09/08/2021
Well, this one definitely goes into the 'will make again' file.
I wanted to come up with a honey-flavoured cheescake recipe with Filbert Farm ground hazelnut meal in the crust, and crunchy honey toffee praline garnish. It was quite quick to make, baked perfectly, and was absolutely delicious. Creamy and flavoursome but not too sweet. I used a Thermomix but any food processor and mixer will do the trick. I used Shepherd's Bee Co. raw honey.
Ingredients:
For Cheesecake:
1 x 200g packet sweet biscuits (I used Butternut Crunch)
2/3 cup Hazelnut meal (blitz whole nuts in a food processor)
70g butter
750g cream cheese - softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup raw honey
100g greek yoghurt or light sour cream
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 eggs
For Garnish
1 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup roasted chopped hazelnuts.
Method:
1. Line a 21cm springform tin base with baking paper and grease sides of tin.
2. Blitz whole raw or roasted hazelnuts and set aside
3. Crush biscuits finely
4. Melt butter, and combine with hazelnut meal and biscuit crumbs
5. Press crumbs into base of lined tin with the back of a spoon, smooshing up the walls as far as possible and refrigerate while preparing the filling.
6. Chop the softened cream cheese and combine with brown sugar, honey, yoghurt and ginger, beating until smooth.
7. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between additions.
8. Pour mixture into prepared base, and bake at 150DegC for 45-50 minutes, until set but still a bit jiggly in the middle.
9. Allow to cool in oven with the door wedged ajar with a potmitt, then chill for at least 2 hrs.
For the garnish:
10. Line a small baking tray with baking paper and sprinkle chopped roasted hazelnuts across the base.
11. Add caster sugar, honey and water to a shallow heavy pan
12. Stir until dissolved over low heat, then continue heating on higher heat until boiling for about 5 minutes. The honey colour may make it hard to judge when the toffee is ready, use a glass of cold water to drop a bit of the mixture in after 5 minutes cooking to see if it is at 'hard crack' stage, you will hear it.
13. Pour toffee over nuts in tray and allow to set. Once cold, put in an airtight container. When ready to decorate, break into sections and arrange on the top of the cheesecake. Use a hot knife to slice and serve with whipped cream.
Please let us know if you make it, and send us your photos. 🐝🌰