Honey and Toasted Almond no-bake Cheesecake

Back in September, Sainsbury’s sent me some nice organic goodies but I only just got around to playing with them now, and the result was this delicious, light no-bake cheesecake. For our main course I was cooking slow roasted lamb that had been marinated with mint, cumin and coriander, sort of down the Greek route and wanted something tasty for dessert but without being too heavy. By using the ricotta, it lightens the cream nicely with an almost hint of lemon to it and the honey used for sweetening gives it a completely different taste to sugar but in a totally good way! I experimented a few months back with the ricotta and mascarpone mixture with a Maple and Pecan version and it’s a definite keeper!

The cheesecake was sweet enough for the majority of us though dad would have liked it a tad sweeter but he does have a sweet tooth! You could add more icing sugar or honey if desired – taste the mixture as you make it is the best way! Just remember there is extra honey on top so less is more!

My cheesecake was a real hit and was demolished by 4 greedy adults. I had hoped for leftovers but starting to know that when my brother and dad are over, leftovers are not an option no matter how much I cook..

Serves 4-8
Easy

Ingredients:

3 tbsp organic flaked almonds
125g ricotta cheese
50g butter unsalted
250g reduced fat mascarpone
2 tbsp icing sugar
12 digestives
6tsp Organic clear honey (or just your favourite!)

You will need a circular 7 inch loose bottom tin. To make removal easier, line the bottom with parchment paper.

1) Start by making the base, place the biscuits in a seal-able food bag and bash their lights out with a rolling pin. Toast the almonds in a dry pan and reserve to one side

2) Melt the butter, stir in the crumbs and press into an even layer in the prepared tin. Chill for a good 20 minutes to firm up.

3) Beat the cheeses together, icing sugar and half the honey until smooth, spoon over the biscuit base. Scatter over the almonds and drizzle with the remaining honey.

4) Chill overnight in the fridge and to serve; very carefully push the middle up and the tin sides down, place on a pretty plate or appropriate object – in this case my mezzaluna turned upside down and a gorgeous vintage style polkadot doily!

This was such an easy but delicious dessert - do try and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer - the honey and almonds were sent to me by Sainsbury's but I was under no obligation to review. The recipe is my own invention and remains the property of Anne's Kitchen. 

Maple and Pecan Cheesecake

For me just the thought of maple and pecan together makes my tastebuds perk up, it really has to be one of my favourite of the sweet combination world! The soft and yet crunchy nuttyness of the pecans, combined with the dark and silky sweet maple syrup is rather heavenly! I have a weakness for reduced pastries and on the occasional late night supermarket jaunt (daytimes are far too stressful), have been known to pick up a packet of those gorgeously flaky and sweet Maple and Pecan danishes, and for them not to always make it as far as my kitchen home....

Following on from my creamy blueberry cheesecake recipe last week that I made with my friend Rems, this is its older, slightly demure sister, and quite possibly the best cheesecake I have ever made. Sweet, crunchy, deliciously creamy and the slightly salty contrast of the ricotta cheese - what more can you want? I can also confirm it is perfect for late night fridge pickings, and even breakfast. You may not want to share this one.

As per the blueberry version, nothing was weighed and so all weights are approximate, just go with what feels right. You really can't go wrong! 

Easy

Makes one lovely cheesecake.

3 tbsp Maple syrup and a little extra for drizzling
2 tbsp Pecan nuts
2 tbsp Butter + 1 tsp
125g Ricotta cheese
250g Mascarpone 

2 tbsp icing sugar
Digestive biscuits to fill two biscuits deep in the tin when laid out, and one for luck!

*You will need a 20cm spring form sandwich tin* 

 
Step one:

Start by caramelizing your pecans. In a small pan toast the pecan nuts until they smell rather nice but before they singe, add 1 tsp of the butter and melt. Stir in the maple syrup, bring to the boil and then remove from the heat and leave to one side to cool. It should look fairly runny still at this stage but will set.

Step two:

Place the biscuits in a sealable food bag and use a blunt implement reduce it to crumbs. A rolling pin, jar etc are ideal.

Step three:

Melt approximately 2 tbsp of butter and stir into the crumbs, it should be enough to make the biscuit crumbs look a little glossy and sort of stick together when pressed. Tip into your cake tin (lined with baking paper but not essential) and firmly but gently press into and smooth over using a metal spoon. Place in the fridge or freezer for at least 30 minutes to cool down and set. 

