Lemon Cheesecake

Equipment

-        500 ml measuring jug (two cups)

-       Small saucepan

-       Larger saucepan

-       Egg separator

-       Whisk

-       2 cups for the eggs

-       Grater

-       Large spoon to stir and a dessertspoon to measure sugar + a tablespoon

-       Small container (bowl or cup) for lemon juice

-       Rolling pin to crush biscuits and a big clear plastic bag or food processor with chopping blade

-       8 cm round cake tin with a fixed base

-       Chopping board or flat plate to grate lemon on and 3 saucers

Ingredients

-        1 lemon flavoured jelly

-         2 large eggs

-         125 ml of milk (half a cup)

-          2 large lemons

-          325 gram tub of smooth cottage or cream cheese

-          1 dessertspoon sugar

-          3 tablespoons double cream (thick cream)

-          100grams gingernut biscuits

-           50grams of butter

-          A few strawberries for decoration and a few mint leaves if you like

Method

-       Gather all your ingredients together

-       Open the packet of jelly and put the jelly into small saucepan. Throw packet away.

-       Measure the milk into a jug.

-       Take the lid off the cottage cheese.Throw away the lid

-       Measure 1 dessertful of sugar onto a saucer

-       Measure 3 tablespoons of thick cream onto a saucer.

-       Open the biscuits. Measure 100grams. Put rest away

-       Measure 50 grams of butter onto a saucer

-       Separate the eggs. Put whites into one bowl and yellows into another.

-       You can use an egg separator. Put it over a cup and crack the first egg into it. The yolk (yellow part) will stay in the separator and the white will drop into the cup. Do this with both eggs.

-       You can also separate eggs by cracking the egg in two halves and keeping the yellow in the shell and letting the white slip into a bowl or cup but this is very tricky

-       Grate the rind (yellow skin) from the lemons. Save it. Squeeze out the juice into a cup or small bowl

-       Put the pan with the jelly onto the stove on a low heat. Put 4 tablespoons of cold water into it and stir all the time until the jelly melts

-       Put the egg yolks (yellows) into a small mixing bowl with the milk and whisk them together

-       Pour the egg and milk mixture into the jelly in the pan on the stove. Stir and simmer (cook on a very low heat) for 4 minutes. Do not let it boil. Add the lemon juice and the lemon rind (yellow skin) Be careful not to get any pips in from the lemon as they taste bitter and you do not use them

-       Pour the contents of the pan into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the cheese Blend together until smooth, add the sugar bit by bit. Allow to cool

-       Whisk the egg whites with an electric beater until they are stiff and fold them into the cheese mixture. To fold in means to turn them over gently with a spoon until they are mixed in

-       Add the cream. Gently fold everything together

-       Pour the mixture into the cake tin and put it into the fridge for two to three hours to set.

-       Take the ginger biscuits and crush them. You can do this in a food processor with a blade if you have one or by breaking them up as small as you can and put them into a clear, clean plastic bag. Take a rolling pin and crush them

-       Melt the butter in a pan. Add the biscuits to the melted butter and stir them into the butter.. Take the cheesecake out of the fridge and press the biscuit mixture all over the top of the cheesecake

-       Put it back into the fridge to chill.

-       Wash the strawberries in cold water. Carefully slice them.

-       Finally take the cheesecake out of the fridge and turn it over very carefully onto a large plate. The tin will come away and the biscuits will be at the bottom of the cheesecake. Now decorate it with the strawberry slices (and a few fresh mint leaves if you like)

   

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