Raspberry Cheesecake

Description:
I took the cheesecake recipe that Iri posted (which was delicious btw) for Lee's cooking challenge and adapted it from a pineapple flavoured one to raspberry.

This turned out really well ;)

Ingredients:
Base
1 pkt biscuits (digestives or superwine)
100g butter
¼ tsp cinnamon
3 tsp brown sugar

Topping
3 tsp gelatine
½ cup hot water
60g cream cheese
3 tbsp sugar
½ tsp vanilla
300gms fresh or frozen raspberries
150ml cream

Directions:
Crush biscuits finely. Stir in melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Press mixture into tin. Chill in the fridge until needed.

Dissolve gelatine in hot water and cool. In the foodprocessor cream sugar, vanilla, and cream cheese. Add half of the raspberries and continue mixing until smooth.Then stir in the gelatine. Whip cream and fold into mixture. Pour onto base and chill to set.

The remaining raspberries can be used to decorate the top of the cheesecake, once chilled, or served on the side.

The Original
Instead of the raspberries you will need a 450g tin crushed pineapple and 1 tbsp lemon juice. After you have creamed the sugar and the cream cheese add the lemon juice, pineapple and gelatine, stir well then fold in the cream.

Carrot Cake

Description:
Carey-Ann posted this recipe a few weeks back saying she came across this recipe 10 years ago & it's the best carrot cake she has ever had.

Cake making is not my forte but I thought I would give this a try. I didn't add either the walnuts or the coconut first time around. I don't have enough cake pans to try the tier cake so I just made the large one.
I have to say I was very impressed. The pineapple adds a really nice flavour and the cake was light and moist.

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil (sunflower oil)
4 eggs
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup coconut (optional)

Cream Cheese Icing:

1/2 cup (112 gms) butter
8oz (225 gms ) cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb (450 gms) icing sugar




Directions:
Preheat Oven to 180°C (350°F)

Sift first 5 ingredients. Add sugar, oil and eggs and mix well. Blend in the rest of the cake ingredients.
Grease and flour cake pans.
Makes either - a 3 layer cake, bake for approx 35 minutes.
- or 1 large 13x9 inch cake tin, bake for approx 45 minutes.

Icing: Combine ingredients; mix well. Makes enough for a 3 layer cake. For large cake, cut icing ingredients in half.

Coffee Crisps

Description:
I saw this recipe on Susan's blog last night so I decided to steal it & try it. Frankly I've been concerned that my caffeine levels are far too low lately lol.

I've just finished making a batch of these ( I got 45 biscuits out of the quantities given, and I should add each biscuit is only bite sized.....I couldn't help but think of you Angelique, these would make a great snack for those midget fireman lmao. So how on earth they say you can get 6 dozen biscuits is beyond me....)


The taste test verdict.......these were great!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened (225 grams)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp instant coffee granules
1 egg
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour



Directions:
Cream margarine and sugar together. Add egg and coffee granules, stir well. Add flour and stir until fully blended.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls and arrange on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Flatten balls with a cookie press, the bottom of a drinking glass or any other flat, object. (I just used a fork dipped in flour to slightly flatten mine)

Bake at 350′F (180'C) for 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms are golden. Makes 6 dozen.

Apple Cinnamon Cake

Description:
(For Jenna) Sorry it took me a couple of days to drag this recipe out.

I serve this warm as a dessert with plenty of whipped cream, but it is also quite nice eaten cold as a slice of cake.

Sometimes I use a different fruit, like peaches, raspberries or fresh cherries.

Ingredients:
- 150 grams of butter, melted
- 2 cups, approx, of well drained, lightly stewed apples, or a med can of apple pie filling.
- 1/2 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-2 cups of self raising flour
-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-icing sugar to dust

You can also add:
- 1/2 cup sultanas
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and spoon into a well greased 20-23cm paper-lined springform pan.

Fan bake @ 160°c ( 320°f ) for 40-45 mins, or until golden & well cooked in the middle. Cool on a cake rack before serving. Lightly dust with icing sugar.

Crunchy Ginger & Mango Parfait

Description:
Not a true parfait, but a low calorie alternative that is just as tasty.

Ingredients:
*800gm can of mango slices (in juice)
*250 gm pkt of Ginger Nut biscuits
*2 x 200 gm tubs of fruit flavoured yoghurt
*1/2 cup toasted shredded coconut
*1/3 cup demerara sugar

Optional:
* 150 gm walnut crumbs
*whipped cream
*chocolate bar, grated

Notes:
*Demerara sugar is a type of unrefined sugar with a large grain and a pale to golden yellow colour.
*You can use a mango flavoured yoghurt, but this is also nice if you use vanilla or passionfruit.

