Cheesecake

 I had bought a pot of cream which we didn't use as expected so decided to make a Cheesecake, It is supposed to be made with chocolates that an Ambassador would spoil you with, but I don't like em so have modified the recipe with Chocolate and Hazelnut instead!! 

You start with the base, the recipe calls for Digestives but I'm addicted to Dark Chocolate Hob-nobs so I use half Organic digestives and half DCHB I know they are not Organic but I'm an addict so don't judge me!! Using my new food processor, blitzed them into crumbs and poured on the melted butter, pulse to mix and press into the tin then pop in the fridge to chill.

Nobs and Digestives

Melting the butter

Blitz them mothers

The Base

So while the base is chilling, make the Cheesecake, beat the Cheese with some Icing Sugar and then whip the Cream with some Vanilla Essence, now our Electric whisk has broke and I was using the big mixer to do the Cheese. I am hopeless at hand whisking but luckily Margie is dab hand ,she's been trying to whip me into shape for years!! She stepped up magnificently and got the job done!

The Cheese

Beat It Up

Margie cracking on, Check out the slippers!!

Jobs a Good un!!

Fold it in

Fold the Cream Into the Cheese mix, now Chop up some Chocolate, Green&Blacks Organic Milk Chocolate is my choice. Top Tip try not to eat it all before you chop it😁 and some Hazelnuts, Crazy Jacks is a reasonable organic brand! Fold them through the mixture, when amalgamated spread over the base and back into the fridge, I did this Friday night so would have all night to chill!

Finished Mixture

Spoon it in

Ready for the Fridge nighty night

So on return from our exercise walk this morning (see previous post) time to move on to stage 2.

Chop up some more Hazel Nuts and the rest of the Chocolate assuming there is some left, in a small saucepan heat up some Chocolate Hazelnut spread until it is runny, spread over the chilled cheesecake then sprinkle with the Chocolate and the Nuts then back in the fridge!!

This stuff is awesome! More Chocolatey and Nutty and less sweet than the brand leader, when the dickheads were hoarding Bog Roll I was buying my weight in this. This spread and a banana Sandwich is top notch food !!

Chopped Nuts

Heating gently, luckily I resisted drinking this

Ready for the fridge

So how did it turn out!!

Well pretty darn good, only problem was getting it off the base of the tin, possibly should have buttered it! The base was a little hard and probably a little thick, but blooming tasty!! Very, very tasty pud and despite the chocolate and the cream not sickly at all the cream cheese sees to that.

Restrained slice

So how much did it cost

Cream Cheese £3.70

Cream £1.50

Chocolate Spread £2

Milk Chocolate £1.50 this is the price of a whole bar but not all of it made the finished product

Hazelnuts £1 

Vanilla Essence £0.20

Digestives £0.45

Non Organic ingredients

Hob Nobs £0.75  

Icing Sugar £0.30 (can't get Organic😢)

So £11.40 😱 so fairly steep but the difference between that and a non-organic one is a couple of quid, but it is also insects and  birds in the hedgerows, a price worth paying!
 

  

Langton Lane

 Nice walk along Langton Lane today, the amount of mud about means the fields are hard going so we pretty much stuck to the road for our 3.72miles today!! Our road had the usual chirping Sparrows and Starlings and a very nice Purple Flower in our garden which also had a Blackcap which has pretty much trashed the apple I put out a couple of weeks ago, the footpath between our road and the lane is a Mudbath difficult to spot anything when your trying keep your footing and not loose your boots but as we reached the lane we had our first decent sighting of the morning a couple of Roe Deer who gave us the once over before bouncing away across the field, couple of Bullfinch here as well but I was too busy taking pics of the Deer to hunt them down.

Blackcap with trashed apple.(taken through glass )

Purple Flower in the Garden

Roe Deer Buck

Bouncy Buck

Quick run across the field

Quick check to make sure we are still watching

We left the mudbath and hit the lane, which was an Ice Rink!! 😕 Usual Blackbirds, Wrens, Robins, Dunnocks etc We reached the Dung Heap which was steaming nicely 💩! The wires above the heap held 16 birds ,14 Meadow Pipits and 2 Pied Wagtails and some nice Redwings a bit further down the hedge.

Steaming 💩

Couple of the Meadow Pipits

Margie's back has been playing up so she had left the Camera at home, so I had, under her direction to take a few pics!!

The View from the Lane

View from the lane

A Buzzard flew along being harassed by a Crow and then perched nicely on a dead branch, giving a nice silhouette but bit distant for any quality shots.

Buzzard, shame about the distance and light!!

Buzzard

Carrion Crow

Carrion Crow

We reached Mill Lane and followed it along, the trees were full of Fieldfares, Redwings and Starlings making a lot of noise and jostling about. Pictures don't really do it justice as the angles were difficult to get more than a couple of the birds in !

Redwing

Fieldfare and Redwing

Fieldfare

Fieldfares

We cut back in on a footpath, passed a pond with some nice Reedmace, more Fieldfares flying about, we eventually reach the Herring Stream, we walk along it but not much about and head up to the Turkey farm where we found a nice Kestrel and a load more Fieldfares flew in!!

Reedmace

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Hurstpierpoint Church this time over panels

Fieldfares flying in

Gathering Flock

Bit of Jostling

Settling Down

Kestrel

Relocated to wire

Watching for prey

Back on the lane we had a load of Skylarks in the same field as last week, which also held a load more Fieldfares and Redwings, loads about today, one of which posed ok, was also a couple of Red-legged Partridge which made a change!

Red-legged Partridge

Fieldfare and Starlings

Fieldfare

Posing ok

Spotted something!!

We carried on down the lane, a Goldfinch and a couple of Greenfinch showed ok, I got a bit arty with some rosehips, the Dung heap was still steaming but nothing new present, the footpath  off the lane was still a mudbath and one of our Sparrows welcomed us home.

Rosehip

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

Greenfinch was singing briefly

Greenfinch

More Redwings

Still Steaming

Robin

House Sparrow

So a very nice walk shame the clouds didn't clear til we got home, but them's the breaks, plenty of action this week, seemed a lot more birds singing about the place with a couple of Song Thrushes giving it large but not anywhere I could get a pic😢

On arrival home I topped up the feeders and replaced the apple and the Blackcap came back except this time it was a male!!

New apple ,new Blackcap!

He's also found the Fatballs