New York Style baked vanilla cheesecake

Unbaked!

I am at home today, waiting for some handymen (snarf) to fix various things around the house. So, to keep myself from going stir-crazy, I'm baking. Admittedly, it's not for us, but for our friends who are getting married in Greece in a few weeks' time. We're visiting them tomorrow and all us girls are going off to the races for a hen-do...the boys will no doubt drink some beer, be macho, go "arrrrggh" a lot, sniff each other to determine the most alpha male, and then sit down to have some cheesecake.

And this is the most foolproof and gorgeous recipe. And it can be made - if you are watching the waistline - with lowfat cheese. But hey, where's the fun in that?

175g plain digestive biscuits, finely crushed (i.e. break it up into a glass bowl and use the back of a rolling pin or a CLEAN bottom of a screwdriver / coke / beer bottle to finely crush them, not a lot of power is required, to save the glass bowl).

50g unsalted butter, melted (microwave is best - anywhere from 20 - 35 seconds)

225g golden caster sugar

3 tablespoons corn flour

seeds of 1 vanilla pod

few drops of vanilla essence

740 full fat Philadelphia cream cheese (this is where you can opt to be good - half full fat, half low fat, mebbe?)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 x 284ml carton double cream

about 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds

You will also require a springform cake tin, or a deep pie dish of approximately 23cm in diameter and at least 6cm deep. Lightly oil it and line with parchment paper.

Preheat your oven to 200 degree celsius, 180 degree celsius for fan or 6 for gas. Combine the crushed biscuits and melted butter in a bowl and mix till it forms a sticky mass. Press evenly over the base of the lined cake tin and put it to one side whilst you mix the scrummy insides.

Dump the sugar, sifted cornflour, vanilla seeds and essence into a bowl (if you have an electric mixer, even better because you can turn it on slow/lowest setting) then gradually add the cream cheese and meld it in, be careful not to add air here, as you don't want the cake to rise - honestly! - then add the cream and the egg and beat till smooth and smelling divine.

Put your caketin on a heavy baking tray (for support and to catch any spillages over the side) and pour the mixture in, making sure it sits evenly in the tin. Pop that into the oven for around 45 mins (don't peak until you must) then crank it up for 5 minutes to brown the top of the cheesecake (or not, if it is already browned). Remove from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin before regrigerating it.

Serve it with quite a tangy and sharp fruit compote, as it will enhance the flavour of the cheese.

As my boss from work says: Hmmm! Delish!