cheesecake Archives - Page 3 of 5

Skinny Blueberry Cheesecake

14|01|2018

Is it too late to wish you a very Happy New Year? I hope not because I’m still very much in holiday mode and I feel the year has just taken off. I’ve only just started making resolutions and setting goals for the year. Do you make resolutions? Speaking of resolutions, the one thing I think most of us have at the top of our minds, (myself included) is health and fitness. While we will continue to have naughty treats in this space, I’d also like to play around with a few healthy substitutes to regular ingredients this year. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to enjoy some luscious desserts without having to worry about calories?

The core ingredient of this cheesecake is cottage cheese which is not as popular in desserts as it’s cousin, ricotta cheese despite being creamy, highly nutritious and low in fat. It is a low calorie source of protein and calcium that is pretty versatile whether you use it in sweet or savory recipes. I chose a gluten free almond crust for this cheesecake to make it available to a wider audience. The filling is light and delicious but naturally does not have a lot of flavour on it’s own. You have the option of having it as is or topping it with fresh fruits, grated chocolate or a compote like the one I’ve used here. Blueberries are at their seasonal best right now, so I couldn’t think of a better topping.

Skinny Blueberry Cheesecake
Makes an 8 inch round cheesecake

For the crust
11/4 cups almond meal
2 tbsp brown sugar
75 g unsalted mutter, melted

For the filling
500 g cottage cheese (preferably smooth)
1 cup Greek Yoghurt
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
1/4 cup castor sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (can use vanilla extract)

For the blueberry compote
150 g blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Place almond meal and sugar in a medium bowl. Add in the melted butter. Using your fingers, press into the base of an 8 inch Springform pan that has been placed on a baking tray (for ease of movement in and out of the oven). Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Reduce the oven temperature to 160 degrees C while you make the filling.

In a food processor or using a blender, blend the cottage cheese and yogurt together until smooth. Add the eggs and sugar and blend again. lastly add the cornflour and vanilla paste and mix together until smooth and blended. Pour the filling into the pan over the crust. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until cheesecake is almost set (the centre is very slightly jiggly). Remove from oven, let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight (or at least for 6 hours).

When ready to serve, top with blueberry compote and fresh blueberries.

To make the blueberry compote, place blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook stirring for 8 minutes or until syrupy and thickened slightly. Remove from heat, cool and refrigerate until needed.

Baked Ricotta Cheesecake

19|08|2017

What do you do when you have left-over lemon curd and ricotta cheese at home? It happens, right? Especially the lemon curd. You throw them together, add in a few other ingredients (all of which are in your pantry) and voila…you have a cheesecake! It looks and tastes every bit like a lemon cheesecake but it’s lighter, healthier and a whole lot simpler. Notice the golden crust all around? It’s created by baking the ricotta. In other words, you completely skip the cookie crust or shortbread base and all the butter that goes with it and you still end up with a golden crust and a soft, creamy interior.

This Baked Ricotta Cheesecake is truely a delight to make and eat. If you’ve ever tasted baked ricotta otherwise, it’s a healthy breakfast or dessert option. However, it is a bit bland and does not really have any flavour by itself. By adding lemon curd to the recipe, not only does it taste lemony and delicious but it’s way more convenient than juicing and zesting lemons. I’ve used store bought lemon curd for mine to keep it quick and easy. You’ll be done with the mixing in 10 minutes but the cheesecake takes a bit of time to bake. I don’t remember last when I’ve opened my oven door to take a peek as many times I’ve done for this one to see the golden crust. And then you patiently wait for it cool and set which is such a torture I tell you. But hang in there for you will be rewarded soon. Top the cheesecake with fresh fruit, fruit coulis, nuts, chocolate shavings or anything you like.

I’ve noticed that the cheesecake hardens up a bit if kept in the refrigerator, so it’s best eaten at room temperature. If you are planning on making it ahead of any occasion, you could store in the fridge but let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before you serve.

Baked Ricotta Cheesecake
Makes an 8 inch round cheesecake

1 kg fresh ricotta (full cream or low fat)
1 cup lemon curd (home made or store bought)
1 cup castor sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Fresh strawberries, to serve
Strawberry coulis/sauce to serve

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C (150 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Grease the base and sides an 8 inch springform pan.
With an electric mixer or an hand mixer, beat the ricotta, lemon curd, sugar and vanilla together till smooth. Add the egg, a little at a time and continue to beat till fully blended.

Pour the mixture in to the prepared pan. Smooth the top and tap the pan gently a few times on the bench top to get rid of air bubbles. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until a crust starts to form all over the cheesecake (the top will become golden) and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn off oven, leave the door ajar and let cheesecake cool completely before releasing the sides.

Served best at room temperature with fresh strawberries. and strawberry coulis.

Raw Berry Cheesecake

17|05|2016

Let me tell you at the beginning that I am not vegan or following any sort of diet. I have only recently stepped into the world of raw desserts and I am hooked. If you haven’t eaten a raw dessert or new to the term, these are basically desserts made out of raw, unprocessed ingredients like nuts, fruits and dried fruits. They are mostly vegan, gluten free and do not require baking. Sugar is replaced by natural sweeteners so they are extremely healthy.Yes, you would need to arm your pantry with a few ingredients which are pretty much standard for these kind of treats but I would say they are worth it. So does a raw cheesecake (which is basically without the cream cheese) taste like a regular cheesecake? My honest answer is no! Not to me, a big fan of baked and no-bake cheesecakes. But they taste great! The use of wonderful ingredients would obviously create something delicious. I especially love the textural quality of what a handful of raw ingredients create together. These raw berry cheesecakes are pretty easy to whip up. Plus I made them in little glass jars so they made for a lovely treat on the go.

