Almond Milk Pudding

Pecan Treacle Tart

Tip: If you're not a fan of pecans, you could substitute it with wlanus

Watermelon Popsicles

So I was in Kuwait last October and in my usual visit to IKEA, while my eyes scout for stuff I don't have, there in a big metal bin lie these gorgeous blue and green, yellow and pink Popsicle molds. I mean without even a flicker of doubt on whether I need them? will I use them?! didn't even arise, they went straight for billing... lest I changed my mind you know later maybe......
So during the summer hols me and my lil one put them to use by making some watermelon popsicles. Ooh!!! I tell you there is no limit to the joy in licking on a popsicle and giving them all the attention - you know childish fun!!







Ingredients:
[Yields 12 popsicles[
Watermelon - 2 cups, de-seeded and diced
Sugar - only if required about 2-3tbs
Lemon Juice - 2tbs

Blitz everything into a blender and pour into the molds. Freeze them overnight and they are ready.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Cherry Sauce

No use of gelatin and the cheesecake is easy to set. My favorite recipe book which is the Delicious Wicked Desserts and this one I vote as simply creamy and delightful!

Ingredients:
White Chocolate - 150gms, broken up
Mascarpone Cheese - 250gms
Whipping Cream - 142ml
For the Cherry Sauce
Arrowroot - 1 tbs
Creme De Casis - 150ml (I used Cherry Brandy instead)
Grated Zest and Juice of 1 Orange
Whole Cherries - 500gms, stalks removed
For the Base
Chocolate Digestive Biscuits - 225gms, crushed
Butter - 50gms, melted and warm

Brush the insides of a 450gm loaf tin with water and then line with cling film. Melt the chocolate into a heat prrof bowl, over a pot of simmering water. Take it off and then stir till smooth and leave to cool slightly. Into a separate bowl beat the mascarpone cheese and and fold in the cream. Spoon into the tin and level it slight. Place in the refrigerator to firm about an hour.Meanwhile proceed to make the biscuit base, mix the crushed biscuits with the butter and spoon the mixture over the firm cheesecake mixture and press lightly to level. Place in the refrigerator to firm up for 4 hours or until set. To make the cherry sauce, measure out 100ml of water and mix in 1 tablespoon of the arrowroot powder to make a paste. Bring the remaining water to boil in a pan with the brandy or casis, orange zest, juice. Stir in the paste and simmer till clear and thick. Add in the cherries and simmer for about 3minutes.Allow to cool. To serve. invert the cheesecake over a plate and slice into 8 slices and serve with the cherry sauce.

Fig Tart with Pistachio Crumble

The Masterchef series this season is absolutely fantastic. What I look forward to are the episodes on the masterclass. So in one of the episodes, Gary Mehigan demonstrated this fantastic and beautiful tart. I was mesmerized by the whole thing and decided 'am gonna give this a go! So I went to Food Hall located at No.1 MG Road, which is a gourmet store and bought everything I needed for this tart.  I tell you this tart could be wickedly addictive!!!

Ingredients:

Pistachio paste

Peeled Pistachios - 125gms

Caster Sugar - 62gms

Glucose Syrup – 2-3tsp

Sweet Short Crust Pastry

Butter - 120gms

Icing Sugar - 30gms

Pinch of salt

Plain Flour - 240gms

Egg – 1

Egg Yolk - 1

Pistachio crumble

Peeled Pistachios - 1/3cup

Caster Sugar - 40gms

Plain Flour - 40gms

Chilled Butter - 30gms, chopped

Frangipane filling

Unsalted Butter - 120gms

Caster Sugar - 120gms

Eggs – 2

Egg Yolk - 1

Cornstarch - 2tbs

Almond Extract – 1tsp

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Ground Almonds - 120gms

Plain Flour - 40gms

Pistachio Paste - 2 tbs

Fresh Figs - 6, cut into 6 or 8 wedges each

Honey - 1/2cup (optional)

Preheat the oven to 160°C. For pastry, place butter, sugar and salt into a food processor and process until creamy. Add flour and process until coarse breadcrumbs. Add egg and yolk and process for 10 seconds or until the dough comes together to form a ball. Tip pastry onto a lightly floured bench and bring together with hands. Flatten gently into a flat rectangular shape and wrap in plastic film. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to rest.  Roll rested dough to 3mm thick and wrap loosely around a rolling pin. Gently roll over a 9 inch fluted round tart tin with a removable base and press pastry into tin, moulding pastry up the sides of the tin with your fingertips, fill in any cracks with excess dough. Remove any excess pastry with your thumb by pressing down along the edges of the tin. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Place a sheet of baking paper into the chilled pastry in the tart tin, half-fill with baking beads or rice and bake for 12-15 minutes until edges are light golden. Remove weights and baking paper and bake for 5-10 minutes or until base is dry. Set aside.

