Mmmmm... Cheesecake

We made soooooooo… many cheesecakes, from plain to very rich flavor ones. For a New York cheesecake style you can find recipe here. Cheesecake is a dessert made of soft, fresh cream cheese on a base made from biscuit, pastry or sponge. All modern cheesecakes use cream cheese but ricotta and cottage cheese can be used to.
Philadelphia cream cheese is the most popular cheese used for making cheesecake today.
A good cheesecake is smooth and creamy in texture.
I love all flavors, but if I had to live on just one type it would have to be chocolate.
To make sure your cheesecake comes out right all the time you need to know this:
- all the ingredients need to be at room temperature before you begin mixing, or you'll end up with lumps in your cheesecake.
- do not overbeat your cheesecake batter.
- do not over use the gelatin (were is required)
- do not boil the gelatin.
- do not attempt to remove your cheesecake from the pan until it has chilled at least 3 hours in the fridge.
-to remove the cheesecake from the form pan sides, use a very thin knife that has been warmed in hot water. Go around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen it using a slow up and down motion. The cheesecake will slide easily on to a plate.
Here I share with you the recipes for 3 different types of very easy to make cheesecakes.
1. CHEESE CAKE MADE WITH GELATIN:
Blueberry cheesecake or ‘’Blueberry 250’’ is the way I call it, because all the ingredients I use in this recipe are 250 gr. For this recipe I use 26 cm ring and end up with 12 generous portions.
Ingredients:
Base
- 250 g plain vanilla biscuits
- 100 g butter, melted
Filling
- 250g blueberry ( fresh or frozen)
- 250 g cream cheese, at room temperature
- 250 g whipped cream
- 250 g honey
- 15 g gelatin
Topping
- 250 g blueberry (fresh or frozen)
- 100 g honey
- 5 gr gelatin.
Place biscuits in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely crushed. Add the melted butter and mix until combined. Transfer to a ready prepared ring or cake tray. Use a spoon to press mixture firmly over the base. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill.
If you use frozen blueberries be sure they are defrost before use.

Soak gelatin in 2 tbs cold water for few minutes then heat it up. With an electric mixer or a whisk beat cream cheese and honey in a bowl until smooth. Add the blueberry, whipped cream and gelatin, and mix until just combined. Spoon the mix into base and place in fridge for 1 hour to chill.

For topping mix the gelatin with 5 cl of cold water,let it soak for few minutes then heat it up.
Combine the blueberry and honey in a bowl, add the gelatin mixture, then pour it over the cheesecake and chill for 2 hours.

Enjoy.
2. CHEESECAKE WITHOUT GELATIN. This type of cheese cakes are my favorite because they are more smooth and creamy. For this cake I use 32 cm ring and serve 16 portions.
Irish coffee cheesecake
Ingredients:
Base
350 g amaretto biscuits
150 g butter, melted
Filling.
First layer:
250 g dark chocolate 70% cacao
200 g cream
5 cl Irish brandy (I use Jameson)
50 g butter - melted
Second layer:
200 g milk chocolate
150 g cream cheese
150 g cream
1 tbs instant coffee powder
Third layer:
200 ml light whipped cream
1 tbs vanilla sugar
To make the base place biscuits in a bowl of a food processor and process until finely crushed. Add the melted butter and mix until combined. Transfer to a ready prepared ring or cake tray. Use a spoon to press mixture firmly over the base. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill.
For the first layer melt chocolate and cream in a microwave then add the brandy and melted butter.
Spoon the mixture over crust and chill in the fridge for ½ hour.

In the meantime you can prepare second layer by melting the chocolate, instant coffee and cream in the microwave. Add the cream cheese and mix well. Spoon the mixture over the first layer andchill for ½ hour.

Top the cake with light whipped cream and vanilla sugar and chill for 3 hour. Sprinkle with grated chocolate before serve.

Serve with chocolate sauce and fresh fruit.
Enjoy.
3. BAKED CHEESE CAKE. This is a favorite in Estonia and made with a local cheese called ‘’kohupiim’’, similar to curd cheese or ricotta cheese. This cake is made in tart 32 cm cake tray and serves 12-16 portions.
Ricotta cheesecake with fruit salad.
This baked Ricotta Cheesecake is absolutely delicious and perfect for morning tea.
Ingredients:
Short crust pastry base -700 gr for one cake
450 g plain flour
50 g icing sugar
150 g butter
1 large egg
1-2 tbs water
Filling
600 g ricotta cheese at room temperature
200 g caster sugar
2 tsps vanilla essence
5 eggs separated
2 tbs plain flour
100 g melted butter
Topping
300 g sour cream
2 tbs honey
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Sift flour and icing sugar into a bowl. Rub in butter. Add egg and enough water so that the ingredients come together. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead mixture until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Gently roll out pastry with a rolling pin so that its large enough to cover base and sides of a 32cm spring form cake tin. Press pastry into tin, trim the edge. Lightly prick base with a fork. Cover pastry with baking paper and fill with dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

To make the filling, beat the cheese, sugar and vanilla essence in a medium bowl until the mixture is creamy. In a separate bowl with an electric mixer beat the white eggs until peaks form.

First add the egg yolks to the creamy mixture and mix well. Beat until well combined and the mixture is light and fluffy. Add white to the cream cheese mixture and fold light until just combined.

Pour the mixture over the ready baked crust pastry. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes at 180 degrees, or until set in the center. Remove from the oven to cool completely. To make the topping, mix the sour cream with honey and spoon it over the cake.

