Nigella's Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake

Nigella Lawson says this cheesecake is not for the fainthearted and she is right!

Take stacks of cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs, peanut butter and some chocolate and you would expect nothing less..

It is good though!

"Kitchen" one of Nigella's more recent cookbooks is full of great and fun recipes - African drumsticks, butternut, rocket and pine nut salad, Venetian carrot cake and of course this cheesecake.

I was actually inspired to make it after spotting Nigella's cookalong competition on her site. Great cheesecake but I dare you to eat a whole slice!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Serves 10-12 - generously!

Have all you ingredients at room temperature

for the base:

200g plain sweet biscuits

50g salted roasted peanuts

100g dark choc chips

50g soft unsalted butter

for the filling 

500g cream cheese

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

200g castor sugar

125ml sour cream

250g peanut butter

for the topping

250ml sour cream

100g milk chocolate chips (I used dark)

30g soft brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 170C. In a food processor put the biscuits, peanuts, dark chocolate and butter. Process until it come together.

Butter a 23cm spring form pan and press the biscuit mixture onto the base. You can refrigerate it while you make the filling.

Clean out the food processor. Put all of the filling ingredients into the processor and whizz until smooth.

Remember to freeze the leftover eggwhites to make meringues, pavlova or macarons.

Use a good quality peanut butter.

Pour the mixture onto the base and bake for 1 hour. 

Check at 50 minutes - the top should be dry and set.

Take the cheesecake out of the oven to prepare the topping. Warm the topping ingredients in a small saucepan on a low heat. Stir well to mix. Spoon and spread the topping over the cheesecake. Be gently so you don't blend the two layers.

Return the cheesecake to the oven for 10 minutes.

 Let the cheesecake cool in the tin then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

Serve small slices because it is rich and indulgent!

No other words necessary!

 This has been entered into Nigella's Cookalong Competition.

Focaccia for our Soup

 

It had been a rainy Autumn afternoon. I had some thick, savoury pumpkin and carrot soup bubbling on the stove and all it needed was some bread to go with it.

 

 A glance a the clock.

 

Five o'clock.

Hmmm, could I do it?

 

I wanted focaccia - chewy, dimpled and topped with garlic.

This is what I came up with.

 

The dough quickly came together in the stand mixer with a dough hook attached and rose for less than one and a half hours, punched down, halved and spread over two well oiled oven trays where it was dimpled with the fingertips. Olives and garlic pressed into one, chilli and garlic pressed into the other.

A twenty minute rest while the oven heated to 200C. Then baked for 20 minutes until golden.

Dinner was just 10 minutes late but no one minded!

 

 

 

Fairly Quick Focaccia

 

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

 2 1/4 cups warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil

600g bread flour

2 teaspoons salt

 

Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup water and allow to stand a few minutes until bubbly. In the meantime measure the flour into the stand mixer bowl. Add the salt. Measure the warm water. By this time the yeast will be ready. Put the oil and the yeast into the flour/salt. Start the mixer and gradually add the water until it come together. You may not need all the water.

 

Knead with the dough hook for a good 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and with a pastry scraper ( I use a stiff spatula) scrap the dough off the sides of the bowl and bring together, using your hands to assist, into a rough ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

While your dough is rising prepare the toppings. Mine were halved black olives, sliced garlic, sliced chilli and salt flakes. You could try fried onion, parmesan cheese, herbs, tomatoes, capers, anchovies...oh the list goes on!

 

Half an hour before the dough is ready preheat your oven to 220C. If you have a pizza stone or two all the better.

 

Have ready to well oiled, I mean really well oiled, rectangular baking trays with only a small lip. Divide the dough in half, again I use the stiff spatula, and spread each half out onto each oiled tray.

Press out and dimple with your fingertips. Drizzle with extra olive oil.

Press your toppings into the dough.

 

 

Allow to rise for 20 minutes.

When ready pop your focaccias into the oven. Reduce the oven to 200C and bake for 20 minutes. They could benefit from a spray of water once or twice during the cooking but I didn't and they were still delicious.

Please remember when you remove your focaccia from the oven immediately take them off the baking tray and onto a cooling rack so they don't sweat and go soggy.

