- 4 lemon shortbread biscuits (about 85g)
- 140g full fat soft cheese
- 50ml double cream
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 2 tbsp Manuka honey, plus 1 tsp extra
- 125g punnet raspberries
Tip
Manuka honey
Renowned for its health properties, it also has a wonderful, herbal flavour, from the manuka or tea tree flowers that the bees feed off. Although it’s expensive, the flavour is so intense that you won’t need a lot of it.
- Sit 2 x 9cm metal rings on 2 small serving plates. Crush the biscuits in a bag with a rolling pin, then divide between the rings, pressing down to form the base.
- Put the soft cheese in a bowl, then whisk together with the double cream, sugar and 2 tbsp honey until soft peaks form. Spoon the mixture into the rings, then spread the top flat. You can chill the cheesecakes now until ready to serve.
- Crush a third of the raspberries with 1 tsp honey, then gently fold in the rest. Using a blowtorch, warm around the edge of the ring and lift off – or use a knife to run around the inside of the ring, and lift off. Spoon over the raspberries and serve.
- Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2 and line 6 muffin tin holes with muffin paper cases. Melt the butter, stir in the biscuit crumbs until well mixed, then press as firmly as you can into the bases of each paper case. Chill them while you make the filling.
- Beat the ricotta with the sugar, lemon zest and juice, whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk the cream until it just holds its shape, then fold into the cheese mixture. Spoon evenly into the paper cases, right up to the tops, then tap the tin on the work surface to flatten the filling. Bake for 30 mins, then turn off the oven and allow to cool completely inside.
- To decorate, top each cheesecake with 1 tsp jam and a strawberry half.
