dessert in a glass

If you are a parent of a P6 student in a local school here, you would probably know why I have been missing in actions for the past weeks ;)

Today marks the beginning of the much anticipated (with stress and agony on my part) primary school leaving examination or better known by the 4 letter 'word', psle ;) This national examination also marks the last leg of my younger child's 6 year primary school education. After crossing this huge hurdle, it is not the end, but a beginning of a new chapter for his next phase of education.

I have refrained from baking or indulge in photography or blogging for the past few weeks...just so that I won't feel guilty about not spending quality time with my child. I am blessed with a boy who has his own initiatives to do his own revisions without much guidance or coaching. He has certainly put in a lot of effort to prepare for this exam. I am truly blessed as I didn't have a hard time too when my elder child took his psle a couple of years back.

History repeats itself while I read through my older post about how my elder child prepared for this much dreaded (by parents) national examination. Just like his brother, my younger son went through the same phase. I would think he is in a much better position than his brother since his mother is 'wiser' and less stressed up and has since learned to be more relax after having gone through the cycle once ;)

Ok, enough of my ranting, and I would like to end this post with a simple, easy to put together yet delicious dessert...No bake cheesecakes in pots!

I bought these tiny pudding bottles when I was in Beijing a few years back. I didn't really have much chance to use them until now. Don't be misled by the photographs, these bottles are really tiny, it can only hold 180ml of water!

Instead of making a big no bake cheesecake, I have used the bottles to make individual portions. The steps are pretty much the same as a no bake cheesecake. First layer the bottom with a biscuit base, followed by the cream cheese filling and topped off with some homemade blueberry sauce. The sauce can be made within a few minutes just by cooking blueberries with some caster sugar.

It is quite a 'light' dessert as I have used non fat plain yoghurt instead of heavy cream. I wouldn't say it is a healthy dessert as cream cheese is really fattening ;) However, since one single portion is really quite small, as long as we eat in moderation, I would think it is still a nice sweet treat to serve your family or friends.

I have also made another version using small glasses and topped it with homemade strawberries sauce. Unlike the blueberries version, the strawberries I bought were a bit too tangy. If you were to follow my recipe and would like to use strawberries instead, do adjust/increase the amount of sugar so that the sauce will be sweeter especially if your have got sweet tooth.


Here's wishing all P6 students, all the best for the psle!

and best wishes to all Mummies,

endure, endure, and it will be over very soon ;)



No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake Pots

Ingredients:
(makes 6)

125g blueberries (about 1 punnet)
2 tablespoons caster sugar

75g digestive biscuits (about 5)
25g unsalted butter

250g cream cheese, soften at room temperature
50g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
140g non fat plain natural yoghurt (I used one 140g tub marigold non fat yoghurt)


Method:

• Heat about 1/3 of the blueberries and caster sugar in a small pan over medium to low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the berries have broken down. Add the rest of the blueberries, cook for another 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
• Melt butter in a small pan over low heat. Crumb the digestive biscuits with the blender attachment of the Bosch MUM5 home professional kitchen machine until they resemble breadcrumbs. Mix the crumbs and the melted butter with a spoon until the crumbs are moistened. Spoon equal portion of the mixture (about 2 tablespoons) into the bottom of 6 dessert pudding bottles or shot glasses (size: 180ml/3 oz). Lightly press down the mixture into the bottom of the bottles or shot glasses. Leave to chill in fridge.
• Place cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla extract in the mixing bowl of the Bosch MUM5 kitchen machine. Mix on speed 4 with the silicone flexible whisk attachment for 3 minutes, or until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy. Add in yoghurt and continue to beat for about 1 minute till the mixture is thoroughly blended.
• Spoon cream cheese mixture into the prepared pudding bottles or shot glasses (about 3 tablespoons per glass). Leave to chill in the fridge.
• Top with the blueberry sauce before serving.