18 August 2011

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

Even though I'm officially on vacation, I have a hard time shutting off when it comes to making sweet after-dinner treats! I have limited baking facilities so have had to adapt someof my favorite recipes for simpler execution. This is a no-bake cheesecake that is super fast and easy to prepare. Here's what you need:

For the Crust:

1 sleeve of tea biscuits, graham crackers, chocolate cookies or whatever you want to make your crust with (about 20 cookies)
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsps sugar

1) Place cookies inside a plastic bag. Using a rolling pin or if you're like me and don't have access to one, the bottom of a skillet, bash the cookies until you have a very fine crumb.
2) Pour into bowl, add butter and sugar and stir to mix.
3) Using the back of a spoon, flatten crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a shallow round baking pan or springform mold (8 inch).
4) Store crust in freezer about 10 minutes while you make the filling.

For the Filling:
3 packages Philadelphia cream cheese
200 ml whipping cream
1 cup sugar
juice from 1 lemon
4 large squares from a chocolate tablet (I used Perugina dark)

1) Whip cream until soft peaks form and set aside.
2) Using the back of a fork, mash cream cheese in a large bowl, add sugar and lemon juice and stir to combine.
3) Mix in whipped cream until you have a homogenous, creamy filling.
4) Spoon into crust and smooth with a spoon or fork for a flat surface. Reserve in fridge while you melt the chocolate.
5) Melt chocolate squares in microwave for about 60 seconds or until smooth.
6) Drip chocolate in dollops over the surface of the cheesecake. Drag the tip of a sharp knife over surface of the cheesecake in figure 8's for a decorative pattern.
7) Leave cheesecake in fridge at least 10 hours or overnight to set. Serve and enjoy!

If you have any simple, no-bake recipes you'd like to share,please do so in the comments section!

3 comments:

  1. My sister in law's husband (who is French) asked me about the phrase Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy. I found this interesting article here:
    http://www.newser.com/off-the-grid/post/223/caution-do-not-read-the-words-easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.html

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  2. Sorry, I'm really confused by the units you use...

    How many grams is 3 packages of cream cheese? And how many grams is 4 large squares of a chocolate tablet? What about 1 sleeve of graham crackers?

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  3. Hi and sorry for the confusion. I'm not always very precise when coming up with new recipes. In this case, I used 3 regular size packages of Philly. In the US, this would be the 8 oz. squares. Here in Europe I believe it is a 150 gram or 200 gram tub. For the chocolate melt more or less depending on how much you want to drizzle on top -- about 50-100 grams. And as stated in the recipe, I used about 20 biscuits for the crust. Hope that helps!

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