Vanilla Creme Brulee Cheesecake and an eyelash story

Oooh I nearly forgot to post the promised Cheesecake recipe!  I did take a photo of the last piece, but I left the photo at work, so will have to update the post tomorrow.

Update:  Here's the piccy!

I found this recipe on the inside of a packet of Philadelphia cheese in NZ... and even though I don't usually like baked cheesecakes, this one is to die for!  I'll give you the actual recipe first, and then my notes on it as I very rarely follow a recipe exactly nowadays.

Vanilla Creme Brulee Cheesecake
Serves 10-12
Preparation Time: about 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes


Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups Gingernut biscuits
60g butter melted
750g Cream cheese (softened at room temp)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons custard powder
1 vanilla bean
1 cup cream
1 410g can pear halves, well drained and sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar


Method:

1. Combine the biscuit crumbs and melted butter and press into the base of a greased and lined 24cm spring form pan. Chill.

2. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, add the eggs and custard powder, mix until combined.  Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out into the cream, gently fold through the mixture.  Pour into the prepared base.

3. Bake in a slow oven 150 degrees C for 1 1/4 hours.  Allow to cool in the oven. Arrange the pear slices over the cheesecake and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Cook under a hot grill until sugar is melted and golden.  Chill before serving.

My notes:

1. You don't need to measure out the biscuit crumbs... just use one whole packet.

2. You don't need to chill the base before adding the topping.

3. I prefer to use salted butter in most of my baking.

4. You don't need to lightly beat the eggs first as you are going to beat them into the mixture anyway.

5. You don't need to fold the cream in as it is not whipped or anything.  Just beat it in as with the eggs.

6. I left the cheesecake in the oven overnight to cool and then put it into the fridge in the morning and didn't make the brulee topping until just before serving.

7.  I left out the pears and instead added fresh raspberries and blackcurrents to the top after bruleeing.

8.  I used a blow torch (rather than the oven) to caramelise the sugar but it didn't work with brown sugar, instead I used caster sugar.

9.  It still tasted really good the next day!

I hope you get a chance to try this recipe... it really is very good!  

And now, that eyelash story... 

When I was back home on holiday I visited my beautician to pick up some face cream that I always buy from her and she convinced me to buy this eyelash lengthening stuff (yeah, she twisted my shopaholic arm).  I was a bit sceptical, but she assured me that this stuff is so great it kept her business afloat during the recession.  So I started using it and you wouldn't believe it, but my eyelashes have actually grown about 5mm!!!  It's so weird!  My husband is blown away by it.  I got him to tint my eyelashes yesterday so I could see them properly.    

Anyway, that's it from me for today.  The guests have sprung a surprise 5 day trip on us starting tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to post much this weekend.  But we do have a new challenge starting at Little Miss Muffet stamps tomorrow, so check back for the details tomorrow!

Ciao!

Arabella Chickie in Lavrio, Greece

Ingrid's Salmon recipe

I watched with interest as Ingrid prepared this dish for her family...I used to love smoked Salmon, but find that now it mostly has a very strong, artificial flavour.

I can highly recommend Ingrid's version.  It's absolutely delicious and has none of the artificial chemicals to taint it.

Buy a nice piece of fresh Salmon with the skin on one side.  The mixture below is sufficient to prepare a piece weighing approximately 250grams.

Mix together:
2 heaped tablespoons sugar and 1 heaped tablespoon salt

Place your fish, skin down, on a flat glass dish.
Sprinkle with the sugar and salt mixture.  Ensure the entire piece is well coated. Use all the mixture. You don't have to rub it in. 

Seal with Gladwrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Rinse off the sugar and salt mixture.  Pat dry with a clean, dry cloth (a good quality paper towel will do the trick). 

Slice the fish very thinly, at a slight angle.  If there is a visible blood line (which there shouldn't be if you bought a good quality piece), slice it out.  Your cat will enjoy it.

Arrange the slices on a serving platter, drizzle with SUNFLOWER oil (not olive oil, it's too strong) and sprinkle with a little DRIED dill (not fresh,the flavour is overwhelming). 

Once you've eaten this, you will never again eat the stuff we used to buy from the supermarket.

April Blackbird.

Ingrid's Orange Cake

While we were in Perisher we shared the lodge with Ingrid (from Spain originally) and her family.  Ingrid was a really great cook and kept coming up with all these super easy and very quick recipes. No fuss, no bother.

I thought I'd share her very yummy Orange Cake recipe with you.

1 1/2 cups sugar
3 finely chopped oranges (and their skin!)
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs

Mix well, then add:

2 cups self-raising flour

Pop into a cake tin and bake at 180 degs until cake springs back to the touch.

I think I enjoyed it because the skins give the cake a vague 'tartness'.

