My first New York Cheesecake

I recently tried to make my first cheesecake and I was a bit worried because it was for my mum's birthday and it had to be perfect. Because of me, my mum would have loved it anyways. I'm sort of a perfectionist... sometimes..  But as you can see, it came out great! And it tasted as it looked!

I used this recipe and made some modifications: I used a little less sugar then the recipe requires and for the crust I had McVities Original Digestives on hand which worked perfectly. I wanted my cheesecake to have some fruity contrast to the creamyness, so I made a strawberry topping. I used half a glass of strawberry jam and some water. Just put the jam in a small bowl and mix it with a fork until it softens. Add water dropwise to dilute the jam until it flows from a spoon nicely. It should be like a thik siroup at this point. Prepare your cheescake like the recipe tells you and let it bake for 5 minutes. Take it out of the stove and dispere jam with a spoon. I made circles and used a toothpick to create some kind of marble effect and to make sure the jam will not just stay on the surface but also enter into the cake. Oh, BTW, by follwoing the recipe I got enough cheesecake mass to make a second cake! I put this one in the freezer to have some more yummy cake later and it works perfectly!

Making Apfelrösti

Apfelrösti is a Swiss dish made of bread and apples. I think it's a traditional dish to use up stale bread and apples that don't look nice anymore. As the case may be, it's yummy, simple and you can make it from odds and ends you already have at home.

 

You'll need:

250 gr. bread, cut in thin slices and bits

1 tablespoon butter

3 apples, cut in slices

1 dl applejuice

salt, pepper, cinnamon

Melt butter in a skillet and roast bread until golden brown. Put it aside. Melt some more butter and roast the apple slices for 5 minutes. Add the bread and roast together for some more minutes. Add apple juice and let cook until all liquid is gone. Add salt, peeper and cinnamon after your taste. You can keep this warm in the oven for at least half an hour.

This recipe makes a side dish for two persons. We usually have it with some kind of cheese steak, called Landsgmend-Steak.

Sinfully nutty muffins - gluten free

These muffins don't contain any flour, they are fluffy and yummy and so easy to make. They don't contain a lot of sugar either.

You'll need:

150 gr. butter (melted, cooled down)
  40 gr. sugar
    3 egg yolks
 1/2 vanilla bean
250 gr. sweet chestnut puree (unsweetened)
150 gr. ground haselnuts
    5 egg whites
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional, I'm a cinnamon lover)

Mix butter and sugar. Mix all the other ingredients with the butter-sugar mixture (except the egg whites!!).

Beat the egg whites. Mix them CAREFULLY with the other mass. The beaten egg whites will make your muffins light and fluffy, so be sure you don't destroy it's airy texture!

Give the mass in prepared muffin tin and bake for 20-30 minutes on 190 degrees Celsius

Enjoy!

Making Ghee

If you love Indian food as much as I do, then you surely know what ghee is. If not, ghee is kind of a boiled down butter. It doesn't need to be refrigerated and can be used whenever you need oil or fat to roast. And you can smear it on fresh, warm naan. Yumm! :-P

Making ghee is actually quite easy. But it takes some time. I had a lot of butter in the fridge and needed the room for other foods. So I decided to make ghee because of the non-fridge storage thing..
First, you'll need butter. I had about 750 gramms. Cut it in small bits and put it in a large pan. Slowly heat until all butter is melted. Be careful, don't let it burn! This may take up to 15 minutes, depending on the amount of butter.

 

Boil shortly and then let it simmer 40 minutes. Check it regularly. While simmering, white tatters will apear.

Now we need to filter it to get rid of those white tatters. We don't want them in our ghee. Use a funnel and kitchen paper towels. This takes time, too. You'll have to replace the paper towel from time to time.

 

Now we have lovely, clear and golden yellow liquid ghee. Fill it in clean and dry glass jars. It will become solid once cooled down. In a dark place, you can store ghee for months! 

Pizza Oil

Making your own pizza oil is easy and fun! You can customize it after your very own taste and the possibilities are endless. You can use it for your pizza but also for your pasta and even if you like to give fried rice or veggies and extra hint of flavour.

You'll need:
A bottle
Olive oil extra vergine (use a good quality)
1-3 whole chilis
1 teaspoon ground chili
1 teaspoon whole black pepper
One or two garlic cloves, chopped or sliced
One twig of rosemary
One twig of thyme
Two bay leaves

Put all the spices and herbs in your bottle and fill with olive oil. Be sure to close the bottle tightly and let sit (room temperature and not in direct sunlight) for two weeks. Et voilà! Your homemade pizza oil is ready! You can change the components and find your favourite flavour.

Enjoy!

A coffee treat

I'm currently enjoying my homemade and well chilled mocha frappuccino. It's so yummy and as good as the one you can buy at Starbucks, only cheaper!

 

 Want to make your own now? Here's the recipe 

I didn't use ascorbic acid and pectin, just milk, strong coffee, brown sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder.