Spreadable French goat's cheese vanilla & orange terrine

Creamy, spreadable fresh French goat's cheese works perfectly as a dessert as it is so smooth it can be worked into a paste and will set back to a semi soft consistency once put back in the fridge. As with most fresh French goat's cheeses, this works perfectly with sweet fruits and my recipe for vanilla poached apricots is a match made in heaven. This dessert is a great dinner party delight as you can make it way in advance and just leave it in the fridge until ready to serve.

• Preparation: 25 mins
• Cooking: 10 mins
• Serves: 6

What you need:

• 400g spreadable fresh French goat's cheese
• 20 Amoretti biscuits
• 6 tsp Grand Marnier or any other orange liqueur
• 400mls double cream
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• Zest of 2 oranges
• 125g icing sugar
• 6 apricots, cut in half and de-seeded
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 1 vanilla pod, split
• 150g sugar
• 300mls water

What you do:

1. Blitz the Amoretti biscuits to a fine crumb and put 1 tsp into the bottom of six small serving glasses.
2. Drizzle with a tsp of Grand Marnier. Pour the double cream into a mixing bowl and whip with the icing sugar until semi firm peaks form. Add the vanilla bean paste and orange zest. Once whipped, add in the French goat's cheese and beat until smooth and slightly aerated. This can be done easily with an electric whisk. Place 2tbsp of the cream and French goat's cheese mix on top of the Amoretti biscuit crumbs. Sprinkle with more Amoretti, top with another 2 tbsp of the cheese mix and finish with a final layer of the biscuit crumb. Place into the fridge to set while you poach the apricots.
3. To poach the apricots, pour the sugar and the water into a small saucepan along with the split vanilla pod and cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes before adding the halved apricots and cook for 5-10 minutes until tender, but not falling apart. Leave the apricots to cool in the syrup before removing them. Remove the skins if they look like they will come off easily. Strain the syrup and keep until you're ready to serve.
4. When ready to serve, heat the apricots in the strained syrup and place next to the set cheese dessert and drizzle the apricots with a little of the syrup.

Cook's tip:

Spreadable fresh French goat's cheese is available in all good supermarkets.

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