Step four:Place the mascarpone and ricotta into a large bowl and lightly beat in the icing sugar – taste a little, it should be slightly sweet but not too sweet - adjust to taste. Use this mixture to top your crumb base and smooth over. Break up the caramelly pecans and press into the top. Swirl over a little more maple syrup and chill for ideally at least a couple of hours to set, or how long you can wait! It is best to wait until the next day to allow the flavours to develop.

To serve, carefully place your tin over a large jar/ upturned bowl etc and gently tap the sides, then gradually loosen, teasing down until it has come off, slide your cheesecake with fairy light touch onto a pretty plate and grab a fork!

                          

Blueberry Cheesecake

There is nothing very complicated about this recipe, and its a good base recipe that can be adapted easily to whatever fruit is seasonal or needs eating up!  I am very fortunate to work with some lovely colleagues, who have also become firm friends and recently we all managed to actually have the same day off, something of a miracle when you work shifts! We regularly talk about and share out food on our breaks and whilst I am certainly in no way a master, I think I have promised how to teach everyone to cook!

Rems had requested to start our very relaxed and informal cookery lessons (we may have had wine...) by making blueberry cheesecake (but I also had a dream about maple and pecan – so we made both, to which the recipe will follow shortly!) In turn, and I am probably spelling this wrong she is going to teach me some of her native filipino dishes including something called Adobo, so depending on my success I hope to bring you some more exotic cooking in the future!

Meet Rems!

With cooking, there are some things you can write down but I do find practical demonstration so much more informative – with learning what to avoid, how to salvage things etc! Fortunately we had no hiccups other than eating our body weight in the cheesecake in lieu of dinner! Not the most healthiest or balanced meal but if you count the fruit its not all bad...it certainly was a delicious dinner!

Whilst I was teaching, we didn’t weigh anything as I was trying to show her things ‘by eye’ so that she would feel confident to make it again without need of weighing scales etc (our accommodation doesn’t exactly come well equipped..), fortunately I brought nearly all of mine with me so have boxes full under the bed of various gadgets!) and Rems has managed to make a fabulous looking raspberry one since then, which I hear was delicious so I must of done something right!

Blueberry Cheesecake
Easy

½ tub blueberries, washed - approx 150g
2 tbsp caster sugar
Enough choc chip digestives to fill two biscuits deep in the tin when laid out, and one for luck!
2 tbsp butter
500g mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp icing sugar, or to taste

*You will need a 20cm spring form sandwich tin*

Start by relieving some stress – place the biscuits in a sealable food bag and use a blunt implement reduce it to crumbs. A rolling pin, jar etc are ideal.

Melt approximately 2 tbsp of butter and stir into the crumbs, it should be enough to make the biscuit crumbs look a little glossy and sort of stick together when pressed. Tip into your cake tin (lined with baking paper but not essential) and firmly but gently press into and smooth over using a metal spoon. Place in the fridge or freezer for at least 30 minutes to cool down and set.

Wash the blueberries and place in a small saucepan with the sugar, bring to a light boil and reduce to a simmer, occasionally stirring and bashing up the fruit until you have a jammy like consistency – this will take around 20-25 minutes. Cool slightly

Place the mascarpone into a large bowl and lightly beat in the icing sugar – taste a little, it should be slightly sweet but not too sweet - adjust to taste. Use this mixture to top your crumb base and smooth over, and pour over your fruit. Chill for ideally at least a couple of hours to set, or how long you can wait! It is best to wait until the next day to allow the flavours to develop.

To serve, carefully place your tin over a large jar/ upturned bowl etc and gently tap the sides, then gradually loosen, teasing down until it has come off, slide your cheesecake with fairy light touch onto a pretty plate and grab a fork! 

I've also added my cheesecake to the delicious sugar inducing coma blogger event 'Sweets for a Saturday 87"!

Cherry, Cranberry and Chocolate oaty Cookies

Wow, just looking at the title would make my English langauge teacher proud with the use of three capital C's - a great example of 'the power of three'! And I am rather proud right now, as this past year I decided after many years to go back to college and resit my English Language and Maths GCSE's - and I am delighted to say I passed both! Got my first ever A for the English exam, and a very happy C for my maths! All those nights studying till the wee hours and tears of frustration have been worth it!

