Cheesecake in a glass

This is the perfect end to a midweek dinner party, the kind you didn't know you were giving until presented with a guest list mid-afternoon. You simply chop strawberries, crush digestive biscuits and whip cream cheese and cream, then layer up quickly in some waiting glasses. Like this, they can stand for about an hour, so you can make them up just before you sit down for supper. If you want to make this in advance – and it's a versatile recipe that doesn't need to be made last minute – simply leave the glasses in the fridge, layered up with the digestive crumbs and cream cheese mixture and covered with clingfilm. Top with strawberries on serving. Serves four.

IngredientsServes four

200g strawberries(or 1 big punnet)
1 tsp caster sugar
4 digestive biscuits
100g cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tbsp icing sugar
125ml double cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
4 small glasses (of about 150ml capacity; I find a small martini glass looks prettiest)

Quarter the strawberries, then cut in half again, to give pretty small dice. Put into a bowl, sprinkle with caster sugar, cover with clingfilm and shake the bowl once or twice.

Leave the berries to macerate while you put the biscuits into a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin until you have a sandy bag of crumbs.

Measure the cream cheese and icing sugar into a bowl and whisk by hand. Add the cream, lemon juice and vanilla, and whisk gently to combine.

Divide the biscuit crumbs equally between your four glasses, and arrange in the bottom of each one. Spoon the cream cheese mix on top, dividing it equally between the glasses and covering the biscuits.

Divide the sugar-shiny strawberries between the glasses, to give a glossy, red-berried layer on each glass.

Srawberry Frozen Yoghurt

This is one of the easiest ice creams to make: simply a matter of adding lightly puréed fruit to yoghurt, which means you can get away with not having to churn it. If you#re making this in a ice cream machine, you can spped up the churning time by partially freezing the purée before combining it with the yoghurt. This should be eaten within a week of making.

Ingredients (serves 4)

400g Strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
Juice of a lime
300g Full fat plain yoghurt
4tbs icing sugar, sifted

Purée the strawberries and lime juice in a blender until smooth. Whisk together the yoghurt and sugar un a mixing bowl until loght and fluffy. Stir in the fruit purée and mix until smooth. Taste and add extra lime juice or sugar if needed.
Freeze in a ice cream machine if you have one, otherwise power the mixure into a lidded container and freeze until firm. Reember to soften the yoghurt before serving.

Really useful stuff
Add 1tbs balsamic vinegar to the masic recipe - it works beautifully.
Try a raspberry ripple version - make a plain frozen yoghurt by combining 500g plain yoghurt, 125g icing sugar and 2 tsp vanilla extract and churn until just frozen.
Combind 200g raspberries with 3 tbs icing sugar then swirl the purée through the yoghurt. Freeze until firm.