Recipe #8: Lime, green tea, ginger & chilli cheesecakes
The final note of tomorrow’s Oriental themed evening, are these [as many flavours as I could shoehorn in] cheesecakes. I took this existing recipe and adapted it a little bit as I went along.
Last time I made a cheesecake, it went horribly wrong. It was less of a cheesecake, more of a ‘gloopy mess’. My second attempt at a cheesecake ain’t too shabby, I’d go as far as to say it’s one of the best desserts I’ve pulled together. How do I know? I made up two ‘testing’ cheesecakes for me and Dan to try (they were eaten before they’d even set) … we had to check them out and make sure they were safe for our guests tomorrow.
The main adaption to the recipe was some green tea jelly mix I found in the Chinese supermarket on West Street. If you can’t get this, use gelatin instead. Cool packing eh?
Ingredients
For the cheesecake
300g cream cheese
Juice of two limes
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 heaped teaspoons of jelly mix (or two sheets of gold leaf gelatin)
6-8 ginger biscuits (I opted for the homemade ones I made earlier in the week)
30g butter
For the topping
1/2 red chilli
Heaped teaspoon of ginger
Zest of two limes
Half cup of water
Sugar
Method:
- Crush your biscuits (I put mine in a sandwich bag and hit with a rolling pin) and place in a bowl to one side. Melt your butter in a pan, mix into the biscuit pieces and place at the bottom of your ramekins/serving bowls.
- Put your cream cheese in a bowl and mix in brown sugar.
- In a separate pan, add your lime juice and add in either your gelatin or green tea jelly mix. Once boiling, mix into your cream cheese quickly and spoon into your serving dishes, before the gelatine/jelly begins to set (make sure you put hot water in your pan straight away to stop the jelly sticking). Place them in the fridge.
- To make the topping, place some water and a tablespoon of sugar in a pan, add your lime zest, grated ginger and small pieces of chilli. At this point I added some green tea jelly to help it set, but this isn’t essential. Cook until thick and spoon onto your cheesecakes.
- Leave for 4-6 hours in the fridge to set.
- Serve and enjoy…
Not too sure about chilli in desserts? I wasn’t either, however balanced out with the lime and ginger, it’s not spicy as such, it just gives the dessert a bit of a sweet-kick.
Let me know how you get on with these.
Hayley-Jayne xx
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