Cut into large squares for serving.

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart

Look at this gorgeous serving plate my sister gave me for my birthday!

Isn't it delightful!

 

This is a wonderful serving plate that comes in two pieces - the glass plate and the shabby chic carrying tray. Purchased locally at the wonderful gift store, Heaven Scent Flowers and Gifts, our small country town is lucky to have some unique stores specialising in home wares and gifts, fashion, and food. We are spoilt for choice and really there is no need to go elsewhere.  Like other regional areas we are dependant on our primary industry, in our case sugar cane, to power our town. Buying local is important to us. So if you aren't already doing it, remember to look at the country of origin and support your local farmer wherever you are.

 

As you have guessed, I have no trouble supporting the local sugar industry!

My new serving plate was perfect for the chocolate tart I had prepared for our dessert. A really good chocolate tart can be elusive. The base has to be crispy but not hard, the chocolate filling smooth, rich and creamy and it should present well.

And if it's easy to make, well, that's a bonus.

This tart is all of that and more!

I first spotted it at The Yuca Diaries who adapted it from Dulce Delights. I put the two recipes together and adapted to suit myself. It's and easy no-fail, really, and looks like you have slaved away for hours.

 

Shhh, don't tell anyone. It'll be our secret!

 

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart

 

 

For the base:

250g plain biscuits crumbs ( I used up whatever was lurking in the pantry - savoiardi, amaretti and some plain sweet biscuits all whizzed in the food processor)

50g ground hazelnuts

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 icing (confectioners) sugar

130g butter, at room temperature

 

Combine everything in the food processor and whizz until it all comes together. Coat an 11inch/28cm tart pan with a removable base with non-stick cooking spray. Then press the base mixture evenly over the base and sides using the back of a spoon to help you. You can let it set in the refrigerator.

 

 

 

 

For the filling:

350g dark chocolate, broken up

2 cups cream

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

50ml Frangelico liqueur

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Preheat you oven to 350F/180C.

Heat the cream until it bubbles (you can do this in the microwave). Add the chocolate to the cream and allow to sit for 3 or 4 minutes. Take a whisk and start slowly mixing the cream and chocolate until it is smooth and well combined. Cool a little so that the eggs don't scramble.

Add the eggs, vanilla, Frangelico and salt. Whisk well.

Pour this mixture into your prepared tart pan. I had a small, maybe a couple of spoonfuls, amount of mixture left over that didn't fit into the tart pan. Remember not to overfill because we need to add the topping. Carefully transfer to your hot oven and bake undisturbed for 25 minutes. Allow the tart to cool for about 15 minutes then transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely.

 

Now, let's gild the lily.

 

For the ganache topping:

 

1/2 cup cream

120g dark chocolate, broken up

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon Frangelico

 

Heat the cream (again you can do this in the microwave) add the chocolate and allow to sit for a few minutes. Whisk to combine the chocolate and cream then add the honey and Frangelico. Pour this delicious mixture all over the top of the tart. Don't use anything to spread it. Just tip the tart around to spread the topping. This will result in a mirror like finish. Return to the refrigerator until ready to serve. Return to room temperature for maximum flavour.

 

Cheese and Ham Sofficini

The Italians know how to do food, don't they?

Born of Italian parents, I grew up surrounded by food. Not just food - good food, great food, tasty food! And lots of it. Yes, food was and still is an important part of my life.

Growing up we never had fish and chips from the takeaway shop, or frozen fish fingers not even chicken nuggets or other frozen meals from the supermarket. It just wasn't in my parents vocabulary.

But then again I grew up in Australia and these types of frozen or convenience foods were not familiar to my parents. Mums and dads in Italy though, may have been a little different. Because included in their frozen food section of the supermarket are sofficini. Yep, apparently lots of different flavours and they are I'm told quite good, so much so that Italian food bloggers are making a homemade version. I first spotted these on one of my favourite food bloggers site Manu's Menu and I knew I had to make sofficini. Think about it, pastry filled with ham, cheese and besciamella sauce, crumbed and fried. It's got to be good. And it is! Manu's Cheese and Ham Sofficini are to die for!

