Monday No Bake - Lemon Cheesecake Spider Webs

I bought these halloweeny cases for cupcakes and then saw a recipe for individual cheesecakes in Sainsburys magazine.   I usually either make baked cheesecakes or cheesecakes made with condensed milk and lemon juice. This recipe uses gelatine which I have never used before.  The leaves are exactly as Nigella describes - little fairytale castle windows!  I found it very easy to use.

Ingredients:
1 x 160g pack Taste the Difference Lemon Shortbread Thins (or digestive biscuits)
40g butter, melted
6 sheets leaf gelatine
50g caster sugar
150g full fat cream cheese at room temperature
200ml double cream at room temperature
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 x 197g tin condensed milk
50g dark chocolate

Method:
Line a 12 hole muffin tine with paper cases .
Bash the biscuits in a freezer bag until they resemble fine crumbs.  Pour into a bowl and stir in the melted butter.   Divide between the cases, press down - I found this easiest with a shot glass.  Chill.

Soak the gelatine leaves in a shallow bowl of cold water for 5 minutes, remove by hand, squeezing out the excess water and place in a small saucepan with 3 tablespoons of water.  Stir over a very low heat until dissolved.

Put the sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl and whisk until combined,  Add the double cream, lemon zest and juice, condensed milk and dissolved gelatine, whisk with an electric hand whisk  until smooth and slightly thickened.  Divide the mixture equally among the paper cases, filling them to the top.

Pour the melted chocolate into a disposable piping bag and snip off the tip.  Pipe a spiral on to the top of one cheesecake and immediately draw lines from the centre out to the edge to make it look like a spiders web.  Repeat this with the remaining cheesecakes.  At first I piped four spirals on the top row of cheesecakes and then when I went back to draw the lines the chocolate had already set! 

Chill for 3 to 4 hours until set.

 

 



 

This could also be made as one big cheesecake in a springform tin - delicious! 

 

See you next week,
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Never Tear Us Apart - Paloma Faith 
2. Carmina Burana - O Fortuna - London Philharmonic Orchestra
3. Devil Woman - Cliff Richard