Bunkycooks » Hay Hay it’s Donna Day! – Peach Cheesecake Pots with a Biscotti Crumble

Desserts / May 27, 2010

Hay Hay it’s Donna Day! – Peach Cheesecake Pots with a Biscotti Crumble

I was invited to participate in this month’s Hay Hay it’s Donna Day! event by my friend Mardi at eat.live.travel.write. She won last month’s event, so she was asked to host this month’s round-up. Now, you may be saying, who is Donna Hay and why does she have a day? I know I did!

Donna Hay is Australia’s leading food editor and best-selling cookbook author. She has been likened to the United States’ Martha Stewart. Several years ago a group of food bloggers decided to celebrate Donna Hay and her cookbook, Modern Classics, by having a monthly event where one of her recipes is prepared and everyone participating in the event submits it to the monthly host.

Denise at Chez Us is the blogger who has put this event together, so cheers to both she and Mardi! It was a lot of fun to participate and besides, now I know who Donna Hay is!

The recipe we were asked to prepare is a dessert, Blackberry Cheesecake Pots. Well, of course, I could not find blackberries anywhere when I needed them. Besides, it is far more fun to not do what you have been told, so I made Peach Cheesecake Pots.

I found some beautiful South Carolina peaches while en route to North Carolina, so I decided to use those. How bad could peaches be with cream cheese and heavy cream? (Bad for my husband’s diet, but he did not have any). For those of us that did opt to have a few more calories after dinner, the dessert was absolutely delicious! I served it in a martini glass ~~to be even more difficult~~ because it looked really pretty and topped it with biscotti crumbles. The almond flavor of the biscotti worked incredibly well with the peaches and cream cheese.

Mardi had suggested using heavy whipping cream instead of light cream (as the original recipe was written), and whipping it prior to adding it to the mixture, so I took her advice. I also decided to fold the whipped cream into the mixture instead of adding it to the food processor (per the original recipe). I think it might have given it a lighter texture.

After taking these pictures, I disassembled the dessert and popped it into a container to take over to a friend’s house for dessert. Now, I know you are thinking that is kind of gross, but, if you know me, you know I play with my food. My t-shirt that I had created for Camp Blogaway even said so!!

Just for fun, I threw the container in the freezer at my friend’s house and a couple hours later, we had a semi-frozen version of this dessert and served it in cocktail glasses, topped with the biscotti crumbles. This was the best option. I would definitely serve it frozen next time!

Print Recipe

Peach Cheesecake Pots with a Biscotti Crumble

Adapted from Donna Hay’s Recipe for Blackberry Cheesecake Pots

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 Tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium ripe peaches, peeled and sliced, plus additional slices for garnish
4 biscotti, crumbled

Directions:

Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Process the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Add peach slices and process until slices are in smaller chunks. Put mixture into a bowl. Fold in whipped cream. Pour mixture into 4 (4 ounce) dishes and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Serve with the biscotti crumbles and the additional peach slices. Serves 4.

* This is also delicious served partly frozen. Freeze for approximately two to three hours before serving.

Posted by Gwen on May 27, 2010

38 Comments »

38 Responses to “Hay Hay it’s Donna Day! – Peach Cheesecake Pots with a Biscotti Crumble”

1

Mardi@eatlivetravelwrite — May 27, 2010 @ 12:38 pm

Looks awesome and delicious Gwen! Thanks for playing along – I am so excited to see everyone’s interpretations of this recipe!
2

Magic of Spice — May 27, 2010 @ 1:35 pm

Looks so very good! Will want to try this:)
3

Katie @ Cozydelicious — May 27, 2010 @ 2:39 pm

I love that you served this in martini glasses! So cute! And kind of fun and dainty too. Frozen, huh? I’ll have to try that… Cheesecake is not usually something I enjoy the texture of very much, so maybe freezing will help.
4

C and C Dish — May 27, 2010 @ 3:02 pm

This looks like a delicious creamy treat!
5

Kiki — May 27, 2010 @ 3:07 pm

This looks so good and perfect for the summer
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:28 pm
  
  Thank you for your comment, Kiki. It is a perfect Summertime dessert.
6

pegasuslegend — May 27, 2010 @ 7:12 pm

my god my mouth is all set for this one yum!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:27 pm
  
  Hi Claudia,
  
  This was pretty tasty! I really enjoyed it frozen. Yum!
7

Julia — May 27, 2010 @ 7:23 pm

I LOVE peaches and this is making me excited for them to be in season!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:26 pm
  
  Thanks, Julia. Peaches are so good when they are in season! I love to use them in lots of desserts.
8

