Sweet Treats - Lime & Passion Fruit Cheesecake / Marshmallow Petit Fours

When hosting a dinner party, it's important that the host doesn't spend 3 hours in the kitchen and 3 minutes woofing down each course with their guests. Therefore a bit of thought needs to go into what dishes to serve. Prep as much as possible in advance is the key. For tonight's event I presented a fairly simple cheesecake that is a lovely refreshing way to end a meal. What surprises me though about the contents of a passion fruit is how something that in truth looks like it emanated from the nasal area tastes so good!

Ingredients : (for 2 people, approx cost £1.25 a head) 1 large passion fruit, 75g mascarpone cheese, 40g icing sugar, zest and juice of a lime, 75ml double cream, 15g desiccated coconut, 20g butter, 50g digestive biscuits

1. In a dry pan, toast off the coconut until golden.
2. Crush the biscuits into crumbs and add to a pan of melted butter. Mix thoroughly, then remove from heat and blend with the coconut. Divide between either dessert glasses or glass ramekins, press down gently and place in fridge.
3. In a bowl, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.
4. In another bowl, mix the cheese, icing sugar, lime juice, 3/4 of the zest and 3/4 of the pulp.
5. Fold the cream into the cheese mixture and spoon into the ramekins. Return to fridge.
6. To serve, drizzle over the remaining pulp and scatter with the lime zest.

I like to serve something a little extra with coffee. Home made truffles, macaroons, after eights (just kidding) Following a creamy dessert, tonight I opted for a selection of marshmallows, dipped in white chocolate with a variety of toppings. It's just something fun to bring to the table, they look cool and the list of flavours/textures are endless. Below we have crushed pistachios, coconut, orange/strawberry/raspberry crystals and some strawberry popping candy.

Oh, and for the bithday girl, the monkey presented her with his own unique bunch of flowers.