Fridge Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 4 tsp gelatine agar agar is a vegetarian alternative
- 125 ml boiled water
- 150 g crushed biscuits, half Tennis half Marie (- use 200g if you prefer a thicker base, I don't)
- 100 g melted butter
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 50 ml lemon juice + zest
- 250 ml fresh cream
- 1 tin condensed milk
- 500 g smooth cottage cheese
Instructions
- Prepare the gelatine and leave to cool, while getting on with the rest of the recipe. Add the gelatine to the boiled water and stir to ensure there are no lumps and it’s properly dissolved. Set aside to cool. Do not let it cool completely as you will have a thick jelly. You can bring it back to liquid form by placing over a warm water bath to “melt” again, but that won’t be necessary if you go at a steady pace. 4 tsp gelatine, 125 ml boiled water
- Add the melted butter to the crushed biscuits and mix to combine add the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, continue to mix.150 g crushed biscuits, half Tennis half Marie (use 200g if you prefer a thicker base, I don't) , 100 g melted butter, ½ tsp cinnamon
- Pour the biscuit crumb into the 23cm buttered springform pan and press down with the back of a spoon.
- Refrigerate until ready to fill.
- Whisk the cream to soft peak stage add the lemon zest to the cream set aside until ready to fold into other ingredients. 50 ml lemon juice + zest, 250 ml fresh cream
- In a blender add cottage cheese and the condensed milk and blend until smooth and evenly combined. Scrape down the sides with a spatula to ensure an even mix, 500 g smooth cottage cheese, 1 tin condensed milk
- Add the lemon juice to the gelatine mix to bring the temperature down to room temperature
- With the blender still running add the gelatine to the cottage cheese, condensed milk mix.
- Fold in the whipped cream and lemon zest.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
- Refrigerate for 6 -8 hours or overnight. Use a offset spatula dipped in hot water around the circumference of the springform pan before unclipping it.
- Serve with blueberry jam or other stewed fruit or your choice of fruit topping. Extra cream or ice cream is also a treat. I had fresh cherries
- This cheesecake has a thin biscuit base. Add 50g more biscuits if you want a thicker base. Adjust the butter too by adding about 30g.
- Lemon juice can be replaced with 2 tsp vanilla extract and you can also add 30ml of Roses Lime cordial to the lemon juice for a more punchy taste. This was a tip from Ina Paarman.
Notes
If you don't have a spring form baking pan, you can make this in a pyrex or pie dish 1.1l capacity as well and pour the extra mixture into little remekins for mini individual cheesecakes. You can make 6 little ramekins and 1 x 1.1L pirex dish with this quantity
I decided to bake the biscuit base for 10 minutes in my oven because my oven was on and I wanted to give it a baked, taosted flavour. This is not necessary as the crumb will be equally good without the bake.