A recent deep dive into Wikipedia lead me to the entry for Snickers pie. The article is barely more than a stub and by Wikipedia’s standards I’m not even sure it should exist, as it basically amounts to “Here’s a dessert that a British TV show featured this one time”, but the dessert itself sounds absolutely delicious, and the article links to the original recipe for it (via the Wayback Machine, as the original has apparently been deleted.) The recipe calls for a puff pastry crust, mascarpone, sugar, milk, Snickers bars, eggs, and… “soft cheese”.
I have absolutely no idea what “soft cheese” means in this context. It’s written in a way that implies that the average Brit reading the recipe should know exactly what to use, but my attempts to Google a meaning for it have proved fruitless. To my American ears, “soft cheese” is a vague description for a style of cheese, not a specific type, and the best example of it that pops into my head is fresh mozzarella, which I’m quite certain is wrong.
Anyone know if there’s a specific type of cheese in Britain that’s generally referred to as “soft cheese”, and what its American equivalent/analogue would be?
In all honesty, it’s not very different in texture from the mascarpone that’s also in the recipe. It’s maybe a little blander? I would guess it’s there to add bulk and texture without too much flavour.
The recipe seems to be basically a baked cheese cake with Snickers melted through it, in a pie. I absolutely will not stand for this sybaritic decadence masquerading as food, and will certainly not be making it later.
It’s certainly not like mozarella, and mascapone is richer and creamier.
As noted, it’s a spreadable white mild cheese that comes in a tub, generally used as a sandwich spread. The sort of soft cheese you eat on a cracker when you’re on a diet. You could also use a soft goat’s cheese if the tub variety is evading you.
Hmm. That makes sense. Philadelphia is also the dominant brand of cream cheese here in the US, though I’ve NEVER heard anyone call it “soft cheese” instead of “cream cheese”.
This recipe calls for “Choc Ripple biscuits” and “Top n’ Fill caramel”, which I’m pretty confident don’t even exist in America, so I guess this is even more British than the recipe from my OP.
In either event, I’d probably make it with Milky Way bars (which Wikipedia informs me are called Mars bars in the UK), because I feel like the peanuts would break up what should be a smooth-textured dessert.
They don’t exist in the UK either, but it looks like that link is for an Aussie site, so.
We have Mars Bars in the UK, because Milky Ways are something different (just whipped nougat covered in chocolate, without the caramel layer). Snickers also used to be called Marathons, but then at some point we got globalised.
I figured from reading the OP that it would end up being cream cheese, but I wonder why they use cream cheese and mascarpone. That’s only slightly less strange than calling for both cream cheese and neufchatel.
I’m surprised you have to add Philadelphia to mascarpone, which is already quite rich and creamy. I’ve had the latter as a substitute for Devonshire clotted cream on scones with jam, and it was fine. (Had a longer life in the fridge, too.)
I also wonder if ricotta can be used instead of Philadelphia?
I think anyone who is considering making a Snickers Pie is definitely in the “More is More school of cookery.” I may not be making a Snickers Pie any time soon but then I fall more into a “More is More school of eating” category so if anyone does make one, I’ll give it a try.
