Frozen Cherry Choc Cheesecake bars

Ingredients

500g cream cheese (room temperature – leave it out of the fridge for at least an hour)
1/3 cup icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp gelatine powder plus 1 tbsp boiling water
300ml whipping cream
Bar of milk or dark chocolate, coarsely grated or roughly chopped
2 cups frozen cherries, chopped into quarters
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 packet of ice cream wafers (rectangle)

Method

1. In a large bowl, whip together the cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract until light and smooth.

2. Combine the powdered gelatine with the 2 tbsp of boiled water and combine with the cream cheese mixture.

3. Whip the whipping cream into stiff peaks and carefully fold into the cream cheese mixture together with the cherries, chocolate (as much or as little as you like) and lemon juice.

4. Put the mixture into the fridge for about an hour to firm up a bit.

5. To assemble the bars, put a few tablespoons of the cheesecake mix onto a wafer then top with another wafer and press down slightly– you can add as much or as little of the mix as you like.

6. Repeat until all the mixture is used.

7. Put the bars into the freezer in an airtight container. They will need a couple of hours to firm up, but can stay in the freezer for a few weeks, until you are ready to enjoy. Remember to take them out of the freezer about 30 minutes (more if you have made them thicker) before you want to eat them.

Variations

Instead of grating or chopping your chocolate and adding it to the cheesecake filling, you can melt it and spread it on the inside of the wafers (the side that will be touching the cheesecake).
We also tried adding lemon curd instead of the cherries and chocolate – just swirl 2-3 tablespoons throughout the cheesecake mix. It was delicious!