Whilst these cookies are not my most favourite biscuit in comparison to other oaty things I've ever baked but at same time were quite edible and vanished pretty quickly! I think the only thing I would change would be a touch more sugar...

This is also my first ever entry into the We Should Cocoa challenge run by Chocolate Teapot and Chocolate Log Blog that I have followed with both envy and forgetfulness for a very long time! This month the special ingredient was glorious Cherries, and is being hosted by the lovely Janice of Farmersgirl Kitchen

Whilst fresh cherries would have been delicious to play with, the weather outside was rather soggy and so I decided to use glacé cherries instead for my entry, and baked these from what I had in stock already! The original recipe was found amongst a huge pile of magazine clippings that got finally sorted the other day into the proper sections of my ever expanding ringbinder (s)!, so I am sure where it came from..

Makes about 15

Ingredients 

65g glace cherries, roughly chopped

65g craisins, roughly chopped

110g margarine

50g golden caster sugar

3 tbsp Runny honey

1 egg, beaten

½ tsp vanilla extract

75g oats

75g self raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Pre-heat your oven to 190, line 2-3 baking trays with parchment paper

Cream together the margarine and sugar, until smooth and light in colour, whisk in the honey, egg and vanilla. (This is why I love my hand mixer!) Fold in the oats, cocoa and flour. Use a dessert sized spoon to blob the mixture onto the trays, keeping a gap in between as they will expand!

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until still soft on top but golden - they will harden on cooling. Once cooked, leave to cool on the tray for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack

Even Dory was excited to see all the cookies!

Cake style choc chip cookies

What a miserable day its been outside! My plans to get fresh air (and a little retail therapy!) were scrapped when the rain started splattering across the car windscreen after picking up my eldest niece this morning, and she decided we should bake instead. I don't need much excuse to do a spot of baking and after a quick trip to get some more butter, then came the hard part - what to bake!

Alice suggested cookies. This is all good and well. Except for some reason I rarely make cookies, I am much more a cake kinda girl. There is also the slightly embarrassing fact I have not baked cookies in a long time, and didn't really fancy the perfectly edible ones that I've had previous success with. I'm not sure what it is with cookies, anything that requires resting in the fridge for x amount of hours puts me off. I am very much in the instant gratification camp of baking! And overall I really do like cake.

Whilst I am slightly sad to report that my cookbooks are also being decreased, I really do not have room or need for so many and in the process of selling a selection of them, fortunately however I had saved this particular 'Best ever Cookies' book from the 'to-go' pile and managed to find a cookie recipe in it which appealed to both of us, and more importantly could be whizzed up, baked and consumed with a lovely cup of tea in rapid time! It also helped that I had all the ingredients in my limited baking supplies cupboard (read that as shut the door quickly and hope it doesn't collapse on itself cupboard) So as the recipe worked, I guess it was fate to keep the book and will have to find room for it!

Our resulting cookies were whilst falling within the cookie camp, also reminded me more of a rock cake but softer kinda cookie, and are very moreish! They are quite soft but not so soft they fall apart, making them ideal for dunking! The texture inside is cakey like, I think the use of self-raising flour does give them quite a good lift and lightens their texture nicely.

I didn't have the full amount of chocolate to hand, so made do with a 100g bar of dark swiss chocolate bashed up, and a good handful of descicated coconut which worked really well with the flavours. 

Also I am still getting the hang of the new oven, our first two trays came out a little more suntanned than planned so I reduced the temperature by 10 degrees and shaved a minute off the cooking time, which worked perfectly. Your oven may well behave differently, I think mine is older than me...!

Makes 18-20

Oven 180-190 - see above!

115g soft butter (I used stork)

115g light muscovado sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 tsp vanilla essence)

150g self raising flour

75g porridge oats

100g plain chocolate (book calls for 230g white and dark or choc chips)

4 heaped tbsp desiccated coconut

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, beat well, sift in the flour (I actually have no sieve at the moment but fortunately didn't affect the recipe!) and fold in using a metal spoon, along with the oats and chocolate until mixed. 

Place dessert spoon sized blobs on lined baking trays, leaving a gap as they will spread out. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown and your kitchen smells delicious. Cool for a couple of minutes then transfer to a wire rack and resist the urge until cooled sufficiently enough not to burn yourself.

