A not so traditional Christmas dessert

3 full days of family stuff and my head is finally starting to clear, the kitchen is no longer an obstacle course, and I can sort of see the back of the fridge through the foil wrapped bundles.  I'm not happy that Christmas is over, but I am glad for a little break from it all.

As you probably know, once it was decided that we would be hosting this year (our first proper Christmas meal as hosts) I spent hours pouring over Christmas magazines and cookbooks and the internet, planning my menu, planning the weeks running up to it...planning planning planning.  Do not fear, I didn't agonise over it, I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted....then had to change it on David's insistence on having a turkey...and then pretty much finalised it, checked it over with the hubby and....all I had to do was wait, and prepare...and wait some more...and then finally Christmas Eve arrived and I got peeling and stuffing and baking and slathering...

And then David said...what are we having for dessert?

What do you mean, what are we having for dessert? We had this conversation MONTHS ago (problem numero uno)...

Anyway, after a discussion about the dessert and my pointing out that I had ALREADY made it...he seemed somewhat convinced that it would be met with hungry eyes (or...more technically...I'm so stuffed eyes but I just have to have a slice of that torte-eyes) and all would be good in the world.

Like I said before, this was planned months ago...and after racking my brain and all the resources available to me, I turned to the no-fail, always a success, crowd pleasing wealth of knowledge that is my mummy and kindly (very kindly) asked her for her recipe for Apple Bavarian Torte...something that she has been making for ages...always to high acclaim...and, in my opinion, an impressive dessert with little effort.

This torte is difficult to describe, and that is where I got into a muddle with David...he didn't quite buy my description, and was...totally...dubious of my choice for our first BIG Christmas.  The only way I can think to describe it is like a cheesecake...but not....it has a crunchy base (like a cheesecake) and a cream cheese middle (like a cheesecake) and a topping (like a cheesecake) but it isn't a cheesecake...he just looked at me like there was a chance I was going to ruin Christmas (I didn't...I will have you know).

The recipe comes from a family friend of my parents' so it holds many childhood memories for me...making it an extra special addition to my table...just like having my family here with us too!

Well, it went down a storm...more praise than I could ever imagine.