Snow, Whisky & Cheesecake

There was a blast of snow across the whole Britain before Christmas.

Although it caused a lot of chaos, I really enjoyed the snow as I made a trip to Swansea visiting my brother.

It was a brief but a fruitful trip, we went to Rhossili and Brecon Beacons National Park.

Later, we drove back to Basildon to celebrate Christmas.

I made this after Christmas, I was recovering from the trip so I couldn't made this in time for the Christmas meal.

I found the walnut slightly overtake the taste of vanilla but it matches perfectly with the whisky caramel sauce.

Recipe (6" square):

Baked Vanilla Cheesecake

Crust:

90g caramelised biscuit crumbs

30g unsalted butter, melted

50g chopped walnuts

Preheat oven at 180C.

Mix the ingredients & press into a 6" springform pan, bake for 15 min.

Remove from heating & set aside for cooling.

Filling:

300g cream cheese

2 eggs

60g sugar

1/2 vanilla pod, split & seeded

2 tbsp whipping cream

Preheat oven to 150C.

Heat vanilla seeds with whipping cream on slow heat to about boiling, strain to remove large vanilla bits.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth, then combine with vanilla cream.

In another bowl, whisk eggs until fluffy & pale.

Gently fold in the cheese batter, then pour in the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 min and leave to cool inside the oven.

Remove from oven & refrigerate for at least 2 h before serving with warm whisky caramel sauce.

Whisky Caramel Sauce

80g granulated sugar

100g whipping cream, warm

1 - 2 tbsp Scotch whisky, to taste

In a saucepan, heat the sugar until amber brown.

Carefully add the whipping cream, stir to dissolve the caramel.

Remove from heating, add the whisky & set aside for cooling.