Beetroot and Oat cookies with Sugar Icing

Yes your eyes are not deceiving you. Cookies and beetroot do indeed appear in the same sentence! And what's more – they make great friends, who would of known? Call it opposites attract perhaps?

And why I thought to make beetroot cookies? Not sure. Call it sleep deprivation post night shifts or something. The original recipe calls for carrots. I had lots of carrots courtesy of market man at the time but something made my brain go hmmm beetroot….! I frequently buy the ready cooked beetroot's (un-vinegared)in their little shrink wrap casings but after about 3 days worth of it in salads of some sort, the appeal can start to wane even for a devout beetroot fan... 

..There's been a plethora of beetroot and chocolate cake recipes over the net these past few years, and as I am huge fan of adding carrots, and indeed parsnips to my bakes; thought mostly why the hell not. Like how most of my recipes come about really!

The original recipe comes from the very delicious blog Yummy Choo Eats, and the lovely hostess Selina has given me kind permission to re-publish it here with my tweaks.

Many thanks also to the ladies of twitter confirming I could swap maple syrup for golden - my store cupboard is somewhat shrunken and have no room for new bottles to gather dust! Cooking in the new oven is a bit of a trial and error - I'd spent 5 years getting used to cooking with fan assisted and now back to a regular, ancient beast of an oven and was pleasantly surprised these survived so well!

Makes 12 cookies

60g grated cooked beetroot (roughly 1 ball)
60g wholemeal flour
60g porridge oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
A pinch of ground ginger
25g desiccated Coconut, extra for sprinkling
40 ml golden Syrup - roughly 1 very heaped tbsp
75 ml Olive Oil

Icing sugar /water for decoration


**CSI style gloves are very handy for this recipe**

Method:

Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 6 / 200 and line a baking tray or two with parchment/ baking paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and oats. Add the grated beetroot, ginger, coconut and cinnamon.

In a separate smaller bowl use a whisk to combine the golden syrup and oil. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Use your hands to shape into walnut sized balls and flatten slightly, place on to baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. 

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until cookies are golden brown on top and underneath. - Mine took 18 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly and transfer to a cooling rack.

Mix some icing sugar and water, then drizzle as desired over the top. Sprinkle over a little more coconut if liked,

And the verdict - I found that I grew to love these. They had hints of gingerbread, and softened over a couple of days into a most agreeable chewy, soft cookie. Definitely making again! I did think initially they were not sweet enough however by the time had finished them, had changed my mind. The girls at work also thought they were just right. So no meddling needed!


I had the original carrot version of these saved on my 'favourites' for ages, so I am also sending these over to the Bookmarked Recipes challenge for February:

Apple Streusel Cake

This is a new cake for me, as I’ve never made, or remember eating a ‘streusel’ topping before! I recently picked up a packet of bramley apples for my Christmas stuffing and had two spare...There was lots of debates between myself over what to make with the remainder and then I spotted this cake in one of my friend’s book ‘Grandmas Favourite Recipes’ and with a morning spare (well, sort of, have never been good at prioritising!) I decided to have a bash at making it!

Whilst there are a couple of separate stages to the recipe (hello three mixing bowls!) its easy to follow and make. Its also a very nice cake to sit down and have a cup of tea with in the afternoon. I did eat mine cold, though I think it would be very good served warm as pudding, perhaps with a nice scoop of vanilla icecream! One thing that did surprise me is that the cake wasn’t overly sweet but completely in a good way, the girls at worked loved it and I hope you will too!


Whilst the streusel topping does make it a little more challenging to slice up, it did give the cake a nice edge and I found myself picking at the all the remnants in the in after cutting! I do love chef’s perks!

You will need a 23cm springform cake tin, lined

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

115g butter (plus extra if greasing your tin - I am lazy and always use liners!)
450 cooking apples
175g self raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
115g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
icing sugar to dust (forgot this bit!)

Topping ingredients:
115g self raising flour

85g butter
85g caster sugar

Method:

Firstly make the topping by sifting the flour into a bowl, rub together with the butter to form coarse breadcrumbs I.e. small lumps. Stir in the sugar

Pre-heat oven to 160fan/ 180/ gas 4

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and reserve (I did this stage last)

Sift the flour, cinnamon and salt together. Separately beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, gradually beat in the eggs, adding some of the flour each time. Gently fold in remaining flour and milk.

