RED(fruit) ALERT

This is one of the easiest recipes to make because of the two short cuts - first, I used ready-made crust and then I topped this with ready made crumble mix. Common, give me a break, I'm a new mum and I badly need all the short cuts at this time to maximise whatever free baking time I have (when baby is asleep or not cranky). For the pie crust, I got both sweet and savoury crusts but on testing both, I noticed that it's better to use the savoury crust to counteract the sweetness of the filling. I have also tried both red and green (Granny Smith) apples. Ideally, the Granny Smiths should be used but since we had lots of red apples left in the fridge, I have decided to experiment and wallah, it turned out really good ('can't really tell the difference). Maybe when I become more ambitious again, I can make my own pie crust in the future as well as my own crumble mix but for now, the short and easy version would do.

Ingredients:

Ready-made savoury pie crust (in the UK, it is called pastry case)
Crumble mix, for topping

For the filling:
2 regular-sized apples (red or green)
1 piece lemon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 150 to 200 C.  Peel, core and slice the apples into half-inch thick slices. Place them in a mixing bowl and toss with lemon juice. Mix all the dry ingredients then add butter. Combine the mixture with the sliced apples then pour the mixture in the crust. Top it with the crumble mix. Bake until crumble turns brown and some of the filling would start to bubble and seep out.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
Digestive biscuits, half a pack (this is the UK version of Graham crackers)
1/4 cup butter, melted

For the filling:
2 200g Philadelphia soft cheese (cream cheese in US terms)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 cup double cream
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla
lemon zest

For the topping:
1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced
2-4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp cornstarch (or corn flour in the UK)
1 1/2 tbsp water
1 tsp lemon juice
golden syrup

Crush the digestives and add the melted butter. Mix well. Press the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan. Chill in the fridge.

Whisk the soft cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour the double cream and continue to beat well. Add the remaining ingredients and continue beating until well blended.

Take the crust from the fridge once hardened then pour in the cheese mixture. Bake in 180C by placing in a water bath (which is done by placing the pan in a larger container half-filled with water; also wrap the bottom of the pan with foil to prevent any of the cheese mixture from leaking into the water). Bake for 30-45 minutes. Let it cool and chill overnight.

For the topping, mix the water and cornstarch. Toss the strawberries with the lemon juice. Place the strawberries and mixture in a sauce pan with the sugar. Mix well until sugar dissolves and let it boil. When mixture thickens, add a little of the golden syrup. Let it cool and add on top of chilled cheesecake. Garnish with fresh strawberries and other fruits if you like (in my case I added kiwi as it is the other fruit available in my fridge).

NOTES:
I have whisked both manually and using a hand held mixer. Personally, there is nothing different about the taste when I did both.

A slice of strawberry heaven