Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake

Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake... How yummy..! This cheesecake is soooo delicious and so simple to make...

Ingredients

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs

2 tbs unsalted butter

395g individually wrapped caramels

145ml evaporated milk

1 cup of chopped pecans

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 (225g) packages of cream cheese, softened

Method

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Grease a 9" springform pan.

Melt butter or margarine and combine the cookie crumbs. 

Press into the bottom of the springform pan.

Melt caramels with the evaporated milk in a saucepan over low heat.

Pour Caramel sauce into crust, top with pecans.

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla, beat well until smooth.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Melt the chocolate and blend into cream cheese mixture.

Pour chocolate batter over pecans.

Bake for 40 minutes. 

Loosen cake from edges of pan, but do not remove rim until cooled.

Chill completely.

Nigella Vanilla Shortbread

 Ahh the smell of biscuits in the oven just make me melt at the knees. I love the smell that wafts through the kitchen and reminds you of a little country side cottage where everything is made and baked from scratch. This recipe is so easy that even those who have not baked in their life will be able to!

Serves: Makes 33 fingers. 

Ingredients

• 100g icing sugar
• 200g plain flour, preferably Italian 00
• 100g cornflour
• 200g very soft unsalted butter
• Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• Vanilla or ordinary caster sugar for sprinkling

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3.
2. Sift the icing sugar, plain flour and cornflour into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the double-bladed knife and give them a quick blitz before adding the butter along with the vanilla seeds you've scraped out of a pod. Or if you do not have vanilla pods on hand, use a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
3. Process again until the soft mixture coheres and begins to form a ball, loosely clumping around the blade. Turn this out on to a Swiss roll tin and press to form an even (or as even as you can make it) layer, using fingers or the back of a spoon, or both. Be patient: I promise you it will fit smoothly.
4. Using the tip of a sharp knife cut the pressed-out shortbread into fingers. I make two incisions lengthways - ie to form three layers - and then make ten cuts down - so that you end up with eleven fingers per layer. Obviously, the aim should be to cut at regular intervals but don't start getting your ruler out. Just go by eye: uniformity is the province of the conveyer belt not of home cooking. Use the tines of a fork to make little holes in each marked-out biscuit: I press down about three times, diagonally, on each finger.
5. Now that you've pressed, incised, and punctured, slide the Swiss roll tin into the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes, by which time the shortbread will be pale still, but not doughy. Expect a little goldenness around the edges, but shortbread should be not crisp but melting. Remove the tin from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes or so, before removing, with a palette knife and your fingers, to a wire rack. Sprinkle with sugar and leave them to cool completely before storing in a tin.

Strawberry Ice-Cream

Now that I have an ice-cream maker, I am obsessed with ice-cream. It really is such an easy dessert to make and the flavour combinations are endless. Here is a simple way to make strawberry ice-cream. 

Ingredients

• 500g strawberries
• 175g caster sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
• 500ml full-fat milk
• 500ml double cream
• 1 vanilla pod
• 10 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method

Serves: 10-12.

1. Hull and roughly chop the strawberries, put them into a bowl and sprinkle over the 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and leave them to steep and infuse with flavour.
2. Pour the milk and cream into a heavy-based saucepan, and add the vanilla pod, split down the middle lengthways. Bring the pan nearly to the boil and then take it off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
3. In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks and the 175g sugar until thick and pale yellow. Take the vanilla pod out of the milk and cream and pour, whisking the while, the warm liquid over the yolks. Put the cleaned-out pan back on the heat with the cream, milk, egg and sugar mixture and stir the custard until it thickens, then take it off the heat and pour it into a bowl to cool.
4. Puree the strawberries in a processor, and when the custard is cool fold in the lemon juice and strawberry puree.
5. At this point you can either freeze the ice cream in an ice-cream maker, or in a plastic tub in the freezer. If you do the latter you should whip it out every hour for 3 hours as it freezes and give it a good beating, either with an electric whisk, by hand or in the processer. That gets rid of any ice crystals that form and that make the ice cream crunchy rather than smooth.

Donna Hay's Classic Baked Cheesecake

This is the cheesecake that Donna Hay made on Masterchef..... The queen of desserts has come up with a classic baked cheesecake that will have you wanting more!

Ingredients

Base 
1/3 cup ground almonds (almond meal)
¾ cup plain flour
¼ cup caster sugar
90g chilled butter, chopped

Filling 
330g cream cheese, softened
500g fresh ricotta
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups caster sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
¼ cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ tablespoons cornflour
1½ tablespoons water

Strawberries and raspberries, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C.

2. To make the base, place the ground almonds, flour, sugar and butter into a bowl. Rub mixture with your fingertips until it forms coarse crumbs.

3. Line the base of a 20cm spring form tin with non-stick baking paper. Place the base mixture in the tin and press gently with fingers until even and then smooth out with the back of a spoon. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden, set aside.

4. To make the filling, place the cream cheese, ricotta, eggs, sugar, lemon rind, juice and vanilla in a food processor. Combine the cornflour and water until smooth and add to the cheese mixture. Process the mixture until smooth.

5. Grease the sides of the cake tin with a little butter and then pour the filling over the base. Tap lightly to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and stand the cake in the oven for 1 hour, leaving the door closed. Refrigerate until cold and serve with fresh berries.

If life gives you limes, make margaritas.... Margarita Ice-cream, that is....

So easy to make and looks fantastic in margarita glasses lined with sugar and salt. This is yet another ice-cream recipe that does not require an ice-cream machine.

Ingredients

• 125ml lime juice
• 2 x 15ml tablespoons Tequila
• 3 x 15ml tablespoons Cointreau or Triple sec
• 150g icing sugar or powdered sugar
• 500ml double cream

  Method

   1. Pour the lime juice, Tequila and Cointreau (or Triple sec) into a bowl and stir in the sugar to dissolve. 

  2. Add the cream and then softly whip until thick and smooth but not stiff. 

  3.Spoon into an airtight container to freeze overnight. 

   Note: This ice cream does not need to be softened before serving as it will not freeze too hard and melts speedily and voluptuously.

   Enjoy!!!

Nigella's Totally Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 125g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
• 150g flour
• 30g cocoa, sieved
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 125g soft butter
• 75g light brown sugar
• 50g white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg, cold from the fridge
• 350g (2 bags) semi-sweet chocolate morsels or dark chocolate chips

Method

Serves: Makes 12

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Melt the 125g dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.
2. Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. (I use my freestanding mixer, itself an odd source of comfort to me.) Add the melted chocolate and mix together.
4. Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.
5. Scoop out 12 equal-sized mounds - an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job - and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.
6. Cook for 18 minutes, testing with a cake tester to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.
7. Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.

Lemon and Yoghurt Cakes

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups plain flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
  
• 1teaspoon baking powder
  
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 cup greek yogurt
  
• 6 tablespoons margarine, melted
  
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

To serve:
blueberries
extra yoghurt

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Grease a muffin tray, or you could alternatively use patty pans.
In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat the egg, yoghurt, margarine and lemon juice. Stir into dry ingredients until just combined. Fill greased muffin tray until two-thirds full. Bake for 20-24 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, turn out and cool on a wire rack. Serve with extra yoghurt and blueberries