Spoon the batter into your prepared tin, top with the apple slices and sprinkle over the topping. Bake for about an hour – due to the topping I found judging it hard so gave it an extra ten minutes! The topping should be firm and golden. Leave to cool down in the tin before opening the sides up.

Dust with icing sugar before serving. (I forgot this bit!)

I'm also sending this one over to Bookmarked Recipes number#6!

Thai Spicy Red Bean and Baby corn Curry

The Thai New Year is coming up soon, 13th to 15th April and to help celebrate, Thai Taste sent me a pot of their Red curry paste. A few years back when I first started getting into cooking I completed a cookery course on Thai cookery at a local college, and whilst some of the Thai dishes were just not for me, I did find a few favourites, including this recipe, that I have made some minor tweaks to. This recipe also converted me into liking green beans!

I really love the slight creaminess, and gentle spiciness of this curry and hope you enjoy it too! Be careful with your pastes though, as I find brands do vary greatly in spice levels, it is always easier to add than to takeaway! Thai Tastes paste was quite mild, so you can use a teaspoon quite safely!

Some ingredients can be hard to track down depending where you live and so good quality, ready made curry pastes are very handy. Thai Tastes’ paste contains no nasties and made of all natural ingredients, just how you would make at home. D is not keen on spicy food either so having the paste on standby is ideal for when I want to whip up something just for me to feast upon!

Easy – 10 minutes
Serves 2-4 as a side dish

400g mix of green beans, trimmed and baby corn, halved (you can use just green beans if preferred)
1 tsp red curry paste (see above guidance)
1 garlic clove
100ml coconut milk
4 spring onions, thinly sliced and roughly split between whiter and green parts
2 tsp Nam pla (also known as Fish sauce)
1 tbsp ground roasted peanut, optional
1 stick lemongrass or 2 tsp dried, soaked in hot water
S&P to taste (Nam Pla is quite salty tasting, so best to taste before adding any salt)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp mint and coriander leaves

Blitz together the curry paste, garlic, lemongrass, fish sauce and coconut to make a smooth paste

Blanch the vegetables, refresh in cold water and drain

Heat the oil in a wok, add the whiter spring onion parts and fry for 2 minutes, add the paste and reduce by half, add the vegetables and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve immediately, garnish with peanuts if using, remaining spring onions and a scattering of fresh mint and coriander leaves.

Alongside our curry, I roasted cod fillets, with a topping of finely grated ginger, garlic, lime juice and zest, red chilli, spring onions and a bit of s&p:

And some red pepper and aubergine tempura. Whilst they were nice, and all were eaten, the batter was not as light as I’d hoped. Not sure if it was the recipe or me though! I did manage to accidentally forget to put the first batch actually into the batter after flouring and only realised when I wondered why they looked so pale!

Can you spot my chilli flower in the picture? This has also been entered over this months Create and Carve event, this month being held over at Fuss Free Flavours, don't forget to check back there at the end of the month for the the round-up!

To end our mini Thai feast, I also made these Thai Coconut custards. Whilst the recipe was successful, I am not entirely sure I would make them again, can’t decide if I liked them or not! Neither could my Dad!

Thanks to Clementine at Storm Communications.

Spiced Carrot and Sultana salad, Lamb Koftas and more!

Following on from the gorgeous Chickpea fritters, these are some of the other dishes I made alongside our feast, though please excuse the awful pictures, the lighting was very bad!

Spiced Carrot and Sultana salad

This makes a tasty, interesting side salad, packed with fresh flavours

200g freshly grated carrot
50g sultanas
Lots of lemon juice (bottled is fine)
½ tsp freshly ground cumin seed
½ tsp freshly ground coriander seed
¼ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp runny honey
1-2 tsp dried oregano
S&P, to taste
1-2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil, preferably a nice fruity one

Simply mix together all the ingredients, adding lemon juice to taste and enough oil to make it glisten! It is really worthwhile grinding the spices freshly, I used my latest kitchen toy. This salad is best made several hours ahead so that the flavours can infuse together.

The salad is shown in the middle of the dish, we also had some surprisingly good olives from my local Budgen's, mini cheese kabanos, roasted peppers and my precious jar of Caponata that I had been saving, which I bought at a food festival back in the summer, which was really tasty, must remember to buy more jars next time!

