely crushed. add butter and combine. press biscuit mixture evenly over base and side of prepared tin. cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

3. sprinkle gelatine over water in a cup. stand cup in pan of simmering water; stir until disolved. cool.

4. beat cream cheese, vanilla essence and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. beat whipped cream in a seperate bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. stir gelatine mixture into cheese mixture with halved chocolates; fold in cream. pour mixture over base in

tin. cover and refrigerate until set.

5. serve decorated with extra cream and chopped raffaellos on top.

lemon glazed cheesecake

i made a deal with a friend of mine, that if she came and did my hair for my work christmas party this year that i would make her some form of baked goods, of her choice. she chose lemon cheesecake, so true to my word... here it is. google found me a great recipe, which i knew i was safe with, as it was from the coles supermarkets website, meaning for once all the ingredients were available in australia! yay! 

it was a bit more in depth (compared to some of the other simple cheesecake recipes i have seen/made over the years) as it's a baked once, topped with lemon glaze, that gives it that beautiful sunshine yellow top. taste though, was a+ and i am certainly filing the recipe away for future reference. christmas day perhaps? yum yum yum. you can find it herehttp://www.taste.com.au/recipes/sunny-lemon-cheesecake/2042d51a-7415-4eed-856f-e23a1a4a1681.