Little lemon raspberry swirl cheesecakes

Ingredients:
40g butter, elted
½ cup frozen raspberries, thawed
2 Tbsp icing sugar, sifted
375g traditional cream cheese
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs (size 6)
finely grated rind 1 lemon
1 cup finely ground gingernut biscuits (about 11) use any other hard biscuit if you wish
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method
Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 12-muffin pan with paper or foil cases. Mix the finely ground gingernuts and butter in a bowl. Divide mixture among the paper cases, pressing down firmly. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from oven and cool. Turn down oven heat to 125°C.

To make the raspberry purée, mash the raspberries to a pulp with the back of a fork then strain through a sieve into a bowl, pressing down well with the back of a spoon to get as much juice as possible. Discard seeds. Stir icing sugar into purée.

Place the cream cheese and caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat just until the mixture is smooth, light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition – you may prefer to do this with a hand whisk, to avoid overbeating. Finally, add lemon rind and vanilla essence.

Pour the cheese mixture over the biscuit bases, filling right up to the top of the cases. Place small drops (about ½ tsp) of the raspberry purée on top of the cakes and, using a wooden skewer, carefully swirl it through the cheese mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until just set and no longer wobbly. Open oven door and allow the cakes to cool completely in the switched-off oven. They do shrink as they cool, but that is perfectly normal.

~ Recipe from Taste Magazine.

Lemon Meringue Pie

This dessert may look and sound complicated but is really quite easy and of course delicious!

For the pastry:  
1/2 cup cold butter 
2 tbsp sugar 
1 egg 
1 tbsp cold water 
1/2 tsp salt 
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 

For the filling:  
45 gms cornflour 
1 tbsp cold water 
juice and zest of 2 large lemons 
300ml boiling water 
90 gms caster sugar 
4 egg yolks lightly beaten  

For the meringue:  
4 medium egg whites 
250 gms caster sugar (I sometimes use only 150 gms because its quite sweet)  

1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process for 2 mins until smooth, stopping occasionally and wiping down the sides with a rubber spatula if necessary. 

2. Stop the processor, add the egg, water and salt and process for another 2 mins, until smooth and uniform in texture. 

3. Stop the processor and add the flour. process for 1 min until a neat ball is formed. Remove the dough and wrap in plastic wrap. it is rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 mins before using.  

4. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees. Roll out pastry and line the tart ring. Prick and place with grease proof paper over the pastry. Fill with baking beans/rice and blind bake for 15 mins.  

5. Remove the beans, brush the pastry with beaten egg yolk and bake again for 3 mins. Take it out of the oven and set aside. 

6. Mix together cornflour, cold water, lemon juice, and zest. Stir in the boiling water until it is smooth and transfer the mix to a pan. Simmer over medium heat until thick - about 3-4 mins. 

7. Beat together the sugar and egg yolks until pale and creamy. While beating, drizzle in lemon mixture until thoroughly combined. Pour into the pastry shell and allow to cool and set. 

8. Preheat the oven to 220 degree. Meanwhile, whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Slowly add in the sugar while whisking until it becomes glossy. Don't whisk too fast or the whites will collapse.  

9. Once all the sugar is incorporated, use a palette knife to spread the meringue over the the lemon mixture. Bake for 15 mins.  

Serve with whipped cream if you like.  

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Sophie Conran's book - Pies