 

The amounts of filling required for the sofficini are really variable depending on the size of the rounds that you cut. Also you will notice sesame seeds  on my finished sofficini. No, definitely not traditional however I make my own breadcrumbs from stale and unfinished bread - never waste bread, remember! Homemade breadcrumbs are the best. I always flavour my breadcrumbs with a little garlic, herbs or seeds.

 

Have you tried frozen sofficini? I'm curious, are they that good?

 

 

Cheese and Ham Sofficini adapted from Manu's Menu

 

Ingredients:

 2 cups milk

 2 cups flour, sifted

 2 tablespoons butter

11/2 teaspoons salt

 200gms cheese (Manu suggests Gouda or Swiss or sweet provolone, I used Gouda), grated 

 200 gms – 5 oz. ham, minced

 besciamella, recipe below

 1 egg

Breadcrumbs to coat

 

Bring the milk, butter and salt to the boil. Once it boils take it off the heat and  add the flour all at once. Stir well until the dough comes away from the sides of the saucepan. This is like a choux pastry without the eggs.

Once the dough is cool enough to handle knead gently until smooth. It's a beautiful dough that handles well. Now wrap in plastic and allow to cool to room temperature.

 

Now, roll out the dough fairly thinly, about 3mm. I used a 10cm cutter but Manu suggests a 13cm. My sofficini were more of an appetiser so the size was just right for that purpose.

 

 

In the middle of the round place a small amount of besciamella, cheese and ham. Fold over and press with a fork to close. I found the dough stuck easily and rerolled beautifully.

Beat the egg with a fork. Dip the sofficini first in the egg then in the breadcrumbs. Fry in hot oil. Sofficini can be frozen at the breadcrumb stage and then fried from the frozen.

 

 

 Besciamella

 

50 gram butter

50 grams flour

2 cups milk

a grinding of whole nutmeg

salt and white pepper

 

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir until the butter and flour mixture is bubbling. Change to a whisk and carefully add the milk whisking all the time. Bring to boil stirring or whisking the whole time to avoid lumps. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Once it boils allow to bubble for a minute to cook out the flour. Remove from the heat

 

SAVARIN: THE DARING BAKERS' APRIL, 2013 CHALLENGE

 

 
Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenges us to make a traditional Savarin, complete with soaking syrup and cream filling! We were to follow the Savarin recipe but were allowed to be creative with the soaking syrup and filling, allowing us to come up with some very delicious cakes!

Daring Baker's, I try to explain to my non-blogging, non-baking friends is an online baking group where bakers from around the world all bake from one recipe (with variations) presented as a challenge each month. The point is that at the end of the month, precisely the 27th of each month, we present our goodies to the world. Mostly I get a vague, "hmmmm" or "ohhhhh". Facebook is huge and most of my friends and even my sister love it! Instagram is picking up. But blogging... generally in my remote part of the world... it's not really heard of. The other day when I mentioned having a food blog to a young friend she condescendingly said, "Oh, that's nice to have a little blog." I'm not sure what she meant! I've been wondering, is it just my part of the world? Is it that baking and cooking is a dying art? Or is it that blogging can, no correct that, is time consuming? I wonder....?

This has absolutely nothing to do with this challenge or the fact that I am posting it a week late. I do love belonging to this wonderful group to learn and share but sometimes life does get busy. Natalia's challenge this month was a Savarin, soaking syrup and cream filling. I managed the first to elements but not the last. However slices of this Savarin were enjoyed with a cup of coffee at my birthday afternoon tea. This recipe produces an amazingly light yeast cake which is really best enjoyed fresh on the day of baking. And if you want to bake it I think it is best that you pop over to Natalia's post where you will find excellent, detailed instructions to make you very own Savarin.