Directions:
Drain the mangoes.
Reserve 1/4 cup of juice.
Cut the mango slices into bite sized pieces, cover and set aside.
Using a meat mallet or rolling pin break the ginger nut biscuits into pieces.
Process the biscuits pieces in the food processor until they resemble fine crumbs. (the first time I made this I didn't have a food processor, it took a lot of effort to do this by hand).
Combine the crumbs, coconut, sugar & nuts (optional) in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the juice, stir until the crumbly mixture is evenly moist.
In your parfait glasses, place a layer of mango, then yoghurt, then crumb mixture. Repeat layers ending with a layer of fruit.
Chill your parfait glasses for approx 1 hour before serving.

(Optional) Top each glass with whipped cream and grated chocolate.

Pumpkin Soup

Description:
I'm not a big fan of soup, unless you're talking about pumpkin soup, that I can eat by the barrel load.
There is only one brand of ready made soup that I prefer and for the last year or so our local stupid market only seems to have the spicy pumpkin soup in the one person serving size. I don't know whether the company has stopped making it in the large family size or whether the store just doesn't stock it anymore. I figured I would have to start making my own.

So a few months back I started on the hunt for a few recipes to try. I noticed I had a recipe in my handydandy recipe notebook. This holds a collection of recipes I have stolen from various people over the years. I normally make a note of who or where I sourced the recipe from but this one has no notation so I have no clue where I found it.

I was initially hesitant to try this one because I noted from the ingredients that it didn't seem at all spicy, but I figured I could try it & then experiment & add to it the next time. Well it actually is soooo nice just the way it is that I'm not going to bother trying to spice it up.

Ingredients:
1 kg (2 lb) piece of pumpkin
1 large onion, roughly chopped
60 grams butter
1 litre chicken stock
3/4 cup of cream

Directions:
Conventional;

Cut the pumpkin into large manageable pieces and remove the skin. Then cube. Heat the butter in a large pan, add the onion and cook gently for 15 minutes, or until the onion is very soft. Add the pumpkin & the stock. Put the lid on & bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for approx 20 minutes. Mash or puree the soup mixture. (If you use a food processor or blender allow the mixture to cool first). Return to the pan and add the cream, salt & pepper to taste. Stir over a low heat until heated through.

Crockpot;

Add everything but the cream to the crockpot & simmer on a low heat for 4-5 hours. Mash or puree the soup mixture. (If you use a food processor or blender allow the mixture to cool first). Return to the crockpot, still on low heat and add the cream. Simmer for another hour or so, stirring occasionally.

Serve with a dash or sour cream & garnish with herbs of your choice. And of course don't forget the fresh crusty bread or bread rolls.

We are having this tonight, it smells great - Yum!

Golden Dumplings

Description:
I was chatting with a friend about how different our diet is today than when we were children. The conversation kind of evolved (as these things tend to do) into a discussion about our favourite childhood desserts.

I’ll admit that my mum is a great cook but desserts especially were her forte. I just can’t understand how I was as skinny as a rake all those years, I guess my metabolism must have been in good working order.

Anyway it brought to mind this dessert that my mum & grandmother used to make. I don’t think I have had since it I was about 10 years old and I was curious……did it really taste as good as I remembered?
So I decided that I would have to make it just to see. I have never made this before, but I must have watched my mother make it so often that I could actually remember the quantity of ingredients…..that in itself is scary!

I made this a few weeks back & it definitely got the taste test approval of Ren & Stimpy. I hope if you give this one a try you enjoy it!


Ingredients:
Sauce:
2 cups water
3 tblspns golden syrup
2 tblspns butter
1 cup sugar


Dumplings:
2 tblspns butter
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/4 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn vanilla
pinch salt
1 egg
about 4 tblspns milk

Apparently Golden Syrup is known as Corn Syrup in the US


Directions:
• In a large saucepan combine all sauce ingredients over a medium heat, cover and bring to a boil.
• Meanwhile, add all other ingredients to a food processor (except the milk). Pulse to combine then add the milk a tablespoon at a time, pulsing between, until the mix forms a ball. (you can mix this by hand but the food processor makes the job so much quicker!)
• Pinch the dough into 1-inch globs and roll them into balls. You should get about 14 balls.
• Drop the balls into the boiling liquid, cover with a lid and lower the heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Do not lift the lid; the steam is needed to puff up the dumplings.
• After 30 minutes, lift the lid and, using a spoon, carefully turn the dumplings over in their sauce. The liquid will still be quite watery. Turn up the heat and let the syrup thicken for about 5-10 minutes. Watch that the syrup doesn't burn.
• Serve smothered in cream and/or ice cream.