After having finished all 10 seasons of Friends I needed something new to watch….. what better foodie-suited brainless TV-show is there than MasterChef? I was up-to-date with the new season within just over a week….. waiting for a new episode to be aired is AWFUL!!! I WANT TO SEE MORE AMAZING FOOD AND KITCHEN DRAMA.

Anyways, regarding my cheesecake. I have never really been a fan of cheesecake or plain cream cheese icing until a couple weeks back, when I ordered a baked peanut butter cheesecake at a local pub (my reasoning behind this daring order: anything with peanut butter must be good and it was the only thing on the dessert menu I had never before made myself). It was amazing! So I thought to myself, it must taste even more amazing with Nutella. After a rather disappointing attempt of trying to bake a Nutella cheesecake, MasterChef inspiration struck: How about a no-bake cheesecake with an almost 1:1 Nutella : cream cheese ratio? And why not deconstruct it to lighten the whole dish up, make it look all fancy and pretend one day I could be on MasterChef? Using Nigella Lawson’s recipe as guidance, this is what I came up with. OMG it has taken cheesecake to a new level for me. No-bake and deconstruction is the way to go. Everyone loved it.

It also made me think whether or not to try the recipe with peanut butter instead…… I shall keep you updated.

Deconstructed Nutella Cheesecake

Serves about 4

You’ll need

For the Filling
150g Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
120g Nutella
17g icing sugar

For the Crumble
60g digestive biscuits
15g butter, melted
0.5-1 tsp Nutella
20g toasted chopped hazelnuts

To Serve
chopped toasted hazelnuts
segmented oranges or any other fruits

1. For your “crumble”: whizz the digestive biscuit and toasted chopped hazelnuts in a food processor until you have a breadcrumb like consistency. Add the melted butter and whizz again, until it has been incorporated.
2. Finally add your 1tsp of Nutella and mix thoroughly. Your crumble should still crumbly and not wet. Cover with cling film and chill until serving.
3. For your “filling”: mix the icing sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Stir in your Nutella and mix until evenly spread. Taste. Add more Nutella or cream cheese if desired.
4. Cover the filling with cling film and refrigerate for about 3-4 hours before using (it doesn’t have to set for this long, you can also serve it after just having chilled for an hour, it’ll probably just be a bit creamier).
5. To serve: Using all your creativity, start by making a line of crumble on a plate. Top this line with one or two perfectly spoon shaped dollops of your cream cheese filling. Sprinkle with some toasted chopped hazelnuts, and serve with a few segmented oranges or other sliced fruits.
6. Forget about the calories and indulge.

Rating: 9.5/10 …. Nutella …..

P.S. you can also make a proper no-bake cheesecake with these components, just press your crumble mixture into a cake tin, chill for 30 minutes, spread your filling over it and chill for at least 4 hours. You will probably have to adjust the amount of ingredients though, depending on the size of your tin .