Baking is a very big part of my daily life. For me baking is therapeutic. The look on my family's face when they take that first bite, and find out that it actually does taste as good as it looks, brings me so much happiness. But when my oven went faulty, it took couple of weeks to get it up working. I was restless. I wanted to make something and yet do away with the baking part. That's when I decided that I would make a "no-bake" cheesecake. And needless to say, it was an instant hit. Nobody believed that these were not baked.
These mini cheesecakes are set up in refrigerator instead of an oven. They are crunchy, creamy, simple and refreshing.
Here's how these are made.
Ingredients:
There are three parts to this beautiful dessert.
Part A: The bottom crust made of digestive biscuits.
Part B: The middle layer of cream cheese filling.
Part C: The top layer of fresh cut fruits.
You will also need
steel mould rings of size 6 x 3.5 cms
small 2.5 cms round cupcake boards or discs. You can find them in any baking store.
One piping bag.
For the Crust
90 grams or around 7-8 ground digestive biscuits or graham crackers. You can ground them in a ziplock bag with the help of a rolling pin.
1 tablespoon sugar
5 tablespoons or 40 grams of melted butter
Cling wrap to wrap each mould ring from one side to secure the mixture
For the filling
170 grams cream cheese softened
60 grams sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 grams unsweetened hung curds. (For this I used store bought Greek yogurt in a muslin cloth and hung it overnight for it drain all the water content).
200 grams heavy whipping cream. The heavy cream should be used unwhipped.
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3-4 tablespoons of soaked and melted gelatin. ( I used gelatin powder made of fish instead of beef. All you have to do is take 11/2 teaspoons of gelatin powder and soak it in 4 tablespoons of room temperature water and leave it aside for 12-15 minutes. After that put the soaked gelatin mixture in microwave and heat it up for 10 seconds. Your melted gelatin is ready).
For gelatin substitute, one can use agar agar in 1:1 ratio.
For the topping
3-4 tablespoons of soaked and melted gelatin. ( I used gelatin powder made of fish instead of beef. All you have to do is take 11/2 teaspoons of gelatin powder and soak it in 4 tablespoons of room temperature water and leave it aside for 12-15 minutes. After that put the soaked gelatin mixture in microwave and heat it up for 10 seconds. Your melted gelatin is ready).
120 ml of water
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
3 tablespoons of sugar
Cut cubes of fruits of your choice. I used Kiwis, dragon fruit, blackberries, cubes of mangoes, red grapes for a pop of colour cut in halves.
Instructions:
To make the crust
In a small bowl combine ground graham crackers or digestive biscuits , 1 tablespoon sugar and melted butter. Mixture should have the consistency of wet sand.
Take the steel rings and wrap the bottom half of the ring with cling wrap and secure it with a elastic band. Now place the cupcake paper board inside the ring.
Place 1 ½ tablespoons of biscuit mixture into the bottom of each mold. Press the mixture down firmly to form the crust. Try to press uniformly.
Place the rings in the freezer for about 30 minutes to solidify.
Prepare the filling
Meanwhile, in the bowl, with a spatula, vigorously mix cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. I did not use a hand mixer or a stand mixer here. Stir in vanilla extract and lemon juice.
Now add the hung yogurt and whisk again into a smooth creamy consistency.
Now add the unwhipped heavy cream and combine until well blended. The consistency will be little loose here.
Finally add the soaked and melted gelatin into the cream cheese mixture.
Now pour the mixture into the piping bag and cut the mouth of the piping bag so that the pouring is ready and uniform.
Bring the rings out of the freezer and pour the cream cheese filling on top of the crust. About 2 cms high.
Now again place the rings in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to solidify.
For the topping
In a measuring cup, add 120 ml of water.
Add sugar and lemon juice and combine well until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Add the soaked and melted gelatin and mix well.
The gelly mixture is ready. Keep it aside.
Cut the fruits of your choice in small cubes and any small shapes to be placed on the filling. Put the cut fruits on a paper towel for it to absorb the moisture from the fruits.
Now bring the rings out of the refrigerator and start gently placing the fruits on top. Cover the cheese filling layer with fruits.
Now add the jelly mixture with the help of a spoon upto the rim of the ring.
Now place all the rings in the refrigerator for about 5-6 hours for the mini fruit cheesecake to harden.
Now before serving, you have to remove the rings. For that, first remove the plastic cling wrap and place the rings on the small bottle smaller than the diameter of the ring.
Wrap the ring with the hot towel or kitchen napkin for about 30 seconds.
Now gently slide down the ring simultaneously holding the cheesecake.
Tada..... Your mini fruit cheesecake are ready.
These can be made ready ahead of time and can be placed in the refrigerator for later use.
Enjoy!!!!