Honeycomb Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

To be honest I have no idea why I made this, I am far from a cheesecake fan and it's hardly Rory's favourite thing, however I feel like being able to make cheesecake is something I should be able to do. So here it is...

Crunchy, chocolatey, swirly goodness

Honeycomb Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Prep Time: 15mins Cook Time: 10 mins in the oven 5 hrs in the fridge

Pie Crust:
400g chocolate biscuits (I used choc chip as they were all I could find here that weren't cream filled)
1/2 cup melted butter
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Process the biscuits in a blender until they are crumbed. Then in a small saucepan mix together the biscuit crumbs, sugar, butter and vanilla.

3. Press the mixture firmly and evenly against the sides of the pie tin. Bake in the oven for 10 mins and set aside in the fridge to cool.

Filling:
1 tsp vanilla essence
500g cream cheese
100g caster sugar
300ml cream
100g chocolate
80 grams of honeycomb 

1. Place cream cheese, caster sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat. Whisk the cream in a separate bowl until it reaches the soft peak stage. Crush the honeycomb and add to the cream. Add this to the cream cheese mix and fold in.

Yum

2. Divide the mixture into two equal amounts and the melted chocolate to one portion. Spoon alternate amounts of chocolate and vanilla mixture to the biscuit base, then using the end of a spoon, swirl the two mixtures to create a ripple effect. 

3. Place the cheesecake in the fridge until set (at least 5 hours).

I made the mistake of trying to flatten the top of my cheesecake which meant that my swirl wasn't as obvious on top however when I cut into it, the swirl was quite distinct on each of the slices. The verdict: Delicious, even as someone who doesn't like cheesecake.

Beef and Guinness Pie

OK so this one wasn't on my original list, but the original list is in serious need of an update and I'm in the middle of report writing so it's "procrastibaking" time! 

How dinner began!

Beef and Guinness Pie

Prep Time: 10mins Cook Time: 3hrs

1 onion finely diced

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

700g beef (stewing steak is ideal)

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 beef stock cubes

540ml guinness

Pastry (frozen)

1. Soften onion in a deep pot with the butter. Mix in the flour until it has dissolved, then stir in the beef and worcestershire sauce. Mix in the stock cubes and then pour the guinness over the top. Bring the mix to a simmer and then cover and leave on low heat for 2hrs, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and cook for a further 30 mins, allowing the sauce to thicken.

Perfectly soft meat in a divine sauce

2. Set the oven to 200C. Line a pie dish with pastry and add the filling. Then using remaining pastry create a lid for your pie, decorate as desired. Bake for 20mins or until pastry is nicely golden.

Pre-oven

I thought about making a pastry for this myself but my inclination to labour over a rolling pin just wasn't there. I used frozen pastry from the suprmarket and it tasted just fine. The almost licked clean plates after dinner indicated that it was perfectly acceptable so for the sake of saving myself time and energy, I'll stick with it the next time I make it.

Post-oven