April Blackbird

The most dangerous cake in the world!

A friend emailed me this recipe today and I can't wait to try it out...  a 5 minute 'chocolate cuppa cake', which means that at any given time of the day, or night, we're only 5 minutes away from gastronomic heaven.  I had to share it with you.

4 tablespoons gluten free flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) and a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large microwave safe coffee cup (which I'd presume you'd want to spray with anti-stick first)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.  
Add the egg and mix thoroughly. 
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. 
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. 
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! 
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous. 

I reckon you could add a few nuts and/or berries and I'd be inclined to add a dash of chili ('cos I love chili and chocolate together).  

 

April Blackbird 
With grateful thanks to the originator of this email...

Cake's in the oven and the house smells just wonderful.

I finally got that cake into the oven.  Actually, technically it's cakes.  Not cake.  I divided the mixture up into four different size and shape pans.  Why?  Well, it's not going to be a big Christening so we won't need such a huge cake.  We'll be able to store some cake for Christmas and we'll be able to send some to distant relatives whom we know would have loved to join us for the day.

Like a great-grandmother and great-grandfather in South Africa.  Wonder if they'll get it if we post it to them?  One never can tell.

It took me ages to mix the cake this morning.  I made sure I'd weighed out all the ingredients and had everything ready to go.  Finally used my head and didn't follow the instructions...  I'd made a mental note to myself that I had to do something different this time.

So, I mixed the butter and sugar together in my old Kenwood (it's 48 years old now!) until I had a pale yellow, fluffy mix.  Then I spooned the mixture out equally into three different bowls.  First lot went back into the Kenwood and I slowly beat in 5 eggs.  Then I added a third of the sifted flour and other dry ingredients.  I repeated the process for both the remaining bowls.

Hey, that wasn't that hard!  Why couldn't the recipe book have suggested doing it this way?  Does everyone have a commercial grade mixer?  Nooooo. (You want to try mixing 1 kg butter, 1.2 kg castor sugar, 16 eggs, 1.25 kg flour in one bowl!  It's exhausting work.)

Then, I shared the HUGE fruit and nut mixture (which I'd 'floured' well before hand so I know it's not going to sink to the bottom like a torpedoed U boat!) between my three bowls of perfect cake batter.  It mixed in really easily and I don't feel as though my arm is going to fall off anytime soon.  Which is how my arm usually feels when I make this cake.

I bunged it all back into my seriously HUGE soup pot and mixed it all in together...just in case there was any one reason that one mixture was better than the next.  Had to add my bicarb dissolved in vinegar last and that really helped to 'lighten' the mixture.

Another thing that truly bugs me about this recipe... it says to 'spoon the mixture into the pans'.  It would have been helpful if they'd included more specific instructions.  I know now how much to spoon in, but it really had me guessing the first time I made this recipe.And just by the way, this mixture DOES NOT, I repeat DOES NOT fit into two 225mm pans.  Which I now know.  There's nothing worse than scurrying about the kitchen trying to find bigger pans and brown paper at the last moment.

My oven isn't wonderful so I've had to put the cakes in at 120 degrees with the fan on.  I've been watching the cakes and 2 1/2 hours later, they're looking really good.  I just have to be careful not to overcook them.

Funny thing about baking... the smell always takes my appetite away.  I should get myself a job in a bakery.

I'm off to make myself a well earned cuppa now.  It wasn't the best day to choose to bake.  The temps got into the mid 30's again today.  Thankfully, there's a lovely cool breeze coming off the sea now.

April Blackbird

Angela's scrumptious baked cheese cake

On Sunday we went to Kurrajong for a house-warming party.  It was one of those hot, blustery days and we discovered our car's air-con had died a miserable death so we landed up driving with the front windows open.  Which would have been good if we hadn't been experiencing 'raised dust' in NSW, which is different from a dust storm, we are told.

It wasn't as dramatic as the dust storms we experienced recently, but it made for unpleasant breathing.  Thankfully, the blustery wind blew it away in time for us to sit out on the huge wrap around balcony of our friends house while we ate lunch together.

They live in a lovely part of Kurrajong (which is very hilly given it's in the foothills of the Blue Mountains) on 3 1/2 acres overlooking the old quarry dam at the bottom of their property.  Apparently, it's quite deep and they intend to make good use of the water to grow vegies and fruit.

It was good to have a natter with old friends again and we soon whiled away the day. One of the girls produced a baked cheese cake for dessert that impressed me so much I simply had to get her recipe.

It arrived yesterday c/o email.  Don't you just love technology?  We can be miles away from each other, but that's no longer an issue.  I am tickled to be living in this day and age and look forward to the future.

