Recipe: sweet and savoury cheesecakes

sweet cheesecakes out of the oven...

I certainly love cheesecakes:  baked, non-baked, sweet, savoury... Any excuse to have cheese into my meal is good enough for me.  But now I got hold of a new aspect:  individual cheesecakes.  No more cutting, no diet pieces, all in the wonderful muffin form that is so practical.  

This weekend I used two recipes and discovered just how much better a good thing can become:

Recipe: cherry coffee cake

I wasn't really a cake person.  While I alway want to have a little something with my tea, I've always found there are few cakes that are really moist and flavourful - in most (I admit) store-bought cakes, I always taste the flour and I'm not really interested in that.  This is basically why I started making my own, and after a first success with a nice lemon drizzle cake, I discovered an ingredient that guarantees a moist cake:  sour cream! (I've finally seen the light...).  Off I went in search of a great recipe, which I then simplified to the maximum possible (that's me!) 

Cherry coffee cake

adapted from Martha Stewart

125g unsalted butter,room temperature

250g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch salt

60g white sugar

60g demerrara sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

125g sour cream

125g sour cherries

Print recipe

Preheat oven at 180 degrees C.  Grease a 26x10cm cake tin. In a mixer, mix butter with the sugars.  Continue with half the flour, the salt, the sour cream, the vanilla extract, the baking powder and the remaining flour.  Scrape the sides so that the mixture is fluid.  Pour 3/4 of the mixture in the tin, and continue with the cherries.  Careful that they do touch the edges of the tin, or they'll stick.  Pour remaining mixture and bake for about 30 - 40 minutes.  This is such a moist, tasty cake that will please everyone at tea-time...




This post is my entry into Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

Recipe: apple crumb pie

I think I have multiple personalities.  While at day I am immersed in the harsh reality of the working environment, the minute I get home in the evening, I'm as soft as pie... apple pie, that is! There is no better scent than having an apple pie baking away in the house - whatever you may be stressed about, it will surrender to the beauty of the apple and magically disappear...

Note:  don't be afraid by the list of ingredients.  Most are staples, and once everything is in the counter, the assembly is a piece of cake (but this recipe is for pie - not cake!!!)

Apple crumb pie

adapted from The Pie and Pastry Bible

For the cream cheese crust:

120g butter, cold

what a great pie!

185g flour

85g cream cheese, cold

1/8tsp baking powder

(a pinch of cinnamon, if you like)

1 1/5tbsp cold water

1 1/2tsp white vinegar

salt

egg white, lightly beaten

For the filling:

6 medium apples, in chunks

1tbsp lemon juice

2tsp cornstarch

70g brown sugar

55g white sugar

(a pinch of cinnamon, if you like)

salt

And the first piece... is for me!

For the topping:

75g brown sugar

25g white sugar

140g flour

110g butter, softened

100g chopped walnuts

(a pinch of cinnamon, if you like)

1 1/2tsp vanilla extract

salt

Start with the crust.  In a food processor, blitz flour baking powder and salt.  Add cream cheese, blitz.  Add butter and blitz.  Add water and vinegar and blitz until it detaches from the sides.  Roll to a circle to line a 25cm (deepish) pie dish.  Put in refrigerator for about 20 minutes. 

In the meantime, preheat the oven at 200 degrees C.  In a bowl, peel, core and cut the apples in chunks.  Add the remaining ingredients, cover all pieces well, leave to rest.

Blind bake the crust:  line with aluminium foil, spread baking beans (in my case old dried beans) and bake for about 15 minutes.  Remove foil, brush crust with egg white. Now, you can pour the apples in the dish.  Cover it with a foil dome (so that the apples will not get black when baked), slit some holes with a knive.  Bake for about 50 minutes.

As you wait, make the topping:  put all ingredients in a bowl.  Lightly pinch with fingertips until all is crumble...

Get pie out of the oven, discard foil dome and spread topping evenly. Lower temperature to 180 degrees C.  Protect edges with foil (so that they don't overbrown)  and bake for a further 15 minutes.  Cool on a rack.

This post is my entry into Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

Recipe: coconut macaroons

Yes, it is the season of over-eating, yet I do want to make an effort to have (semi) healthy alternatives on the menu.  This is where these adorable macaroons come in handy!  I discovered coconut early in my life and what I like is its natural sweetness.  I always try to find new recipes to include coconut (savoury or sweet).  

So, with no further ado, here is the recipe:

Recipe: Pumpkin cookies

While we may not officially celebrate Thanksgiving in Belgium, I could not but help my (American) friend Jessi celebrate a proper Thankgiving dinner here!  She undertook the ueber-major task of cooking (and carving) the turkey, and I contributed ... with cookies!  Pumpkin cookies that is, and they turned excellent (in my humble opinion!).  So easy to make, and I got to use the remaining pumpkin puree from Halloween!!!

