Question: when did you last make a good old cheesecake?
Answer: yesterday.
Crush your Arnott's Marie biscuits. I place them into a plastic bag and roll them with a rolling pin. Melt 50 gms of butter and then pour the hot molten butter into a bowl with the crushed biscuits and mix well together with a spoon. Your high side tin is, of course, already prepared and lined with greaseproof paper or foil.
Tip your biscuit and butter mix into the tin, mould the sides up using a well shaped glass. Make sure your base is firm and there are no holes or thin spots.
Meanwhile, using a mixer, mix two packets of Philadelphia cream cheese (at room temperature) with 300ml Bulla Thickened cream, 1/2 cup castor sugar (although I used Maple Syrup) and a few drops of vanilla essence. In a separate cup, dissolve a teaspoon of gelatine in a splash of hot water. When dissolved, add it into the mixer. Feel free to add some lemon or lime rind at this time if you want to flavour it up.
When it is well mixed without any 'unmixed' cream cheese, which tends to happen, pour it into the biscuit base lined tin and smooth it over using a fork. Lick the fork, it saves on cleaning.
Wash your mixing bowl, beat the remaining 300ml (of your 600ml btle of cream). Add a few drops of vanilla essence (and a dash of icing sugar if you want to sweeten it). Once firmly whipped place it over your cream base and again smooth it over with fork. Lick the fork.
Sprinkle with ground nutmeg. Refrigerate for 4 hours.
Now eat.