I'm dreaming of a white.....Christmassy Chocolate Pie

Christmas pudding is wonderful, and if you haven't made yours yet, never fear, I will have my recipe for a 'no mature' Charlatans Christmas Pudding up shortly!

But after we scoff what will be an overly indulgent Christmas day luncheon, the traditional fruity pudding might be better reserved for Boxing Day when our lunch will be a much simpler affair of a cold turkey, stuffing, pickle and cranberry sandwich.


So unless you are a complete Christmas die hard and simply must have that pudding on the big day, with such a heavy meal to be consummed, it might be a good idea, if you intend to have dessert at all, to plum'p (pardon the pun), for something a touch lighter to follow all that turkey! and a light dessert of cheesecake can fill that need for something sweet, yet won't be too heavy on the stomach.

Cheesecake can be anything you want it to be and the flavour possibilities and combinations are limitless. I have a personal preference for what I would term a 'fresh' cheesecake...ie...one that has not been baked but has been set with the assistance of a fruit inspired gelatine or chocolate.....the texture of a baked cheesecake has never really appealed to me and even when I've baked one myself with careful preparation, I still find the texture to be a bit too heavy and dense for my liking.

This cheesecake is a quick and easy no cook recipe and as I've said, it's more of a pie than a cake. The texture is delicate, smooth, light and creamy with just a tang from the cream cheese and a little festive kick from the whiskey cream liqueur.

Marrying the richness of the white chocolate with the spice of my seasonal cranberry compote gives a little touch of tartness to balance out the sweetness, very refreshing after a full on roast turkey dinner!

You can make this recipe as one large pie or in small individual portions.

I enjoy new ways of presenting dishes and as we are using a whiskey cream liqueur in this recipe why not try making these in a whiskey glass, they are usually quite wide and deep and perfect for this kind of dessert.







So for my White Chocolate Velvet Pie, to feed 6 - 8 people, you will need:

for the base:

200 g plain digestive biscuits

80 g unsalted butter

50 g dark chocolate min 65% cocoa

for the filling:

350 g good quality white chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200 g full fat cream cheese almost at room temperature
80 g castor sugar
1 large measure of Irish whisky cream liqueur.....eg Baileys

200 mls whipping cream 

for my Spiced Cranberry Compote: click HERE!

how to: Base

• crush the digestive biscuits by hand or in a blender until you have nice even sized crumbs
• break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a small saucepan, add the butterer and melt very slowly and gently, mix the two together well so it resembles a chocolate sauce then add the biscuit crumbs and stir until the crumbs have absorbed all the liquid
• press the crumbs into the base of your pie tin or glasses, but don't press too firmly as we don't want a hard solid base that may be difficult to break, we want it to be a touch crumbly
• place in the refrigerator to set for at least 20 minutes

filling:

• melt the white chocolate, again very gently, in a bowl over a pan of hot, not boiling! water, make sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl, stir gently while melting, if you melt white chocolate at too high a temperature you may risk it getting grainy......not very nice at all!
• once the chocolate is melted turn the heat off under the pot, we want the chocolate to stay warm
• whip the cream cheese and Baileys together until smooth
• pour your cream into a deep bowl, add the castor sugar and stir to dissolve then whip the cream until it begins to thicken and will form a ribbon when you lift the whisk out, be careful not to over whip, we want our pie to be 'velvety' smooth!
• add the melted white chocolate to the whipped cream, then fold in the cream-cheese/Baileys mixture, mix it all together well but don't over whip
• pour the filling onto your chilled base, return to the refrigerator and leave to set at least 3 hours or preferably over night

To serve you can top each 'pie' with the cranberry compote or serve it on the side, don't forget a bit of extra whipped cream on the side, we're going all out here, it is Christmas after all!

I hope you have a go at this recipe and if you have any Christmas kitchen questions you can fine me on twitter and facebook.