Chill in the fridge overnight to firm. Remove 30 minutes before serving. I serve this with fruits salad, fruits compote or ice cream.

Enjoy. Pin It Now!

Playing with vodka

If you live in Estonia you have to know vodka in all the possible ways :) And here is my way of playing with vodka.

To make flavored vodka is easy and doesn't require special equipment or special tools. You need moderate or high quality vodka as base for your flavored vodka recipe.To get started, choose the flavor you want to make. There are so many flavors and flavor combinations you can use when you're making this vodka. I think everything that's edible can be used to flavor vodka. The choices of fruits (lemon, lime, mango, raspberry… etc.), vegetables (ginger, horseradish, cucumber, coffee, etc.), herbs (mint, dill, basil, lavender... etc.) and spices (cardamon, cumin, fennel, juniper berry, vanilla ...etc.) are only some of the flavors sample that can be used for infusion. The key to get the best flavor is to use fresh ingredients, not frozen or canned varieties. If use fresh fruit with a lot of volume you will need a sealable container were marinate will happens. Today I use only spices so I don't need to change the vodka from its bottles.

The proportion of ingredients to vodka will vary according to the type of ingredients you choose (fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, etc.), the flavor of the ingredients and the intensity you want to achieve with your flavored vodka.
To make flavored vodka in a sealable container or directly in the original bottles, cover the ingredients you use with vodka. Cover the container tightly and store it in a cool, dark, dry place. Shake the container or bottles gently every couple of days.
Most infusions take from 7-10 days; some are ready overnight, and others (such as almonds) take up to 3 months. It depends on the potency of the ingredients and how strong you want the flavor. The only way to know if the infusion is ready is to taste it periodically. The final step is straining the infused vodka into clean bottles through a strainer. The infused vodka taste better after aging in a cool dark place.
Infused vodka makes a nice gift, especially when you reveal that the infusion is homemade, and don’t forget to label them!

Today, for a special request, I infuse the vodka in three different ways. One is with juniper berry, one is with fennel seeds, cumin seeds and fresh dill, and the last one with just fresh chili.
Here is some different way I use this infuse vodka.

Here I made different flavored vodka jelly shots were I mix one part of infused vodka with one part fruit puree or flavored cold water and gelatin (21gr for 1 liter of liquid). Too much alcohol overpowers the shooter. You can use it as vodka jelly shot for your party or get more creative. For this vodka jelly you need to allow more time than usual for the jelly to set, because of the alcohol in it.

Here I turned this jelly into something very delicious. The mix jelly vodka I cubed it and I covered it with a sweet condensed milk jelly. This is a very interesting twist; it looks pretty and would make people take a second look. I got this idea from a very nice blog call "The Food Librarian".

I made four different colorful jelly were I used  for each one 200ml vodka, 200ml flavored water or fruit puree and 10 gr of gelatin. Leave to set in a fridge for couples of hours. After it was set I cubed half of the jelly and mix them in a cake tray.

I covered the half of jelly cubed mix with a condensed milk jelly made from: 1.2 liter of sweet condensed milk mix with 1 liter milk and 50 gr gelatin dissolved in 50 ml water. Next I cubed the rest of vodka jelly and added on top. Chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Serve sliced in big block pieces.

Please eat responsibly :)
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Kringel bread

Kringel is a Estonian traditional sweet-bread cake that appears to be originated from Germany. Is knotted and sprinkled with nuts and chocolate and filled with cream cheese or raisins. A standard dessert at Estonian birthday’s parties.The dough is similar with traditional Romanian sweet bread ( cozonac) a cake for all holidays: Easter or Christmas, wedding or christening. Every Romanian has a recipe from her mother or grandmother. My grandma always cooks huge quantities of sweet bread for Easter or Christmas. There is a lot of Romanian sweet bread recipes on the net for that I chose today to make a Estonian version in my own Romanian way. I made extra dough for my daughter to play with and she came out with some beautiful cinnamon rolls bread.

Ingredients
24 g dry yeast,
75 ml warm water,
550 ml milk,
500 g sugar,
1 tsp. salt,
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
3 eggs,
900 g plain flour, sieved
225 g butter, melted
Filling
250 g soft butter
2 tsp. cinnamon powder
250 g raissins
250 g chocolate
150 g butter,
100 g tasted almonds,
Method
Preheat oven to 200°c. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water.
Stir in the milk, salt, cinnamon, eggs and 200g of the flour, until the mixture forms a batter. Beat until smooth before adding about 300g more flour. Beat well, until the dough is quite smooth and glossy. Stir in the melted butter. Add the remaining flour and mix to stiff dough. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Return the dough to a lightly greased mixing bowl and leave to rise for an hour or until double in size. Take the dough out of the bowl and rolled out to a thickness of 1cm. Spread the softened butter evenly over the pastry, then sprinkle with raisins, cinnamon and sugar.

You then roll it up Swiss roll style and slice it in half lengthwise. Twist the dough together, lifting each half over the other in turn. Finally, shape the bread into a bretzel shape and transfer to a buttered baking tray and leave to rise for another hour.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190C  for a further 30-35 minutes until dark golden brown and cooked through. In the meantime, prepare the chocolate topping by melting the chocolate and butter in a bowl over boiling water or in microwave. Once out of the oven, let the bread cool down a bit, place on a serving plate and drizzle with chocolate sauce and toasted almonds.

To make a savory, Kringel, leave out the raisins and sugar, fill them with cream cheese, bacon, spinach, pepper sundried tomato and cheese then sprinkle the Kringel with grated cheddar. Here is the pictures of one I made.

Enjoy. Pin It Now!