The salted caramel sauce

Here's the method for the sauce, given in the original recipe :

Next make the salted caramel sauce. Place the sugar and 120ml water into a saucepan. You will need a medium sized plan as the mixture will bubble up a lot. Heat the mixture on a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the butter and stir until melted. Again I prefer to use unsalted butter.

Keeping the heat on low heat the mixture for 15 minutes. Do not stir the sauce in this time. Don't walk away and leave unattended!

Remove the sauce from the heat and immediately whisk in the double cream, vanilla essence and salt. Be very careful as the sugar mixture will be very hot and will bubble a lot whilst adding the cream. You can use vanilla bean paste if you prefer – ½ tsp.

Whisk the sauce until it is well combined. Set aside to cool.

Personally I find this sauce recipe a bit of a faff. Set down below is my version, with an optional extra of stem ginger.

I prefer my salted caramel sauce to be rich and dark in colour too which is why I use soft dark brown sugar.

110g/4oz unsalted butter

225g/8oz soft dark brown sugar

2oz chopped stem ginger (optional)

275ml/10 fl oz double cream (or whipping cream)

1½ tsp salt

Heat together the butter, sugar and ginger. When dissolved add the salt and whisk in the cream.

Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring.

The stem ginger in this recipe is optional but it gives a sharpness against the richness of the cheesecake.

One batch of the recipe produces approximately 539g of the sauce and you can portion and freeze for convenience.

Time to get cooking and take some photos too!

Biscoff and Salted Caramel Cheesecake – the method

What follows is the method taken exactly from the recipe. My tweaks and hints and tips are designed to help and underlined.

Method

Line the base of your tin with baking parchment. This will help you lift the cheesecake when it's set. I'd line the sides of the tin as well as the base, it will be easier to remove and won't catch.

Break all of the biscuits up into crumbs. You can do this with a mortar and pestle or in a cloth with a rolling pin. Transfer the biscuit crumbs to a large bowl. You'll find it less messy if you place the biscuits in a food bag, clip and then roll the biscuits until you get the crumb desired!

Add the melted butter and salt to the crumbs and mix until the biscuit is well coated. I use unsalted butter.

Firmly press the crumb mix into the base of the cake tin to create an even base. Chill the base for at least 30 minutes before making the filling. I'd leave the base for as long as is convenient – the longer the better.

Place the soft cheese and Biscoff spread into a large bowl.

In other large bowl place the cream, vanilla extract and icing sugar. You could use 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste, rather than extract.

Beat the soft cheese with an electric whisk until the Biscoff spread is thoroughly mixed in.

Next whip the cream mixture until you can see firm peaks.

Carefully fold the cream mixture into the soft cheese mixture until mixed through. Do not over mix. Add the cream mixture to the cheese mixture gradually and slowly.

Once the base has set fully spread the filling carefully over the base making sure you do not pull crumbs from the base into the filling. Smooth over the surface to create a level finish. Set aside in a refrigerator to set for at least 1 hour. Leave for longer than an hour if that's convenient. If you intend to leave longer cover the tin with cling film.

For the salted caramel sauce see the recipe that follows together with an alternative.

When the cheesecake is fully set bring it out of the fridge and take it out of the cake tin. Take it steady – the reason I suggested lining the sides of the tin as well as the base is so that it should comply! I'd suggest using a sturdy vase, turned upside down – one that has a wide base. Place the tin on the top of the base and gently slide the tin downwards, leaving the cheesecake on the base. Have your serving plate at the ready – you have options here – cheat and leave the base and lining where it is or use a palette knife and gently lift the edge of the lining paper and slide off the base on to the serving plate.

Break up the remaining biscuits into a chunky crumb. Once again I'd use a food bag, clipped and a rolling pin – you can control the consistency of the crumb because you can see it – if you wrap the biscuits in a cloth you can't see.

Make sure the sauce is full cooled then drizzle around a third of it on top of the cheesecake. Sprinkle on the biscuit crumbs then drizzle on another third of the sauce. Reserve the final third of the sauce to drizzle on to the cheesecake slice by slice as you serve it.

The cheesecake should be fridged and eaten within two to three days – ha ha!

Next up - the sauce and an alternative ...

Back to the dessert!

This is definitely decadent and not chocolate. The recipe comes from the Vegetarian Society Cookery School. Before you close down and run – it's called Biscoff and Salted Caramel Cheesecake – interested?