Cristina @TeenieCakes — May 27, 2010 @ 7:54 pm

Creative and inviting presentation in the martini glass, Gwen. Sounds so good…the peach and biscotti crumbles!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:25 pm
  
  Thanks, Cristina! This was a delicious dessert. It was fun to do something a bit different. I do not use cream cheese too often in desserts, but this was very tasty!
9

Drick — May 27, 2010 @ 8:18 pm

this is just a taste of heaven – Chilton County peaches (northern Alabama) should be coming in pretty soon, I’ve seen some, but I like the later varieties and when they do come in I buy them by the baskets – nothing like fresh peaches…. really like cream and peaches and the biscotti topping is, well, the tops…
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:24 pm
  
  Hi Drick,
  
  I know what you mean about buying baskets of peaches. I will do the same here when the cling free ones are in season. They are a bit easier to deal with, but all the South Carolina peaches are wonderful, no matter what! I am sure the Alabama ones are delicious, too.
10

Patty Price — May 27, 2010 @ 8:49 pm

Beautifully presented, love your basket of peaches and the recipe sounds wonderful!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
  
  Thanks, Patty! I love the basket that the peaches are in. I write about it in my next blog post on the Lick Log Mill Store in Highlands, NC.
11

Meeta — May 28, 2010 @ 8:39 am

ohhh peaches and cream come to mind with this dessert. love the flavor!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:21 pm
  
  Thank you for visiting and for your comment, Meeta. There is nothing much better than peaches and cream, that is for sure!
12

Lazaro — May 28, 2010 @ 11:31 am

Gorgeous presentation. Love everything about this dessert. I wouldn’t change a thing.
A+++

Cheers!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
  
  Thank you Lazaro! I appreciate your comment.
13

penny aka jeroxie — May 28, 2010 @ 7:55 pm

Perfect summer dessert… peaches are such a nice replacement.
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
  
  Thank you Penny. I thought peaches would be a good choice, since they were the freshest and tastiest fruit I could find. It worked!
14

denise @ quickies on the dinner table — May 28, 2010 @ 11:05 pm

Beautiful as always Gwen and I have to say your blog is fast becoming one of the most beautifully photographed in the blogosphere!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:19 pm
  
  Thank you so much, Denise! You are very sweet to say that. I am having fun, so I hope it shows.
15

redkathy — May 28, 2010 @ 11:11 pm

This will be on the table for Memorial Day! Beautiful dessert. Peaches and cheesecake oohh so inviting!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:18 pm
  
  Thanks so much, Kathy. It would be a great dessert for the holiday weekend. Peaches are about as American as apples! I hope you enjoy the recipe!
16

Roti n Rice — May 28, 2010 @ 11:53 pm

Looks awesome in the martini glasses! It must be delicious with the peaches and biscotti crumbles…yummy!!!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:17 pm
  
  Hi Biren,
  
  The martini glasses were fun! Almost everything looks neat in them!
17

deeba — May 29, 2010 @ 10:28 am

Oh yum yum yum! I love peaches everything, and these are gorgeous! Well done with HHDD!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:17 pm
  
  Thank you so much Deeba!
18

Anna — May 29, 2010 @ 4:52 pm

Oh, I love D hay books and magazines I have all her books.The pictures are amazing, your peach dessert looks so good, it’s a lovely combination.
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:17 pm
  
  Thank you Anna. I had heard of HHDD, but really did not know who Donna Hay was until I participated in this. It was fun to learn a little bit about her.
19

Stella — May 29, 2010 @ 6:37 pm

Hey Bunky, these looks and sound wonderful. I recently made tapioca with peaches, and the peach was so delicious. I can only imagine how rich and delicious this must be…
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:15 pm
  
  Hi Stella,
  
  Your dessert sounds tasty, too! This was a rich one, but the portions were small. The peaches were delicious with the other flavors.
20

Chef Dennis — May 29, 2010 @ 10:51 pm

Gwen
they look so good!! I can’t wait for the jersey peaches to come in season..they would be perfect in this dish!
- bunkycooks replied: — May 30th, 2010 @ 5:14 pm
  
  Hi Chef,
  
  I remember all the great Jersey peaches and corn and tomatoes form growing up in Philly! They are a special treat in the Summer!
21

tasteofbeirut — June 2, 2010 @ 5:06 pm

This is what dessert should be: fun, exciting, delicious and light! Love the peaches and cheese and cream combo and the glass it is served in of course!
22

Chez Us — June 14, 2010 @ 11:35 am

I love that you used peaches – had tossed around the idea of many different berries but not peached. Lovely choice!

I appreciate you playing along with this version of HHDD. I hope you will participate in many more events – a great way to meet new delicious blogs!