“Pineapple and cheese is a classic flavour combination. I have used a really exciting cheese for this sweet canapé recipe that combines these two flavours wonderfully. A bit of a departure from your normal cheese cake but it’s Christmas so be a bit adventurous. You will be rewarded with this sweet treat”
Ronnie Murray, Head Pastry Chef for Hix Restaurants
Takes 20 minutes to prepare, 10 minutes cooking time
Makes 20
Ingredients:
- 250g hobnob biscuits
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Essence
- 50g butter
- 250g Castello Pineapple Halo
- 250g double cream
- 75g caster sugar
- 40g chopped pineapple weed*
- 150g wild strawberries
How to:
- Put the hobnobs in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Tip contents into a sauce pan with the butter and heat, stirring in the butter until the crumbs come together
- Spoon enough mixture into a biscuit cutter and press down until you have roughly a 5mm thickness. Repeat until all the crumbs have been used. This should make around 20 bases for your cheese cakes
- To make the strawberry compote, put the strawberries in a pan on a low heat, add 25g sugar and reduce until the strawberries start to lose their form and you have a rich syrup. Leave to cool
- Finally, whip together the pineapple halo cream cheese with the double cream and remaining caster sugar and vanilla essence until thick
- To assemble the cheese cake, spoon the strawberry compote onto the biscuit base and top with a cornel of the cream cheese mixture
Serve immediately
* Pineapple weed is an edible weed, with finely divided foliage that gives off a pineapple smell when crushed. Foraging for this weed is fairly easy but do your research and also make sure it is cleaned before us
