La Recette du Jour

As well as solving the problem of messy servings, this looks glamorous enough to serve to guests, has far fewer calories than traditional cheesecake and takes only 10 minutes to make. What’s not to like?

For 4:
2 sheets gelatine
zest and juice of 1 lemon
200 g low-fat cream cheese (I used St Moret and some petit-suisse
500 g natural yoghurt (also low-fat if you are really worried about calories)
50 g caster sugar
200 g frozen summer fruits
4 crumbly shortbread biscuits, e.g. palets bretons (I actually used some pre-cooked crumble mix I had in the freezer)

Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water. Warm the lemon juice.

Beat together the cheese, yoghurt, half the sugar, and finely grated lemon zest till smooth. Squeeze out the gelatine, add to the hot lemon juice, and swirl around to dissolve. Add the the cheese mixture and stir thoroughly.

Spoon into four attractive glasses and refrigerate till set (at least an hour). Meanwhile put the rest of the sugar and the fruit in a small pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes, just to thaw the fruit and dissolve the sugar. Tip into a bowl to cool. Pound the biscuits with a rolling pin or pulse in the food processor to make large crumbs (not powder).

To serve, spoon the fruit over the cheese mixture, and scatter over the crumble.

Note: sheet gelatine is far easier to use than the powdered sort — it dissolves instantly, with no danger of nasty lumps.