STRAWBERRY REFRIGERATOR CHEESECAKE...Eggless

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Still on a dessert spree. Looks like main course has deserted my blog. Some more strawberries mean some more sweet somethings. We had quiche for lunch & chicken pie, as a result of which I've had just about enough of eggs, & was looking for anything eggless to make, & with strawberries. Electricity has been disappearing every alternate hour at will, so an important criteria was something not baked. A few days ago a local blogger Nachiketa called me to check about the chocolate yogurt cake. She's a chirpy young thing, full of beans & has the 'get up & go' to bake after she comes back from work late every evening. She's forever baking cakes from here & there, & has infectious levels of excitement. It isn't rare to get a call from her at 9 pm asking what to substitute for what ... she's just about to begin baking, whereas we've done dinner + dessert, & the kids are being packed off to bed!) LOL!! She mentioned she made some yummy cheesecake a while ago, & was good enough to mail me the recipe the same night. What I made is inspired from her recipe, & a bit from The Le Cordon Bleu's The Cook's Bible, which also has a similar cheesecake. I'm glad to have Nachiketa on hand because local experience is invaluable in India. We get hardly anything that is standard here, & are forever improvising...often fun , but can be quite disastrous at times!STRAWBERRY REFRIGERATOR CHEESECAKE
As adapted from Nachiketa's recipe
Ingredients:
Biscuit base
200gms Marie biscuits (1 packet); or digestives
2 tsps granular sugar
50 gms melted butter
Filling:
400ms Curd Cheese (approx) - from 1kg of yogurt hung for 24 hours
250ml Cream (25% fat)
4-5 tbsps Castor sugar (to taste)
2 tbsp Gelatin
200gms Strawberries (reserve a couple for topping if you like)
1 tsp Strawberry essence - ( optional)
Method:
For biscuit base
Run the granulated sugar & biscuits in the processor till fine crumbs for; or put into a thick bag & crush with a rolling pin.Mix in melted butter, & press this mixture into the base of a spring form 8" baking tin. Chill for 30 minutes.

Filling:

Sprinkle the gelatin on approx 1/4 cup of water, & then leave the bowl to stand in another bowl of hot water till the gelatin melts, & become a clear liquid. (about 10 minutes).Run the curd cheese, hulled strawberries, sugar & essence in the processor till smooth. (You can chop a few strawberries & add them in the end if you like having pieces of fruit in your cheesecake.)Add the clear gelatin & process for a few seconds until mixed uniformly.Whip the cream to soft peaks & fold into the above. Taste & adjust sugar if required.Take biscuit case out of fridge, & pour the filling in. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours, maybe more in the summer.I would have liked to make a mirror topping, but ran out of strawberries. Can't wait for summer to be here to make a mango version of this yummy no-bake cheesecake.Something coincided with my no bake cheesecake. Have held a DIY table-top lighting project on my bursting folder of things to do, for ages. Actually in Sep '08, when the merry bandits @ Jugalbandi posted this DIY post for table-top lighting, I bookmarked it for DH to make. But flights & fog have kept him far too busy for my never ending requests. The other day I thought I would pass it on to my Dad to make because he was feeling bored. The cricket matches were yet to begin, & he was getting impatient to do something. He loves carpentry & working with electricity, & is a through & through DIY man. Working on the project made him a happy man indeed, & the pictures taken, even happier. And yes, I did share the cheesecake with him! The pictures aren't the best result yet, as I used 60W bulbs instead of 100W ones...

...but since this is my first click on something out & out inspirational from Jugalbandi, & has curd cheese within, it is my entry for this CLICK: February 2009. (Cheese/Tofu). Just a happy coincidence that it has 'cheese', as well as many bloggy DIY sentiments attached to it. Thank you Jai & Bee!This would make a nice, quick no-bake dessert for Valentines Day... maybe you can try it!