You know how much I love cheesecake… It is my go-to comfort food more often than I would like to admit. Happy days and stressed days equally call out for cheesecake around here! I’m very finicky about my cheesecakes. Till now my most favorite has been a blueberry cheesecake from a particular cafe. It is heavenly and just how I like my cheesecake to be. And I would never dare to make one in my house as long as that cafe exists!
After trying and making so many different varieties of cheesecakes, I decided to whip up this no-bake, gelatin-free, creamy, cheesy, frozen dessert. Let me simplify this for you. This dessert is nothing but a cheesecake ice-cream which is layered over a salty, buttery, chocolaty crust.
My refrigerator was bursting with sweet and juicy pomegranates. It was a flavor I had never tried before in a cheesecake. I thought it would make a delicate and lovely pairing with cream cheese. To make things tangy, I used up zest and juice from a sweet lime. The result was such a gorgeous baby pink color cheesecake! I just fell in love with it 🙂
I went sweet and salty route this time. The crust for this cheesecake is made with chocolate Oreos, butter and just a pinch of salt. This salty kick enhances the cheesecake flavor to another level. If you’re not a fan of sweet-n-salt, feel free to skip the salt as it will still taste divine! But I highly recommend salt as it is not too over-powering. So promise me you’ll add it to know what I’m REALLY talking about… You’ll thank me! 😉
I made a big batch as I was having company but you can easily halve the recipe and make it in 4-inch spring-form pan. The frozen cheesecake tastes best when eaten within 12-15 hours of being made. It becomes harder and icier the more it stays in the freezer. In case of leftovers, let it thaw for 15 minutes before serving.
Frozen Sweet Lime~Pomegranate Cheesecake with Salted Oreo Crust
15 chocolate Oreos or any chocolate sandwiched biscuits
3 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
Cheesecake Filling:
3 pomegranates
Zest and juice from 1 sweet lime
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp icing sugar
2 8 oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups medium-fat fresh cream (40% fat), chilled
Direction:
Line 9-inch round spring-form pan with parchment paper. Grind Oreos in a food processor until you have fine crumbs. Add melted butter and salt. Spoon the crust and press down firmly over the base using flat base of a glass. Chill in refrigerator while you make the filling.
Remove morsels from pomegranates, save morsels from half pomegranate and juice rest of the morsels with lime juice. Strain the juice into a bowl, add icing sugar and whisk to dissolve.
In a large bowl, take cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Use electric hand mixer/stand mixer for this. Add juice and sweet lime zest to cream cheese and whip till combined.
In a separate bowl, whip the fresh cream till soft peaks form. Gently fold it with cream cheese mixture to achieve a lump-free consistency.
Remove spring-form pan from the refrigerator and spoon the cheesecake filling over the crust. Let it chill in freezer covered in cling film. After 1 hour, sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and return to chill in freezer for another 3-4 hours. Once set, release from spring-form pan, slice and serve. Run the knife under hot water before slicing.
Note: Can be consumed as a sweet lime~pomegranate cheesecake ice-cream if frozen without the Oreo crust.
I hope to write a small post! Is that even possible? Humph.. Let’s try and see..
I’m writing about this easiest dessert ever today… It is an English classic! I’m talking about Strawberry Fool.. The name says it all! It is so simple that any fool should be able to make it! No kidding 😀
The fool ~ this dessert is nothing but sweetened fruit folded into stiffly peaked and slightly sweetened whipped cream. THAT IS IT! Berries work perfectly for this dessert, especially strawberries. Kiwi and rhubarb would be a nice twist too.
For serving my fool, I made heart-shaped chocolate cups! Do you remember my post “Brownie Bombs“? I had mentioned in that post that even after coating all the cake pops generously I still had some left-over melted chocolate. I had to think on my feet… How to turn this left-over melted chocolate into something amazing and this impromptu idea came to my mind. Very easy to make. All you need is silicone cupcake liners.
Chocolate cups are so easy to make that once you’ve started, it is difficult to stop. You’ll find yourself stuffing them with all sorta yumminess out there! Imagine your favorite peanut butter, ice-creams, mousse and cheesecake served in these edible chocolate cups. Now no need to lick the plate!
Don’t overfill the cups with fool like I did! 😛
Chocolate and strawberries are match made in heaven. So serving strawberry fool in a chocolate cup makes for a perfect and elegant party-dessert. Chocolate cups can be made ahead and stored in refrigerator for months and strawberry fool is a no-cook, no-nonsense dessert. Perfect for last-minute dessert-fix or midnight-cravings!
P.S. I’m sorry but I do not have step-by-step photos for chocolate cups. As you can imagine my kitchen and hands were covered in chocolate. 😛 But do not worry. These are easy-peesy to make and you will not require my horrible photographic skills to show you that.
DIY Chocolate Cups:
Yields: 4 cups
Ingredients:
50 gm dark chocolate*, melted
4 silicone cupcake liners, frozen for 5 minutes
small sheet of grease-proof baking paper
Directions:
For detailed information on how to melt chocolate: Refer to this post
Method-1:
Dip the outer surface of the silicone liner into the melted chocolate. Remove the excess chocolate by giving the liner a slight shake. Ensure that the chocolate coats the liner evenly. Upturn the liner and place it on grease-proof baking paper. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Dip the liner again in the melted chocolate to get a thicker layer of chocolate and refrigerate again. Repeat these steps to make 3 more cups.
Once cool, separate the chocolate cups from silicone liners slowly and carefully. Refrigerate till the time of use. Method-2: For this method a small paint brush will be required.
Paint a thin layer of chocolate onto the inside of each cupcake liner. Refrigerate them for 10 minutes.
Paint a second thin layer of chocolate on top of the first layer and refrigerate for another 10 minutes.
Carefully pop the chocolate cups out of the liners. Refrigerate till the time of use.
* Feel free to use white chocolate or mix of dark and white chocolate.
Strawberry Fool:
Yields: 4 servings | Prep time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
6 large frozen strawberries, hulled and thawed
3 Tbsp caster sugar
1 cup fresh cream (medium fat 40%), chilled
For garnish: 2-3 strawberries, sliced or any cookie of your choice, crumbled
Directions:
Chill mixing bowl and beater in freezer for 5 minutes.
In a food processor, blend strawberries to a smooth puree. Mix 2 Tbsp sugar in the puree and set aside.
Remove mixing bowl and beater from freezer. Add fresh cream to the mixing bowl and whisk. Gradually add 1 Tbsp sugar to the cream and whip till you get stiff peaks.
Fold the strawberry puree in to a whipped cream until nearly incorporated, leaving a few streaks of whipped cream and strawberry puree. Divide the mixture among 4-chocolate cups. Serve immediately garnished with strawberry slices/cookie crumble or refrigerate for up to 2-3 hours.
P.S. Writing a short post requires a skill I don’t seem to possess! Have a happy weekend! 🙂