Recipe: Apple cheesecake bar

Most of the pins I keep in Pinterest are for my cooking recipes (Weekend cooking is a ritual for me...).  This is my way of keeping to-investigate recipes organised, so that if I'm not satisfied with the result, I can just delete the link.  If I love the result, it will be printed and included in my great book of cooking (...).  For the Pin it and Do it challenge hosted by Trish, I had a very good excuse to bring out all the long-forgotten material I have, and start making some wonderful things:

First things first:  an incredible dessert, that was munched within minutes... Just listen to this name:  Maple syrup streusel apple cheesecake bar (mmmm...).  And it is all that and more:  a few ingredients that get assembled within minutes (literally) and then baked.  Pure delight and decadence!!!

Maple syrup streusel apple cheesecake bar
adapted from Cookies and Cups

  










   

  
Crust
• 230g shortcrust pastry
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  
  Mascarpone Filling
• 200g mascarpone, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 50g granulated sugar
• 20g light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 small apples, peeled and finely diced
• 
  
• Steusel Topping
• 120g light brown sugar
• 120g flour
• 20g old fashioned oats
• 70g butter, room temperature

• 70ml maple syrup

Print recipe

Preheat oven at 180C.  Slightly roll out the pastry to make a rectangular and line a pie dish.  Sprinkle the crust with the brown sugar.  Mix all ingredients of the filling and spread on crust.  Bake for about 25-30 minutes.  In the meantime, prepare the streusel topping.  After  20 minutes, take dish out and cover with the steusel.  Place back in the oven and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, until golden.  Take out and drizzle with maple surup (the quantity is indicative - you can pour as much or as little as you like).  Leave to cool (I actually put it back in the oven and left it to cool there).  Once cold, cut in 2*2cm squares.

This post is my entry into Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

This is also my second pin in the Pin it and Do it:  A Pinteresting challenge, hosted by Trish. 

Recipe: invitation to tea

I enjoy having friends over for tea (which may be coffee, of course!).  There is food involved, but in a totally different manner than a dinner:  no appetizers, first, mains, cheeses, desserts - all in a structured procedure, with precision as to their timing.  Plus, given that we are in the evening, I have to watch out that it's nothing too heavy (hint as to the age group I belong to...)

On the contrary, tea-time is early afternoon, so that people could even have had a light lunch beforehand.  Tea includes mostly finger food, that is available at the same time, and everyone can pick and choose as they please. While the original range includes different types of sandwiches, I'm always on the lookout for new ideas that will provide a little umph in our everyday lives:

Recipe: Southern Sisters recipes

A while back, I read Anne George's Murder Runs in the Family, a Southern Sisters mystery.  I was immediately hooked to that book not only because it is a rather interesting whodunnit, but also because it has wonderful twists everywhere: right between the shootings, the suicides and the murders, there would be cooking! 

I was really intrigued with this ability of the characters to maintain balance in life:  yes, there are serious things happening in their lives, they get to pursue dangerous criminals, they even risk their own lives at times.  Still, man has to eat:  food is  one of life's most pleasant delights, and the Southern Sisters make full use of this.  There are several dishes described in the book that make their days even better than they are with all the excitement.  I had an epiphany:  I would try some of these recipes myself.  I had not yet cooked any Southern cuisine, so, what better excuse than this book to inspire me?

Recipe: last of the summer jello

Last night it started to rain... again... there goes the summer... Even though I witnessed 4 (yes, four) heatwaves this summer, still... I don't want it to end.  I know all seasons have their own beauty - but there's something in summer that make it just a tiny bit more exciting.  Ice-cream, yes, definitely but still better:  Jello!

Weekend cooking: Lemon drizzle cake

I enjoy cooking very much when everyone else asleep is.  Early in the morning, when not even the birds have started their daily chirping, when all is quiet, there is nothing better for me than to whip up a nice, easy ... cake!

Baking usually entails the use of an electric mixer, but at 4 o'clock in the morning, that would be disastrous.  I used a wooden spoon to mix ingredients, and a hand whisker to beat, and it turned out that not only did I enjoy it (silence continued), but also that the end result just as fluffy was as with electricity...

I had been wanting to make a cake for quite some time now, what with the weather being more autumnal than summery... I came across Mary McCartney's Food, a book celebrating vegetarian home cooking through an insert in a magazine.  Mary is the daughter of Paul but also of Linda McCartney, one of the pioneers in vegetarian cooking.  And while I'm not usually impressed by famous people who have the urge to show they can cook as well, I really did like the recipes, in my quest for more meat-free variety in the meals I prepare.

This lemon drizzle cake was turned into muffins when I realised that the loaf tin way high up was and that I, not fully awake at that time, would be in great risk if I stepped on a ladder... Cake or muffins, though, they filled the house with a wonderful fragrance while they baked (and, later on, the tummies with a delectable lemony-syrupy warmth...)

