Recipe: Banana cheesecake

Ingredients

For the base
40 grms Pecan nuts toasted and finely chopped
4 oz Oatmeal biscuits
50 grms Melted butter

For the filling
4 Banana
2 tsp Lemon juice
3 Eggs
10 oz Cottage cheese
6 oz Caster sugar
Vanilla essence

Method

Mix the nuts and the crushed biscuits with the melted butter
Press the mix into a 9" cake tin
Blend or crush the bananas with the lemon juice, sugar, egg, cheese and vanilla essence
Fill the cake tin with the mixture
Bake on the middle shelf for 50 minutes at gas mark 5 or until firm

Recipe: Vanilla panna cotta

Ingredients
160ml cold milk
Three leaves of gelatine
Two vanilla pods
One litre of double cream
160g icing sugar

Method
Start by placing the milk in a pan, adding the gelatine leaves and leaving to soak. Slice the vanilla pods lenghways and scrapeout the seeds. Place both the pods and the seeds in a pan with the cream and just bring to the boil.

While the cream is heating, bring the milk to the boil until the gelatine is completely dissolved, add the cream along with the sugar and whisk to mix.

Remove the vanilla pods, pour the mixture into the moulds and palce in the fridge to set for three hours or more.

To turn the panna cotta out onto a dish, dip each mould in hot water for a few seconds and the dessert should slide out.

Recipe: Basic Brulee

Ingredients
1 Ltr Double cream
12 Egg yolks
150g caster sugar
2 Vanilla pods

Method
Place the double cream in a pan & add the two vanilla pods that have been split, Bring the cream to the boil, remove from heat and allow to infuse for two hours
Pass the cream and re-boil
Mix the egg yolks & sugar in a bowl, whisk until white and fluffy
Pour on the cream & whisk well
Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water and continuously whisk until the cream reaches the ribbon stage
Pour into moulds and chill over night

Recipe: Blueberry compote

Ingredients
500g Blueberries (Frozen during the summer)
50ml lemon juice
70g sugar
1 vanilla pod

Method
Place all the ingredients into a pan, stir and allow to come to the boil
Remove the vanilla pod and allow to cool
Serve with natural yoghurt as a breakfast treat.

Recipe: Cherry apple tart

For the Pastry
100g butter
Two eggs
175g sifted flour
Two drops of vanilla essence

For the filling
200g unsalted butter
200g sugar
Four eggs
100g ground almonds
50g plain flour
Three medium cooking apples
150g cherries- halved and stoned

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 150c

First cook the pastry base
In a bowl,cream the butter with the eggs until smooth
Gently fold in the flour and the vanilla extract and bring together in a ball.
Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to rest for 45 minutes.
Roll out and line an eight-inch pastry ring of flan dish.
To bake blind, cover the pastry with foil and weigh it down with dried beans and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, lift off the foil and allow to cool.

pre-heat the oven to 180c
To make the filling, in a mixing bowl, cream together the butter with the sugar, then , adding them individually, beat the eggs.
Using a metal spoon, gently fold in the ground almonds followed by the flour.

Peel and slice the apples. Half fill the pastry case with almond mix and fan the apples on top.
Then fill the case with the remaining mix and arrange the halved cherries on top.
Place in the oven and bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean-about 20-25 minutes.
Serve warm, possibly with mascarpone, creme fraiche or fresh cream.