I've been a member of the Vegetarian Society for decades. I get seasonal magazines which are brilliant, full of information and ideas. You don't have to be a vegetarian or vegan for that matter – it's all knowledge! When I received the Summer/Autumn magazine I was intrigued to read about their “Online Cookery Classes” - you could choose Easy Veggie Favourites (Part 1) or a Vegan version. For £15 you get six months' unlimited access to video content. You're also able to download and keep the recipes plus other stuff too.

It seems like a good deal for £15 plus the fact I saw two recipes advertised that I really liked the look of. Cheesy Lattice Pie and Biscoff and Salted Caramel Cheesecake.

I'm always telling you not to try a recipe for the first time when you're under pressure - you've no idea how accurate the recipe is and whether it needs tweaking – into the unknown! My Christmas is going to be very strange and quiet this year so I'm road testing this cheesecake now, ignoring all my own rules, so that if you fancy having a go it might be an idea for New Year?

What follows is the verbatim recipe and method – I'll add my tweaks and hints and tips with the method. It might look long winded but the upside here is you can spread the tasks and the elements aren't difficult.

Here goes :

Biscoff and Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Serves 10

Preparation – 30 mins plus 1½ hours setting time

Cooking – 20 minutes

You will need an 8” deep spring-clip or loose bottom

cake tin

For the base

150g oat biscuits

125g Biscoff Lotus biscuits

125g butter, melted

large pinch of salt

For the filling

500g plain full fat soft cheese

300ml double cream

100g icing sugar, sifted

3 tbsp Biscoff crunchy spread

2 tsp of vanilla extract

For the sauce

200g golden caster sugar

60g butter

125ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1½ tsp salt

For the topping

80g Biscoff Lotus biscuits

Method and tips up next!

I have a list!

Before I move on to the dessert I promised, I've a hotchpotch of bits and pieces I've been meaning to tell you before the Christmas Box took over!

None of what follows is connected – hopefully it will entertain.

Do you remember back in September and in particular “pasty gate”? I wasn't happy with M&S and their attempt at a cheese & onion pasty and went on to give you my version of a Greggs masterpiece.

Here are extracts from an article written by Marina O'Loughlin – (for those who don't know her Ms. O'Loughlin is the Food Critic for The Sunday Times). Apart from her weekly restaurant review she occasionally adds a short piece entitled “Plate of the nation” :

“Back in poverty-stricken days I had a real fondness for these squidgy calorific parcels …

A couple of years back I revisited the cheese and onion pasty of my youth and found it dry, dusty, not in any way pleasurable, chalking my distaste down to some kind of maturity.

Perhaps it's time to give my former fetish another go? It's still calorific and, God help me, blandly splendid. The pastry is crisp at the edges, gooey in the centre – I'm a bit of a fan of the pastry soggy bottom.

Greggs is a raging success story for a reason: cheap, filling, unchallenging food that sometimes hits the spot you had forgotten you even had...”

Thank you Ms. O'Loughlin!

Next on my list a bit of fun with potatoes, specifically roasties. It was my Grandaughter Alyce's birthday at the end of November and she lives in the North West so no visiting, no nowt as we say up North. Alyce has a passion for roast potatoes and, I'm flattered to say, mine in particular. I decided to throw caution to the wind and send a brown paper package, suitably packed and ice packed I might add, of roast potatoes for her birthday. Expensive roast potatoes I hear you say – you'd be right, however sometimes you've just got to make someone smile and send a gift they aren't expecting. Did it work? It surely did – the reason I'm telling you this story – it'll make you smile too.

The final tick off my list is another idea for a festive box – not necessarily for Christmas, for any occasion. I found a striped box which had a lid that closed on a small circle of velcro – aha I thought lets give it a zhuzh with a fancy bow and see what happens – have a look :

I used the box for one of my “brown paper packages … Christmas box” hampers and delivered it – at a distance and safely of course – last week. It was very well received I'm delighted to say and the moral of this story – you never know what you've got stashed away that might have another life!

Note to self – if you do venture forth even just supermarket shopping after the holidays you'll probably find boxes at bargain prices along with the ribbon too.

Back to the dessert I promised!

My final mornay treat ...