Moroccan Spiced Courgettes

This is probably best made with smaller courgettes than I used, as I had to adjust the cooking time by at least double! The recipe is taken from the ‘Best of Morocco’ book. Think I still need to adjust time/ temperature slightly as was only just about cooked through but overall the dish was pretty well received – it was all eaten so always a good sign!

500g small courgettes

Lemon juice, chopped fresh coriander and parsley, to serve

For the Charmoula:

1 onion, finely chopped

1-2 garlic cloves

¼ red or green chilli, seeded and sliced

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp ground cumin

3 tbsp olive oil

S&P

Pre-heat the oven to 190o/ 350F

Cut the courgettes lengthways and place in a baking dish, snugly together

Blend together the Charmoula ingredients with 60ml water, spoon over the courgettes and cover with foil. Bake for 15 minutes, baste and un-cover and cook for 5-10 minutes more (or in my case about 35 minutes more!) Serve with the lemon, coriander and parsley, though I forgot the lemon and not very keen on parsley so just the coriander for us!

The picture isn't pretty but it tasted good!

Lamb Kofta

I used this recipe from BBC food site, minor amendments were that I used smoked paprika instead of the paprika and also added some finely chopped fresh mint leaves, as I just love the combination together!

For the lamb kofta kebabs

500g/17½oz lean minced lamb

3 tsp paprika

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1 clove garlic, peeled, chopped

½ chilli, finely chopped

pinch cayenne pepper

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat the grill to high. (not too high though unless you want a very smoky kitchen!)

Place all of the kebab ingredients together in a bowl and mix together with your hands until the meat sticks together.

With damp hands, take a handful of the kebab mixture and shape into a long sausage shape around a metal skewer. Repeat with the remaining kebab mixture, using a new skewer each time (or fit two kebabs onto each skewer, if space allows).

Place the skewers under the grill for 10-12 minutes, turning them halfway, until the lamb is golden-brown and cooked through. Slide the kebabs off the skewers serve.

Spinach Pilaf

Not sure why I haven’t blogged this one before but I also cooked this lovely simple rice dish, just without the lamb addition this time as we were already having the lamb koftas, however I can recommend the whole recipe for a simple and tasty mid-week dinner!

Serves 4

olive oil

1 onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 cardamom pods , lightly crushed

300g basmati rice

550ml chicken stock

100g spinach , washed and chopped

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan, add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until softened then stir in the spices and rice. Pour over the stock, bring to a simmer and cover with a tight-fitting lid.

Turn the heat down and cook gently until all the stock has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir through the spinach for the last minute of cooking until wilted.

Here is a picture of my plate loaded up with everything!

And if you are anything like me, you find the packet of pitta breads in the bread bin, after dinner is finished……

Baileys Chocolate cheesecake..

I'm torn with this one whether its a success or not. Yes it does fill the title description but at the same time it had me slightly hungover, repeatedly bending down to the oven, to check if it was cooked yet (not good for a sore head, too many cocktails the night before!), it took a total of 1hr 40 minutes to bake in my oven, which is fan assisted...and is usually quicker than a normal oven, the recipe states about 1 hour.

The cheesecake itself is relatively straight forward to make, so am tempted to try again...I don't have a hand mixer as stated, just used my electric whisk as was nearest thing to it, I wonder if that made much of a difference as my mixture was very runny going into the tin..

The recipe was adapted from a BBC Good food recipe for Kahlúa Chocolate Cheesecake, the adaption being that I used Baileys as they had sold out of Kahlúa, I think it was a little over done in the end as the outer side was more cake like in texture but end result was a very dense, chocolate, calorie laden treat. The topping with creme fraiche and Baileys* in was a nice finish and helped to moisten the cake.

Possibly the best ever Choc chip cookies?

I've been waiting to post about these as I needed to post this months 'Fresh from the Oven challenge' first! I've had this recipe for a while, taken from Olive magazine and finally baked them last week - they are really, really good.

Beautifully buttery, oaty, chocolatey, soft, slightly chewy and are even better eaten still warm from the oven. I can see these being a regular bake for me! The only real amendment was that I left the walnuts out, mainly as I'm sure I had some but couldn't find! I did adjust the sugar as to what I had in the cupboard and it thankfully worked perfectly!