Weekend cooking - chili dinner menu

My sincere apologies before I begin to all those who know and use the original recipe for chili con carne - I only knew it from restaurants up to now.  Once I decided to make a recipe for it, I researched plenty of variations, and settled for those ingredients that I liked (obviously).  This is my recipe for chili, and those who have tried it seem to like it (or are extremely polite?):

Chili con carne - my style

red hot chili con carne

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1 rash of bacon (about 1/2cm thick), cut in fine strips

3 half peppers (green/yellow/red) cut in small pieces (or a total of 1 1/2 peppers of your choice)

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

500gr beef mince

250gr red beans, soaked, boiled, left to cool

400g chopped tomatoes

100ml water

500gr sieved tomatoes (passata)

1tbsp smoked paprika

1 tsp chili flakes (or as hot as you like)

juice from half a lemon

1 tbsp oregano

salt/pepper to taste

(it can only get better from now on...)

How to start:  I personally prefer to fry the mince apart and leave it cool.  Otherwise, in medium heat, start with the first batch of ingredients, i.e. the onion with the bacon, the peppers and the celery.  Once the bacon is sufficiently fried, toss the mince and either fry or reheat.  Add the red beans, reheat as well.  Add the tomatoes and water.  I usually wait between the steps until the temperature of the pot is back at hot.  Pour the passata and add the rest of the ingredients.  Cook for about 20 minutes. (I know I should serve this with grated cheddar, but I could find none that day, so I used emmental - sorry!)

Corn muffins

pretty little corn muffins

Deborah from my book club gave me a corn muffin mix from the States, and I've been wanting to try it some time now.  She told me that she had also added a tin of cream corn to the mix, so I decided to do the same (well, almost):

1 240g pack of corn muffin mix

1 egg

80ml milk

a 230g jar of corn, boiled, mashed

The mix asked for 1 egg and 80ml of milk, so I mixed all these and added the mashed corn.  As the consistency was slightly watery for my taste, I also added 3 tbsp of polenta, but I suppose that depends on the mashed corn.  Pour in muffin tin (filling about 3/4 of the muffins) and bake at 170^oC for about 20 minutes.  Leave to cool.

I served everything with nacho chips and I also made a crunchy green salad.

pomegranate ice-cream with cherries

For dessert, I made a simple - but oh so good! - pomegranate ice-cream, using Nigella Lawson's recipe: 


200ml pomegranate juice
juice from one lemon
150g icing sugar
500ml cream


Whisk everything to soft peaks, pour in container, freeze.  Pure delight...

This post is my entry into Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

Weekend cooking - coffee desserts

Let me count the ways I love coffee - no, wait - it's pointless. I am a coffee-holic. I love to smell, taste, cook with coffee - and that goes for all types of coffee! In desserts, I like using coffee because it cuts the sweetness and provides for new ideas and flavours. Here are my two favourite recipes involving coffee:

Coffee and walnut muffins

A very old staple in my recipe book, these muffins are just too easy not to make them every week (and they taste double so good!):

- 1 and 3/4 cups flour (I use instant, no need to sift)

- 1/2 cup each of butter in cubes / chopped walnuts

- 3/4 cups milk

- 1 egg

- 1/3 cup light brown sugar

- 2 tbsp instant coffee powder

- 1 tbsp baking powder

- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla paste)

- 1/4 tsp salt

Mix everything - pour in oil-sprayed muffin tray, or in paper cups. Bake for about 30 minutes at 190oC. Leave to cool and enjoy!

Coffee mousse (recipe from the Dagelijkse kost cooking show)

A new recipe which is bound to become a favourite in no time: although I had to use all my mixing bowls, it took practically no time to prepare and the only thing that remained was to wait for the mousse to thicken: 

For the mousse:

- 3 eggs, separated

- 90gr sugar

- 150ml espresso coffee

- 150ml whipped cream

- 2 leaves gelatin (I used powder gelatin, about 7gr) 

For the whipped cream:

- 300ml whipped cream

- 60gr sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla paste)

Now, the difficult part:

If you're using gelatin leaves, soak in water before mixing with coffee - with the powder, you can mix immediately - in both cases, leave coffee to cool. Then comes the whisking: in order to use my hand mixer once, I mix in the following order: first the egg whites, until I have a nice meringue (one mixing bowl). Next comes the whipped cream, which should not be super-whipped (the recipe calls for a "yogurt" consistency) (second bowl). Lastly, the egg yolks with the sugar, which need a couple of minutes of whisking, just to combine the two (third and last mixing bowl). This bowl should actually be the larger one, because everything else will get in there: again, in order: coffee, whipped cream and egg whites (you know how to integrate the egg whites? first a small part to beat relentlessly into the mixture, and then the rest, "folding" it? don't worry - any way this is managed, it always tastes good in the end). Pour in glasses and leave in refrigerator for about 1-2 hours.

For the whipped cream: whisk everything, pour on top of mousse:  You now have a Latte Macchiato dessert!

This post is my entry into Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads.