Happy Monday! How is every doing? I’ve been super sick with a bad cold for the last 4 days. I’m feeling a bit better today, but I’m so tired of coughing so much! My husband is sick too so… yeah… it’s been fun!

Let’s start this new week with a new recipe. This is about a vanilla cheesecake topped with a red wine gelée. I know… it sounds a bit fancy and complicated but it’s actually not! I used animal crackers for the crust and guess what? It tasted amazing!!

Let’s start with the recipe.

Ingredients

For the crust

1 cup vanilla animal crackers, crumbs

5 – 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 tablespoons white granulated sugar

For the cheesecake

12 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup plain Greek Yoghurt

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

For wine gelée

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons red wine

2 tablespoons hot water

5 tablespoons sugar

Directions

For the crust

1.- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 8×8 square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving 2 sides hanging over the edges.

2.- In a blender or food processor, mix the animal crackers until they look like fine crumbs. Then, put the crumbs into a bowl and add the melted butter and sugar. Mix well.

3.- Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Make sure that you spread it evenly.

4.- Bake for 10 minutes. Let it cool on a wire rack.

For the cheesecake

1.- In a bowl of a stand up mixer, beat the cream cheese for about 3 minutes. Then, add the yoghurt and condensed milk. Mix it well for about 2-3 minutes.

2.- Add the egg, flour, vanilla extract and salt. Mix until well combined 2-3 more minutes.

3.- Pour cream cheese mixture over the cooled crust. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the filling is set.

4.- Let it cool to room temperature on a wire rack and then chill it in the fridge for about 2 hours.

For the wine gelee

1.- After a couple of hours, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup of wine and let it sit for 5 minutes.

2.- In another small bowl, stir in sugar and hot water. Add the sugar water into the wine gelatin mixture, mix well until the gelatin is completely melted. Add the reminaing wine and cool the mixture to room temperature, about 10 minutes.

3.- Finally, pour the wine mixture on the top of the cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate overnight and serve next day.

4.- I cut mine in 16 squares. Enjoy!!