Chunky chocolate cookies

Ingredients:
Ingredients100g plain flour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
125g unsalted butter
175g soft brown sugar (I only had dark soft brown, used 150g and 50g golden caster sugar)
25g caster sugar (see above)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g walnuts , chopped
175g porridge oats
50g dark chocolate , chopped into small chunks

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Mix the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Cream the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla with electric beaters. Stir in the flour mixture, then add the nuts, oats and chocolate.

Line 2 baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment and drop large tbsps of dough onto them (mine were more ball like in shape). Press down gently. Bake for 8-10 minutes until light golden. (I cooked a few mins longer as made bigger ones)

Let them cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They will look underdone but will finish cooking on the hot tray. Wait until they are completely cool then pack into a tin lined with baking paper.

Eat-Me gifts - Chocolate Spiced shortbread

Following on from my previous post for Coconut shortbread, here comes hot on its footsteps - Chocolate spiced shortbread. This is a slightly thicker mix, more biscuity than the coconut version, mainly because I should not have weighed out the ingredients, whilst enjoying a nice glass of red from Calloways Crossing (hey it was Friday night!), as I got them slightly back to front at one point - however they did still work and just goes to show deviating from a basic recipe can sometimes prove worthwhile!

Makes 20

175g butter
220g plain flour
120g unrefined icing sugar

2 tsp mixed spice

3 tsp cocoa powder - I used green and blacks

For decorating:

Chocolate sprinkles

Edible Silver balls

Icing sugar for dusting

6 squares white chocolate

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180/ 160 fan. Cream together the icing sugar and butter until fluffy.

2) Now add the flour, cocoa powder and mixed spice and mix until thoroughly combined. Roll into walnut shell sized balls and place on a lined baking sheet, place a piece of cherry in the middle and flatten using the palm of your hand, if you like you can sprinkle over some chocolate flakes at this stage. These do spread out so allow room between them

3) Bake for approx 8 minutes or until they are just colouring at the bottom and slightly firm to the touch, allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray and transfer carefully to a wire rack.

4) Once they are completely cooled, dust with icing sugar, melt the white chocolate in a bowl over hot water or on a low heat in a heavy based pan, using a wooden spoon, slowly drizzle and flick the melted chocolate over the biscuits, sprinkle over the chocolate sprinkles and place the silver balls on the melted chocolate

I've also sent these over to foodblogga.blogspot.com/2008/11/eat-christmas-cookies-season-2. and mykitchentreasures.blogspot.com/2008/11/home-made-christmas-gifts. where you can check out lots of other lovely looking treats this Christmas!

Eat-Me Gifts - Cherry topped Coconut shortbread

Currently my partner has been struck down with this nasty cold thats doing the rounds, already had my share so hoping not to re-catch it!

On Friday night I decided to keep out of his way and spend some quality time with the kitchen, to make some early Christmas biscuits. I took my favourite whipped shortbread recipe from my Baking Book, split the base mix and now have two new favourites!

Cherry topped Coconut shortbread

Makes 9

60g Plain flour
25g Unrefined icing sugar
75g butter
2 tbsp descicated coconut
2 glace cherries, diced up

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180 / 160 fan. Beat the icing sugar and butter until creamy and light

2) Beat in the flour and coconut, roll into walnut shell sized balls, place on a lined baking sheet, place a piece of cherry in the middle and flatten using the palm of your hand. These do spread out so allow room between them

3) Bake for approx 8 minutes or until they are just colouring at the bottom, allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray and transfer carefully to a wire rack.

These are lovely, melt in your mouth biscuits but very fragile so package carefully!



I've also entered these this month over at foodblogga.blogspot.com/2008/11/eat-christmas-cookies-season-2. and mykitchentreasures.blogspot.com/2008/11/home-made-christmas-gifts. where you can check out lots of other lovely looking treats this Christmas!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't like Chocolate Chip Cookies? No one, that's good then!

Anyway, I have tried many cookie recipes, some better than others, including a slightly bizarre one that ended up like a flat chocolate brownie and actually had to be baked in a baking dish, not the cookie sheet as recommended, not made that one again though the brownie wasn't too bad.....

One of my colleagues asked me yesterday to bring in chocolate chip cookies today and as I had been meaning to try a new recipe, I agreed, I think much to his surprise!

This is taken from my increasingly favourite 'Baking' book and marginally adapted and re-written as to what I had in the house!

