Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecakes with Streusel Topping

I can't believe it's December already! I probably say this every year but where has the year gone? This year seems to have flown by in a flash. I'm sure there's a lot of festive cooking and baking going on worldwide but I'm still in autumn mode with apples. I saw this on pinterest and thought what a great idea. I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to bake these and made them to take to a dinner party. We were really full from all the food but still managed to enjoy one or two of these. It's a good idea baking them in muffin cases as it's a nice individual portion, looks cute and is easy to transport. I also took some to work as did J and both our work colleagues enjoyed them. It's a baked cheesecake filled with fresh apples, streusel topping and a generous drizzle of salted caramel sauce. These are great for the upcoming festive season as you can bake them in advance and they are sure to be a hit at any party. 

I'm sending this to Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen as the theme this month is anything goes. This recipe contains 3 large free range eggs. 

It's also going to Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too.

 streusel topping 

 digestive biscuit base

 add cheesecake mixture 

 then chopped apples

 top with streusel topping 

 generous drizzle of caramel sauce before serving

  

Recipe adapted slightly from cookingclassy.com

Makes 18 mini cheesecakes

For the base
16 digestive biscuits
2.5 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
85g butter,melted

For the filling 
340g cream cheese
225g caster sugar
3 large free range eggs
3/4 cup creme fraiche
3 or 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into tiny pieces (if the chunks are too big, the apples won't cook fully)
3 tablespoons lemon juice

For the streusel topping
80g plain flour
40g oats
75g brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
57g butter

• First prepare the streusel topping by mixing all the ingredients together in a large bowl using your hands until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 
• Cover and chill in the fridge. 
• Preheat the oven to 165C. 
• Prepare the crust by blitzing the digestive biscuits in a food processor or bashing them with a rolling pin in a ziplock bag. 
• Add the melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and stir until mixed. 
• Line 2 muffin tins with 18 cupcake/muffin liners. 
• Divide the mixture evenly between 18 cases and press down gently.
• Bake in the pre heated oven for approximately 5 minutes then remove from the oven and allow to cool.
• Make the filling by beating the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. 
• Add the eggs one at a time followed by the creme fraiche and mix well.
• Pour the filling (use a measuring jug with a pouring spout) on top of the baked cheesecake crust until about 2/3 full.
• Peel, core and finely chop the apples then toss in fresh lemon juice.
• Place a generous spoonful of apples on top of each cheesecake. 
• Top with the streusel topping. 
• Bake in the pre heated oven for approximately 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Allow to cool completely then chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. 
• Just before serving, pour a generous amount of caramel sauce on top of the cheesecake. I used ready made caramel sauce but you can also make your own. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

I love watching the Food Channel when I get a chance and last week was such a moment. Lorraine Pascale was on TV and she was demonstrating a peanut butter recipe. It looked delicious and it was a simple no bake recipe. I knew that I had to try it and I'm so glad I did as it tastes amazing. If you love peanut butter and chocolate as much as me then you will definitely love this recipe. I know it's not the healthiest thing to eat in January but it could be worse! I love the addition of digestive biscuits to the peanut butter which gives it a really nice texture. 

These are perfect for lunch boxes or for an after dinner treat. The plus side is you can slice them into tiny little squares so you don't feel as guilty. The trick is not to eat more than one but they really are quite more-ish - you have been warned! I'm sending this to Tea Time Treats hosted by Janie from The Hedgecombers and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is packed lunches. 

 blitz the biscuits and brown sugar 

 press the peanut butter/biscuit mixture into the tin 

 pour the melted chocolate on top and let it set in the fridge 

 delicious squares 

Recipe can be found online here which also includes a helpful video. 

Blackberry, Lemon and Vanilla Cheesecake

J's favourite fruit is blackberries and he is always asking for a blackberry dessert. Luckily I had a large box of blackberries from my colleague's garden in the freezer. I've made numerous crumbles with them but this time I wanted to make something a little special. J also loves cheesecake hence this blackberry, lemon and vanilla cheesecake. The inspiration for this recipe was a lovely two layer cheesecake but unfortunately mine looks nothing like that! However, it tasted heavenly and that's what really counts. I made a vanilla layer using vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste and a blackberry & lemon layer. The blackberry layer was a little tart and paired perfectly with the sweeter vanilla layer. 

I'm sending this to  Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and co hosted by Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is "getting fruity".

It also fits in to Shop Local hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. This challenge was created to highlight produce from local sources. The blackberres in this recipe came from a colleague's garden. 

 digestive biscuit base 

  blackberry mix on the left and vanilla mix on the right 

 ready to go in the oven 

 after baking for about 25 minutes 

 adding vanilla mix on top which mostly sunk to the middle, pushing the blackberry layer to the outside 

 

Recipe adapted from ivillage.com
40g butter
300mls sour cream
18-20 digestive biscuits
900g cream cheese
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
220g caster sugar
180mls milk
4 eggs
360g frozen blackberries
zest and juice of 1 lemon

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Melt the butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan.
• Blitz the digestive biscuits in a food processor and stir in the melted butter. 
• Press into the bottom of a lined 23cm springform tin making sure that the biscuits also go partway up the sides of the tin.
• Place in the fridge to chill whilst you make the filling. 
• Beat the cream cheese and sugar until combined. 
• Add in the milk then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
• Add in the sour cream and continue mixing until smooth.
• Divide the mixture evenly between 2 large bowls. 
• In a food processor, puree approximately 300g of the blackberries with the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Pour into 1 of the cream cheese mix and stir in the whole blackberries.
• In the 2nd cream cheese mix, add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste and mix well.
• Pour the blackberry filling on to the biscuit base and bake for approximately 25 minutes  (recipe said 10 minutes but even 25 minutes was not enough for me - it probably needs 35-40 minutes) 
• Remove the cheesecake from the oven and pour the vanilla filling on top.
• Return to the oven and continue baking for another hour or until the top is set.
• Chill in the fridge before serving. 

