Messy Red Apron

Serves 8
Ingredients:
Base:
300g choc ripple biscuits
80g butter, melted
Filling
2x 250g packs Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup castor sugar
300g white choc melts
1 tablespoon gelatine
1 1/2 tablespoones hot water
1/2 cup whipped cream
300g raspberries

Here's how to do it:
In a food processor, process biscuits until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.  Add butter and process until combined.  Press mixture into a 9" spring-form tin and refrigerate while preparing the filling.

Melt choc bits and set aside to cool slightly.

Beat cream cheese until soft, add sugar and melted chocolate and combine until smooth and sugar dissolved.  In a separate bowl whisk gelatine and hot water until dissolved, add to filling and beat until combined.  Fold in whipped cream.

Separate mixture into two bowls.  In one bowl add raspberries and fold through then pour onto the base.  Pour remaining mixture on top of raspberry filling and using a bamboo stick swirl both mixtures together.

Cover and refrigerate until set.

Variations:
Replace biscuit base for sponge cake
Exchange berries for passionfruit or maltesers

I had some issues with my choice of raspberries.  I opted to get frozen rather than fresh and found them to be soggy and mushy.  The original recipe was to add half the raspberries to the filling and the remaining on raspberries on top.  I did this and it ended up looking like a bright pink cheesecake with mushy raspberries.  Next time I will divide the mixture in two as mentioned in the recipe above.

Visual appeal aside, the cheesecake went down well with the family.

Enjoy!

Shirred Eggs

I had never heard of shirred eggs until I saw it on a program called The Essence of Emeril and it seemed pretty darn easy.  One lazy Saturday morning for brunch I thought I'd give it a shot.  Mind you, I didn't have all the ingredients and wasn't ready to get out of my pj's so I made do with what I had in the fridge. Here's my version:

Serves 2
Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon butter
2 large slices of ham
4 eggs
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 tablespoons cream
4 tablespoons cheddar cheese - grated

Here's how to do it:
Heat oven to 190degrees.

Smear ramekins with butter and line each with a slice of ham, making sure it sits flat on the bottom.

Using 2 separate bowls, crack one egg into each.  At the same time, pour eggs into 1 ramekin.  The eggs should sit side by side.  Repeat with remaining eggs.  Season with salt & pepper.

Put the ramekins onto a baking tray and transfer to oven.  Bake for about 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and and lightly drizzle about 1-2 tablespoons of cream over each ramekin. Be careful not to break the yolk.  Sprinkle with cheese and place back in oven for another 12 minutes or until egg is cooked but yolk is still runny. If you don't like runny eggs, simply cook for a bit longer.

Take out of oven and serve hot with buttered toast soldiers.

This recipe is very rich, creamy & filling.

Next time we will definitely try using Swiss cheese & herbs.

Enjoy!