This Tart needs time to ‘cook’ in the fridge, so start it the night before or in the morning for dinner.
By Tania Cusack
Entertaining would throw my Mother into a fit of panic. This panic would encompass all living creatures…all rooms would be spring cleaned , rugs vacuumed, fridge cleaned out and even the poor dog, had to be washed and brushed. That is why dad would invite people along for a casual “cup of tea” and a sip his home made sherry ( always dangerous). At these times Mum would need to go to her sparse store cupboard and whip open a a boxed cheesecake that required no cooking, in Australia , when I was a girl they were a new entertaining sensation. (We had only just shaken the shackles of old England to come up with our very own ideas…. it even had a very tropical pack of Pineapple topping for a finishing flourish) This was Mums go to dessert …..poor Mum. ( and poor Dad after they left).
During the hot months of summer this kind of no bake cheesecake is of course a great idea. If I had known how easy it was to make without the aid of a packet when I was a child….. well then that would have been a different story wouldn’t it? I recently watched the voluptuous Nigella Lawson throw together a similar tart/ cheesecake using lemon curd. I developed this rather tasty version with berries and a lot less licking of my fingers while looking at the camera. Give it a try as the berries appear and the temperature rises.
Summer Berry Tart
This Tart needs time to ‘ cook’ in the fridge, so start it the night before or in the morning for dinner.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
Crust
- 250 gm ( 8 oz)pkt Granita biscuits
- 80gm ( 3 oz) soft unsalted butter
Filling
- 1 x 250 gm (8 oz ) cream cheese, left out to warm while start making the tart
- 150gm ( 5.3oz) white chocolate (not vegetable based melts )
- 200ml ( 7 oz) thickened cream (at least 35% butterfat)
- Very fine Zest of 2 lemons and up to 60ml lemon juice ( 3 Tablespoons)
- Berries, 1 punnet of strawberries,blueberries and mulberries. You can use raspberries or any other berry you like
Instructions
- First put the cream into a jug and microwave until hot, or heat gently in a saucepan, take off the heat before adding the white chocolate stirring to melt. Set aside while you make the crust
- Put the biscuits in the food processor and blitz them until they are fine crumbs.
- Add the soft butter and combine. Press the crumbs into a tart case or shallow sided cake tin of about 20 cm ( 8 in). Make sure to press the crumbs all the way up the sides. ( this may be fluted, but it should have a removable bottom)
- Put the cream cheese into the food processor with the zest, juice and white chocolate cream and process until smooth.
- Pour into the crumb case and put into the fridge to set. It will take a couple of hours to fully set
- Serve this tart with berries and grated white chocolate.
- You could substitute the biscuits for a gluten free brand.
- Add a crushed berry puree for colour and taste.
- Drain some Greek yoghurt for a day over as colander and use this instead of cream.
- Or serve it with roasted rhubarb or quince
- ***But you could make it in small glasses or cups, make it gluten free by using rice cookies, add praline or berry puree.
