Prep time:

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Total time:

Serves: 12

100g digestive biscuits

50g melted butter

300g cream cheese

120g caster sugar

1 egg

100ml soured cream

½tsp vanilla extract

100g strawberries

50ml tequila (2 shots)

2tsp lime juice

1tbsp granulated sugar

Any excuse to serve up a cheesecake, especially when baked New York style. These are tiny, so are extra slimming. Ahem. I used a loose-bottomed mini-cheesecake pan, but they can also be made in a mini-muffin tin, or even in cupcake cases.

  1. Preheat the oven to gas 4 (180°c). Prepare biscuit base by crushing biscuits (in a food processor, or use a pestle and mortar). Combine with the melted butter and then press a heaped teaspoon of the biscuit mix into each section of the mini cheesecake pan/muffin tin and set to one side (or refrigerate).
  2. Beat cream cheese, egg, ¼ tsp vanilla essence and 100g of the sugar together until smooth. Add 2-3 tsps to the top of each biscuit base and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Mix soured cream with remaining 20g sugar and ¼ tsp of vanilla essence.
  3. Remove cheesecakes from the oven and add a teaspoon of the soured cream mixture to the top of each one. Turn the oven down to gas 3 (160°c) and return cheesecakes to the oven for 10 minutes. Cool and refrigerate.
  4. Chop strawberries and combine with other topping ingredients, mashing some slightly to release the juice.
  5. Remove cheesecakes from tin and carefully spoon a little topping onto each one.

For a non-alcoholic version, add 30ml water and 20ml lemon juice instead of tequila and lime.

Wine+

Rich and creamy desserts need sweet wines combined with high acidity to cut through the richness. We’d recommend a pudding wine from the Vouvray in the Loire Valley such as Chateau Gaudrelle Vouvray Reserve Speciale from Waitrose Cellar (£10.99). Its full-bodied and smooth character is delicious and the acidity will balance this rich pudding perfectly.

Daisy cupcakes

These are an indulgent treat after the fasting of Lent. Change the amount of buttercream if needed – the ratio is twice the amount of icing sugar to butter, which makes it easy to adjust.

Cheesy chicks

Almost too cute to eat, these are surprisingly easy to make and have gone down well with my testers, as the main ingredients are cheese and potato.

Flowerpot carrot cakes

These little carrot cakes are made in paper cake cases, then popped into tiny flowerpots for a seasonal twist. They were made using standard muffin cases and 6.5cm diameter terracotta flowerpots, but they will taste the same in straightforward cupcake...