… is cauliflower cheese. You never see cauliflower cheese served with a Christmas Dinner. It's probably a good idea since cauliflower cheese deserves your whole attention, here's what I do :

Cauliflower Cheese

There's only one problem with cauliflower cheese – you always seem to finish up with watery sauce, which I hate!

I steam a whole head of cauliflower (medium to large), minus its leaves, until tender and then set it aside on a tray lined with layers of kitchen roll. This allows all the moisture to drain away from the cauliflower, ready to finish later on. Steam your cauliflower the day before you need it – replace the kitchen roll two or three times, then double wrap the cauliflower in cling film, bag and fridge for the next day. Next make a mornay sauce – which can be made ahead and fridged if more convenient. I also grate Parmesan cheese in readiness to garnish the cauliflower dish and plan to be generous and sprinkle liberally!

Pat the cauliflower dry with kitchen roll and remove the florets – keep them to a similar size if you can and place in your serving dish greased with unsalted butter. (23x23cms as a guide). Season the cauliflower with celery salt and black pepper, spoon over the mornay sauce, sprinkle with Parmesan and add more black pepper.

It's all cooked so will only need 30 minutes at 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Yum!

The moral of the mornay sauce is, simply, by making one sauce your options are endless.

Christmas comfort food doesn't have to be thrown onto a plate – it should be delicious comfort, preferably served in a pasta bowl which sits neatly on top of your lap with a spoon or bread for dunking. Not to be served until after you've walked the dog for two hours – you won't feel guilty.

My final treat for the shopping list … a small Camembert cheese - ensuring it's in a stapled box, ready to be baked for 15 minutes with some baked sourdough straight out of the oven, torn and ready to dunk. What's not to love.

More holiday comfort food coming up – now it's time for a dessert!

The mornay sauce and the fishcakes … and my second treat

By the time Boxing Day arrives we'll all be yearning for a lunch or a supper that's simple and doesn't include turkey or any of the usual suspects!

The following recipe comes from The Ivy – The Restaurant and its Recipes by AA Gill.

The best fishcakes in the whole world!

The Ivy Fishcakes

(makes 8 – freeze what you don't use)

800g dry mashed potato, no cream or butter added

650g salmon fillet poached in fish stock and flaked

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tsp anchovy essence

3 tsp English mustard

salt and black pepper

Plain flour for coating

Mix together the potato, half the salmon, the ketchup, anchovy essence, mustard and seasoning until smooth. Fold in the rest of the salmon. Mould the mixture into 8 round cakes and refrigerate.

When you're ready to serve preheat the oven 180fan/200c/gas 6. Lightly flour the fishcakes and fry them until they are coloured on both sides. Bake for 10/15 minutes.

You'll see that the recipe includes 3 tsps of English mustard – who'd have guessed! The combination of the tomato ketchup, anchovy essence and the mustard produces the best fishcakes – high praise.

The Ivy serves the fishcakes with Sorrel Sauce & Spinach – I serve them with the Mornay sauce and a raw slaw. You could serve them on a bed of mushy peas (pea purée if you want posh) home-made mayo or even a curry sauce – choose your own guilty pleasure!

My final Mornay treat.

My secret ingredient

Looking at the recipe for the Mornay sauce and the Dijon mustard in particular reminds me of another mustard that's always in the fridge and a spare in the pantry too.

Mustard generally is an acquired taste – English mustard is too hot for my taste – I don't want my head blown off, even the tiniest amount seems to overpower. There are exceptions to every rule I know – English mustard is part of The Ivy's Fishcakes recipe – you wouldn't know it's there but that's the skill of developing a legendary recipe but more about the fishcakes later.

Dijon mustard is an essential – it's delicate but distinctive flavour in sauces is perfect - in my house I use Dijon mustard with cheese on a sandwich, more famously of course it's part of a Croque Monsieur.

Here's my secret – Dijon mustard with honey. If you're not convinced about mustard I'd recommend you try it – it's mild and smooth with the slightly sweet hit of the honey. If you want a decadent sandwich with a difference, toast two slices of wholemeal bread, spread one slice with mayo and the other with Dijon honey mustard and add thin slices of mature Cheddar cheese.

There are various makes of Dijon and I'm sure there are good and bad. My favourite has to be Maille - originally made in France and around since 1747 (now a subsidiary of Unilever)

Here's the original and the honey version :

Add a jar to your shopping list - you won't be sorry!

Back to the Mornay sauce and the fishcakes and my second treat.