In other news, my horrid tooth is out. Hurray! A visit to the dentist had always seemed daunting to me even since I was a child. My Mum has horror stories to share with my children about how much I hated the whole experience. But this time, I obviously had no choice. I had put up with that painful wisdom tooth for a very long time and what a relief it was when the wonderful surgeon announced to me that it was gone. Gone and done away with for good! Actually he was amazing! He made me laugh during the entire procedure with his terrible jokes. This experience was like a lesson to me in believing that most of our fears are in our head. They may not even exist or seem as bad when you gather up the courage to face them. You just need to take the first few steps. The rest will follow.

You know what is the best part? I can eat raw cheesecakes and all kinds of nutty things without worry of triggering off that pain in my mouth.
My edible pansies and violas were in full bloom so I had to show them off as well. So many reasons to celebrate! Without feeling guilty:-)

Raw Berry Cheesecakes
Serves 6

For the crust
1 cup almonds
4 dates, pitted
2 tbsp coconut oil, liquified
pinch of salt

For the cheesecake filling
2 cups raw cashews, soaked in water for 4-6 hours (preferably overnight)
1 cup frozen mixed berries (if you do not like the seeds in raspberries or blackberries, go for only blueberries and/or strawberries)
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup coconut oil, liquified
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup coconut cream (or milk)

For the coconut cream
1 can coconut cream
2 tbsp pure maple syrup (or as per desired sweetness)

To make the crust: process all the ingredients together until the nuts have become crumbs and the mixture sticks together when you press it. Press into the bottom of 6 serving glasses or jars and place in the fridge.

To make the cheesecake filling : Blend all he ingredients in your high speed blender or food processor and blend until very smooth. Spoon the filling uniformly between the 6 serving glasses on top of the nut-date crust. Place in the refrigerator to set.

To make the whipped coconut cream, use this link. The process is explained really well.

Caramel Ice Cream Cheesecake With Salted Butterscotch Sauce And Meringue

12|05|2015

There was a time when I would buy a can of condensed milk only to dip my flat breads into. On Sundays when breakfasts could be a bit elaborate and I could stand in front of the sizzling frying pan, patiently turning flat breads one at time whilst simultaneously rolling out the next one, I would always make a few extras. Flat breads as you know are best served immediately. But I couldn’t resist the idea of savoring them later with a few tablespoons of creamy condensed milk. Then I discovered Delce de Leche. After that, the only reason condensed milk came into my kitchen was to make Dulce de Leche. A simple process but time consuming and requiring a fair amount of supervision. The taste was however so worth the effort that sometimes I would make the flat breads only to finish up the Dulce de Leche. After that, I discovered Caramel Top n Fill and that was the end of my Dulce de Leche making. The thick, rich caramel sauce is so similar in taste to Dulce de Leche minus the effort to make it. My flat breads found a new partner. Nope! This is not a sponsored post. I am sharing this because I figured out another favorite way of eating it. In this cheesecake.

During summer this year, I discovered the convenience, ease and delightful taste of an ice cream cheesecake that I shared with you here and here. I was thinking of make-ahead recipes for Mother’s Day that would involve ice-cream and I hit upon this idea. The fact that there is no use of gelatine or no need to whip up heavy cream gives me all the more reasons to make it. It’s as simple as opening a few containers, placing them together, mix, fold and place it in the freezer. I made this a couple of days before Mother’s Day because I knew I would be busy. After lunch, I served it to the boys who wanted to eat the entire cake.

If you do not want to use Caramel Top n Fill or do not have access to it, any thick caramel sauce would work. A thinner consistency may thin down the cheesecake mix that will melt faster when you leave the ice cream cheesecake at room temperature. To top the cheesecake, I have used salted butterscotch sauce and torched meringue. You can skip this if you find it difficult to make, and just drizzle with chocolate sauce or decorate with shaved dark chocolate.

Caramel Ice Cream Cheesecake With Salted Butterscotch Sauce And Meringue
Serves 6-8

180 g chocolate cookies
75 g unsalted butter, melted
500 g cream cheese, room temperature
500 ml vanilla ice-cream, softened (I used store bought)
380 g can caramel top n fill

Line the base of a 19 cm round Spring-form pan with baking paper.
Place the cookies in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix to combine. Alternatively, you could crush the biscuits with a rolling pin inside a zip-lock bag. Using your fingertips, press biscuit mixture over base of prepared pan. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes or until required.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl (with a mixer or a whisk) until light and fluffy. Add the ice cream and mix well. Gently fold in the caramel top n fill. Pour over the prepared crust. Freeze for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight)or until firm. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving.
Before serving, drizzle with salted butterscotch sauce and pipe the meringue. Brown the meringue with a blow torch.

Salted Butterscotch Sauce

25 g salted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup thickened/heavy cream
1/8 spoon sea salt

For the butterscotch sauce combine butter, sugar, cream and salt in a saucepan over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 5-6 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Cool to room temperature. Pour over caramel ice cream cheesecake.

Meringue

2 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 cup castor sugar
cream of tartar, a pinch (optional)

To make the meringue, place the egg-whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl that is placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk continuously till the sugar dissolves (about 2-3 minutes). Remove from heat and whip up the mixture with a electric or hand mixer to stiff peaks.
Fill up a piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe meringue kisses on top of the cake. Using a blow torch, brown the meringue.