Chocolate and Mint Biscuit Slice

This is a quick and simple no bake recipe which is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. It's perfect for parties or picnics or BBQs and I'm sure I'll be making more of these as we are heading into summer. The recipe is based on a malteser traybake recipe from BBC Good Food but I've used Mint Aero Bubbles instead. 

I'm entering this to the Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... The theme this month is summer and this refreshing no bake recipe is perfect for summer. 

I'm also sending it to Dead Easy Desserts hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake. This takes less than 30 minutes to prepare excluding chilling time.

 mint aero bubbles, golden syrup, butter, digestive biscuits, milk chocolate

 adding the crushed digestive biscuits to the chocolate mixture

 stirring in the mint aero bubbles

 press into a tray and chill for a few hours then slice

 I love that you can still the green aero bubbles

Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food
I'd recommend making a double recipe as one won't be enough!

100g butter
200g milk chocolate
3 tablespoon golden syrup
250g crushed digestive biscuits
225g Mint Aero Bubbles

• Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a medium sized saucepan.
• Add in the crushed digestive biscuits
• Allow to cool slightly before adding the Mint Aero Bubble otherwise it will melt 
• Press into a square or rectangle baking tray and chill in the fridge for a few hours or preferably overnight.
• Slice and enjoy.

SRC: No Bake Berry Cheesecake

It's the last Monday of the month which means that it's Secret Recipe Club Group D Reveal day! I love the Secret Recipe Club and look forward to reveal day every month. The concept is simple each blog is assigned another blog in secret and the idea is that you choose a recipe to make from your secret blog and reveal it on the same day.

This month my assignment is Fantastical Sharing of Recipes written by Sarah who shares what her family likes to eat and what they like. She is also working on recipe development and sharing original ideas. Her blog is really easy to navigate and I like that there are thumbnail pictures for the recipe index. As expected, they are mostly family recipes and she has lovely photos to accompany each recipe.

As usual, it was difficult to choose a recipe to make as there were so many I wanted to try. So I asked J what he would like and he immediately chose this No Bake Berry Cheesecake. It's not a surprising choice as he loves cheesecake and he loves berries! This is the first time I've used condensed milk in a cheesecake recipe and it's absolutely gorgeous. The cheesecake is really smooth and creamy and the berry sauce is divine. I made a really thick biscuit base which helped to cut through the sweetness of the filling and berries.  I can foresee a lot of repeated requests for this one!

Other recipes that I've also bookmarked are Caramel Filled Brownies, Nutella Twix Blondies, Rolo Cupcakes, Caramel Frappucino Cupcakes, Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies, Death by Chocolate Sea Salt Cookies and Best Ever Peanut Butter Fudge. She has a really good selection of recipes to suit every occasion and every taste so do check out her blog.

 I made a thick base layer 

 Filled it with the cream cheese/condensed milk filling 

 cooked down lots of berries with some sugar 

 piled the berry sauce on top 

 Delicious!

Recipe adapted slightly from Fantastical Sharing on Recipes

1 large pack of digestive biscuits

155g butter

200g cream cheese

1 can condensed milk

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the berry topping

I used a mixture of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries - approximately 450g 

Approximately 50 -75g caster sugar -adjust to taste

• Blitz the digestive biscuits in a food processor or place in a ziplock bag and bash with a rolling pin then place in a large bowl. 
• Melt the butter and pour over the crushed biscuits.
• Mix well with a spoon. 
• Press into your serving dish and let it set in the fridge. 
• Make the filling by mixing the cream cheese and condensed milk together in an electric mixer. Add in the vanilla extract and lemon juice.
• Spoon over the cheesecake base and allow to set in the fridge. 
• Cook the berries and sugar in a small saucepan on a low to medium heat until the berries have cooked but not turned to mush. 
• Pour over the cheesecake or serve it on the side. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Tiffin or refrigerator cake

I've been baking mostly healthy treats this month but I did promise a few naughty treats as well. This is so easy to make but oh so naughty. It's a refrigerator cake or tiffin and it's a really simple no bake recipe which you can easily prepare in advance. I used digestive biscuits, rich tea biscuits, marhsmallows and mixed fruit and nut. I gave these away as gifts and they were very well received.

I'm entering this to Dead Easy Desserts hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake as these take less than 30 minutes to make excluding chilling time.

150g milk chocolate
150g dark chocolate
100g butter
150g golden syrup
100g mixed fruit and nut
140g digestive biscuits, lightly crushed
140g rich tea biscuits, lightly crushed
100g mini marshmallows
50g raisins or dried cranberries

*note you can use any combination of fillings that you like - fruits, nuts, seeds, biscuits, honeycomb. Just ensure there is enough chocolate mixture to cover the filling

• Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the other ingredients.
• Pour into a square tin and level with a palette knife.
• Allow to set in the fridge for a few hours or preferably overnight.
• Cut into squares and enjoy.