A Trio of Desserts; Cheesecake, Eton Mess and Brownies

Last weekend I headed home to Cheshire to catch up with my family and friends. We were pretty lucky to get a weekend with amazing weather, because usually in the North of England the weather can be questionable to say the least!

On the Friday night we had a group of family friends over for dinner, so I was tasked with creating the desserts. After much deliberation, I decided to make canapé-style desserts.

We started out sat in the courtyard, drinking rose and eating the most delicious nibbles, courtesy of Tom, chef from Licky Chop, Climpsons Arch. See my post about that here. 

We had crisp bread topped with broad bean, pea and lavender, or black olive and mint. They were absolutely delicious and went down a treat with a glass of rose or prosecco.

Our little dog Pepper, enjoying the sunshine.

Then it was time to head inside to begin our epic Moroccan feast. My mum had bought a gigantic shoulder of lamb, so while we prepared the table, they began the shredding.

The table was full of amazing food, including fresh salad home-grown by my mum, a sweet orange and carrot salad, pomegranate salsa and a green apple and herb chutney. After an epic fill, I was becoming evermore confident that my canapés were a great idea, so people could have as much or as little as they wanted. 

First up was my baked lemon New York Cheesecake. I had topped it with my granny's home made lemon curd and it was pretty amazing.

For these you will need:

250g ginger snap biscuits

100g melted butter

250g ricotta cheese

250g cream cheese

200g soured cream

3 large eggs

250g caster sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 lemon, finely grated rind and juice

150ml double cream

Lemon curd to decorate

. Heat the oven to 160C. Grease a 20cm by 30cm tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper.

. Put the ginger snap biscuits in a food processor and blend until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add in the melted butter and blend once more. Tip it into the baking tray and press down with the back of a spoon until it covers the bottom of the tin.

. Blend together the ricotta, cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, caster sugar, cornflour, vanilla extract and the rind and juice of the lemon until well-mixed.

. Pour over the biscuit mixture. Bake for 40 minutes until slightly set all over. Allow to cool to room temperature

. Whisk the cream and cover the top of the cheesecake with a thin layer. Leave this in the fridge to chill overnight.

. To serve, take the cheesecake out of the fridge and cut into small squares. Arrange on a plate, then top each with a small blob of lemon curd. Alternatively, you could top each with a raspberry.

Next onto the mini Eton Mess. I sort of made this one up a bit, but followed a basic meringue recipe.

You will need; 

4 large egg whites

115g caster sugar

115g icing sugar

A few drops of red food colouring

1 pot double cream

Strawberries

. Put the oven to 100C, and line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper/baking parchment

. Beat together the egg yolks with an electric hand whisk until they resemble soft peaks. They should stand up a bit when you take the whisk out of the mixture

. Turn the speed to the highest and add the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time. Don't over-beat, just stop when the mixture is thick and glossy.

. Sift a third of the icing sugar in, and fold it in. Do this with the second third, and then the third. The mixture should be smooth and billowy. 

. Put the mix into a piping bag, and pipe with the round nozzle, starting in the middle and swirling outwards so you have a flat disc.

. Bake for 1 - 1 and a half hours (check them after an hour to see if they are crisp on the outside) and then leave to cool.

. Whisk the cream, and top them with half a strawberry each.

Finally, the brownies. This is a recipe which has been used time and time again by my family, and work for almost any occasion. Leaving them ever so slightly undercooked means they will be gooey and sticky in the middle. 

This time, the brownies were made by my sister, Meri.

You will need; 

275g sot margarine

375g caster sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

75g cocoa powder

100g plain flour

100g chocolate chips

60g crushed hazelnuts

. Line a small roasting tin with foil and grease well

. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and blend. If you are going to use a hand whisk, put the chocolate chips in at the last minute and blend by hand.

. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes, then turn the oven to 100C for 30-40 minutes. This will help the brownies form a nice crust on the outside and stay nice and gooey in the middle.
. To serve, cut into squares. They are pretty rich so small squares go a long way!

I then placed the three platters of canapes on the table, and let people help themselves. They went down amazingly well and I got great feedback which is always a bonus!

Enjoy! x