Baked Ricotta Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients
125g Arnotts Nice (or equivalent) biscuits, i.e. half a 250g pack (for base)
2/3 cup almond meal (for base)
60g butter (for base)
1.5 tablespoons cornflour
1.5 tablespoons water
330g softened cream cheese (do not buy Philadelphia spread – buy the stuff in a rectangular box!)
360g fresh ricotta cheese
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups white sugar
1 medium lemon (or specifically, the juice and finely grated rind from one)
Method
If you haven’t yet, get the cream cheese out of the fridge and let it soften.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor (or like me, grind up in a mixing bowl mortar-and-pestle style using the end of a rolling pin). Melt the butter, then add in the almond meal and melted butter, processing (or stirring) until nicely combined.

Grease a 22cm springform tin, line the base with greaseproof paper, and press the biscuit mix into the bottom to form the base. Put it in the fridge while we make the filling. You can probably get the oven going at 150 degrees Celsius, too.

If you haven’t yet, grate the lemon to produce about a tablespoon of rind, then juice it to produce about 60 ml of juice.

Mix the cornflour with the water in a medium-large mixing bowl, until blended. Ensure your cream cheese is softened, cut it up into small pieces and drop into mixing bowl. Stir together until it forgets its original shape.

Add in the ricotta cheese (and stir), the eggs (and stir), the sugar (and stir), the lemon rind (and stir), the lemon juice (and stir). Stir until smooth. Or forget all this stirring and just put it in your food processor.

It’s okay to have some small cream cheese “lumps” in the mixture, but squash any large lumps.

Get the base out of the fridge, and pour the filling in. Then put into the oven for at least 70 minutes

Maybe our oven is wrecked, but after an hour we raised the temperature to 160 degrees, and kept cooking for another hour again. You can tell when it’s cooked because it will be browned a couple of inches from all the edges, and if you poke a skewer into the middle it will leave a hole when it’s removed.

Let the cake cool a little, and then put into the fridge until it is time to serve. Serve with thick cream.


Enjoy!

Best ever chocolate sauce recipe

This is such a simple recipe, you'll use it time and again once you try it.

This is the old fashioned version... you can melt the chocolate in the microwave, but remember this... I didn't tell you that!!  If you heat chocolate too much, too quickly you ruin it.  So try the old fashioned version first...

Create a double boiler (the old fashioned way) by putting a small pot of water on to boil.  Find an oven proof glass bowl that will sit 'in' your pot.  Not all the way down, you want the heat of the boiling water on the bottom of the bowl, but you don't want to immerse the bowl in water.

Keep the inside of the bowl clean and dry.

Into this bowl chop 2 large Mars bars.  If you live in a country where you can buy Bar One bars, use those instead.  They're not as sweet. 

Stir the chocolate (it has fudge in it so makes a truly delicious topping) until it's smooth.  Slowly add cream, stirring all the time, until your sauce is smooth, glossy and will coat the back of your spoon.

Serve over a good vanilla ice-cream or chocolate cake. 

Wasn't that easy?  Wait until you taste it!

I've been making...

Salsa Romesco!  Yummy yum yum!

Yes, that's four bags of it in the background... I made a double batch.  It is so versatile, I love it!   Those yummy bags of goodness are all going into the freezer for when I need them.  They will get used for maybe a dip with bread and crudites, or as a crust on roast lamb or beef or fish, or as a stuffing for roast capsicums, or... the world is their oyster.

I got the recipe from one of those cooking demos where you get given the recipes, then you watch the meal get prepared while you get to ask questions about it, and then you get to eat it!  It was at Fosh Food in Palma de Mallorca and the recipe is from Mark Fosh (a michelin starred chef).  I'm sure he won't mind me sharing the recipe here...

Salsa Romesco

1 large red bell pepper (or capsicum as we Kiwis call it)

olive oil (the recipe calls for 450mL, but I usually add about half that)

100g peeled almonds

3 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1 Tbspn tomato paste

2 tsp smoked sweet paprika

1 slice stale bread (cut into cubes)

50 mL brandy

30 mL sherry vinegar

salt to taste

Roast the pepper whole in a hot oven (200 degrees C) until the skin blisters and blackens.  Remove the pepper from the oven, put it into a bowl and cover tightly with clingfilm (this is to help the skin peel off better later). 

While the pepper is cooling down, toast the almonds, garlic and the cubed bread in a little olive oil until lightly browned.  Put this mixture into a food processor.

When the pepper is cool, peel off the skin, cut the pepper in half and deseed it.  Place the pepper into the food processor with the almonds, bread and garlic.  Blend until smoothish.

Add the paprika, sherry vinegar, brandy, tomato paste and a little salt and blend some more.  With the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil to emulsify and thicken the sauce.  Adjust the seasoning if necessary.  And that's it.  Go forth and try it!

Arabella Chickie in Greece