Makes about 25 small cookies

Ingredients

75g butter

175g Plain flour

1 heaped tbsp bournville cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3/4 bag plain choc chips

25g demerara sugar

25g dark soft brown sugar

Weeny pinch of salt

4 heaped tbsp golden syrup

1) Blend together the sugar's

2) In a large bowl sift the flour, bicarb, salt and baking powder, chop the butter into small pieces and add to the flour mix and rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs, almost pastry like

3) Add the sugar, cocoa powder, golden syrup and choc chips and mix until its dough like. I used my Kenwood chef for this part as my butter was cold out of the fridge and proving feisty, add more syrup if required until its all come together and slightly pliable.

4) Pinch off small balls teaspoon sized and place on a greased or lined baking tray, flatten slightly and bake for about 12 minutes or until golden, they should be slightly soft still. Allow to cool and transfer to a wire rack.

Individual Lemon cheesecakes

Last weekend I made little lemon cheesecakes for fathers day and finally found a perfect parter for my lemon topping, posted a while back: http://anneskitchen1.blogspot.com/2007/08/lemon-topping.html

Makes 5 individual dishes (I used some vintage dessert glasses, similar size to ramekins)

Easy

2 tubs mascarpone
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 heaped tbsp icing sugar
10 gingernut biscuits
1 tbsp butter

1) Start by bashing the lights out of the gingernuts or blitzing in a food processor, gently melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the biscuits and coat thoroughly, remove from heat. Using two spoons line the base of your dishes and place in the fridge to cool

In a large bowl add the mascarpone, sift in the icing sugar and stir in the lemon juice and zest and beat together until light, spoon carefully over the biscuit base and smooth over

Now you can chill and eat later or make the lemon topping

Lemon Topping

Now I wasnt sure where to post this but guess 'desserts' kinda falls into the category...

I recently made the lemon cheesecake recipe from Margurite Patten, however after making I fancied topping it with something...what resulted was a lovely zangy topping which complimented the cheesecake perfectly:

2 lemons
4 tbsp caster sugar
1 sheet gelatine leaf

1) Firstly, zest both of the lemons into cm strips and reserve, then halve both lemons and juice, place the juice in a small saucepan with the sugar

2) Place the gelatine in a bowl with a little water and leave for 4-5 mins, then drain well

3) Heat the lemon juice, zest and sugar together and boil for about 2 minutes, allow to cool then stir in the drained gelatine, stir well until melted, cool a little longer then pour over the cheesecake, refrigerate and allow to set (about two hours)

Jelly Cheesecake

Easy
Prep time 20 mins + chilling

9 plain digestive biscuits
30g butter
1 sachet quick-gel (choose colour according to fruit)
1 tub mascarpone
1 tin of: mandarin segments / pear halves / peach slices (choice is yours!)

1) Place the biscuits in a food processor and blitz until fine crumbs or place in a large sealable food bag and bash with a rolling pin

2) In a saucepan melt the butter, turn off the heat and add the biscuit crumbs, stir well, now transfer to a loose bottomed sandwich tin and press down to make a smooth layer, allow to cool and chill for 20 minutes

3) Remove from the fridge and cover the base with the mascarpone to make a smooth layer

4) Slice your fruit of choice thinly and make a pretty layer over the mascarpone

5) Make the quick-gel up as per the instructions, pour over the top carefully until covered, allow to set and chill for a couple of hours before serving

In the summer, using fresh strawberries is lovely

This dish is a surefire winner and so easy to make!

Mandarin Mini Cheesecakes

Two ramekins or equiv size pots, line with cling film (use a little oil to help stick if needed)

Open a tin of mandarins, bash around a little and put to one side
Bash the lights out of 6 digestives and mix with a little melted butter
take one tub of mascarpone, mix with 1 dessert spoon of the mandarin juice and 2 tbsp of crushed mandarins and 1 tbsp grated dark chocolate, place a couple of spoonfuls in each ramekin and top with crushed biccies, leave to cool and set in the fridge for an hour or two

Remove from fridge and turn upside down onto serving plate/ dish remove cling film and drizzle over some melted chocolate or simply garnish with a sprig of mint if you have any....Very simple and easy but was nice. Have done a similar one using fresh oranges just make sure they are sweet ones!

Also works if you are doing a big cheesecake, normally top it with orange gelatine to stop it drying out.