Hand made Pasta - Garganelli

Here in the southern hemisphere we are finally letting go of the hot summer and approaching cooler months. Though in my part of the world it just means gone is the oppressive humidity of a tropical summer and we welcome the cool, dewy mornings of the dry season that some people call winter. And it was on one such weekend morning that the idea for this pasta began. On the bookshelf is one of my favourites The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, a wonderful collection of recipes from Emilia- Romagna, the homeland of my dear dad. It is here that I am inspired. The front cover shows a bowl of ribbed penne type pasta in a warming bowl of broth. Inside I find the recipe for garganelli.
Garganelli are traditionally made with a garganelli comb which you see here but also can be made with a clean comb and a pencil. On the morning in question I recalled seeing a ribbed gnocchi board in our local Italian deli, thinking this would serve the purpose I didn't delay the purchase. Yep, along with a clean pencil, it worked!
The pasta recipe I used is flavoured with Parmigiano-Reggiano, nutmeg and black pepper adapted from The Splendid Table.

Garganelli
(adapted from The Splendid Table)

4 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon each freshly ground black pepper and nutmeg
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano- Reggiano cheese
3 cups all purpose flour

I use a food processor to combine and knead the ingredients. Then remove the pasta dough and knead it well for a further 5 minutes. Wrap in plastic and rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
I used a pasta machine to roll the dough thinly but you could use a rolling pin to roll out portions of dough. Cut the thinly rolled pasta dough into 1 or 1 1/2 inch squares.

Place the square with the point facing you and roll to mark with a clean pencil.

Flick the point closest to you over the pencil and carefully roll the dough up...

pressing to seal at the end.

It only takes a little bit of practice to soon have a garganelli production in place.

Cook garganelli in simmering chicken broth for a brief two or three minutes or until just al dente. Serve with lashing of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Sfinci di Ricotta - A Baker's Odyssey Personal Challenge #31

 

I had been wanting to make halloumi for some time. Don't you just love halloumi? It's delicious squigginess after it has been fried? The SBS television show "Food Safari" recently chatted to a lady who made halloumi and loved to give it away as gifts. She had such a passion for her cheese. It was second nature for her to turn a bucket load of milk into fabulous halloumi. I have this image etched into my mind of her taking the slabs of cheese, salting them well then folding the slabs in half and pressing down with such confidence. Oh, she had such confidence she gave me confidence! So the other day I made halloumi. Yes, it worked and yes, I'm very proud of myself. But reading recipes, checking temperatures, measurements and times reminds me that it take many years and many halloumi making days before one can gain the confidence this lady has with cheesemaking. We follow recipes, but in the small villages around the world the young are being taught by the old to make traditional recipes by feel, touch and taste. What a gift!

 

Cheesemaking results in LOTS of whey! What to do with all this whey. Make ricotta, of course. And with the fresh ricotta - Sfinci di Ricotta! Sfinci are a delicious fried dough treat rolled in sugar and cinnamon. These are made with ricotta and are absolutely amazing. A deep frying thermometer is essential as the correct temperature ensures the sfinci don't absorb oil and become greasy. This recipe uses ricotta and baking powder and the result is a wonderful crisp exterior and inside just delightfully tender.

 

If you can find the the packaged Italian vanilla sugar, Vanillina I do recommend it. However substituting a spoonful of vanilla sugar or a teaspoon of vanilla extract is fine.

Sfinci di Ricotta

Batter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk
1 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup of well drained ricotta
2 envelopes Vanillina

vegetable oil for frying

1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Heat oil in a large heavy pot and attached a deep fry thermometer to the side. Heat the oil to 365F/185C.

In the meantime make the batter. Heat the sugar and milk in a medium saucepan, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved and the milk is hot.Remove from heat add in the vanillina.

In bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk the eggs and the ricotta into the milk mixture then tip the milk/egg/ricotta mixture into the flour and whisk to combine.

 

Before you start frying mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl ready to roll the sfinci.

 

Prepare a tray lined with paper towels ready to drain the sfinci.

 

Once the oil is at the correct temperature, use two teaspoons to scoop and push the batter into the hot oil. Don't overcrowd the pan. Fry for about 5 minute until the sfinci are well browned.

Remove and drain on the paper towels then roll in cinnamon sugar.

 

You really should eat these as soon as possible. Sfinci are best in the first hour after frying.

 

 Whenever you take batter, deep fry it then roll it in sugar it has to be good but these are better than good  - they are addictive!

 

Promise me that you will try them!