For the Pistachio Crumble:

 For pistachio crumble, place pistachios in the chopper attachment of a stick blender and process to a meal. Add sugar and flour and process to combine, transfer to a bowl. Rub in butter with your fingers, leaving some small lumps of butter.  Line a baking tray with baking paper, tip crumble over tray and spread evenly. Bake for 5-7 minutes or until just golden. Set aside to cool.

For the Pistachio Paste:

For pistachio paste, process all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Add a little water if too dry to come together.

For the Franipane Filling:

For frangipane filling, whisk butter and sugar in an electric mixer until creamy. With the motor running, add eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, continuing to mix after each addition. Add almond liqueur, lemon zest, ground almonds, flour and pistachio paste and whisk until combined. Spoon almond mixture into tart shell until ¾ full. (Left over frangipane can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week). Gently press in fig wedges, placing them at regular intervals along the tart. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.  Remove tart from oven, brush with warm honey and leave to cool. Sprinkle the crumble generously over the tart and serve with clotted cream on the side.

Nutella Bread Pudding for World Nutella Day

World Nutella Day is celebrated on 5 February, not that I remembered it specifically, but I called it sheer coincidence and pure luck! Thought I make a bread pudding for the awfully sweet craving lot of US with NUTELLA the last Sunday!!

Ingredients:
Croissants  - 3 or 10 slices of bread (atleast a day or two old)
Nutella - 3/4cup
Almonds - 1/4cup chopped
Eggs - 2
Milk - 1cup
Vanilla Extract - 1tsp
Powdered Sugar - 1/2cup
Salt - a generous pinch

Onto each slice of bread, spread a generous amount of Nutella. Make them into sandwiches and then cut into little cubes. Into a large bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt. Keep aside the mixture for about 10minutes. Into a greased glass dish, casserole or baking dish, place the bread cubes and then pour the custard over. Scatter atop some chopped almonds and allow the bread to soak up the milk mixture before baking for atleast 1/2hour. Bake for about 30 minutes till the liquid is all absorbed. Powder the pudding with some snowy effects of the sugar and voila, have your pudding warm out of the oven with some more Nutella flicked over! (Yumminess all the way :):))

Banoffee Pie

This pie was devoured by my cousins, the minute they entered through my door. I did look for that opportunity to make this provided someone were to come over so that me and my husband didn't have to finish it all up(wink)! I barely finished making this pie and started taking the pics, when the door just opened and the entire party of boys just arrived. What's this chechi?!! Can we eat this now?? Well I wanted this to sit in the refrigerator for the biscuit base to set, but then you can't have em waiting can you? Served them without waiting! Better still, it tastes better the next day, and the base just sets perfectly for that extra crunch effect!

Ingredients:
Dulce De Leche (Condensed Milk) - 1 can (400gm)
Bananas-3, large
Heavy Cream -2 cups, whipped
Digestive biscuits or Marie biscuit- 200gms
Butter- 100gms
Grated chocolate/ Cocoa powder or Chocolate Sprinkles/ Chocolate Sauce to decorate

To make the Dulche De Leche

Place the can of condensed milk, unopened, in a large pot of water. Bring to boiling point and boil for 3 hours, topping up with boiling water from a kettle as needed. Ensure that the can remains covered in water, as otherwise there is a risk of the can bursting open. Remove and leave to cool completely. You can make this ahead of time or even boil several tins at one go and store the unopened cans in the fridge for several months. There are other ways of making the dulche which could either be David's way or Divya Kudua's pressure cooker way!
I wasn't sure which method to choose, but made my mind to resort to the safer method of placing it in a pot of water. No harm that way!

Now to get to making of this pie. Process the biscuits in the food processor and mix in the melted butter biscuit. Line a 10 inch pie pan with the biscuit mixture and place in the fridge for about an hour or else bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 160C. Open the of dulche de leche and spread this over the layer of biscuit.
Peel and thinly slice the bananas, and arrange in a layer over the toffee.Whip the cream until thick and stiff and spread over the bananas. And finally, decorate with grated chocolate or dust the cocoa powder on top using a sieve or with chocolate sprinkles. Drizzle with chocolate sauce if you desire too.

Berried Panna Cotta

It's a rich dessert, serve this with big spoonfuls of blackberries and strawberries. You could impress anyone with this easy- no effort involved dessert.

Recipe Source: David Lebovitz

Ingredients:
Heavy Cream - 4cups (1litre)
Sugar - 1/2cup (100g)
Vanilla Extract - 2tsps or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Powdered Gelatin - 4 1/2tsp
Cold Water - 6tbs
For the topping
Canned Blackberry Pie Filling
Fresh Hulled Strawberries

Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean into the cream and add the bean pod. Cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the bean then rewarm the mixture before continuing. Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.Pour the very warm panna cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Divide the pannacotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four to six hours. If you’re pressed for time, pour the Panna Cotta mixture into wine goblets so you can serve them in the glasses, without unmolding. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each pannacotta and un-mold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired with the blackberries and strawberries.

Note: To make Panna Cotta with sheet gelatin: Soften 25g (approximately six sheets) in a liter of cold water for 5 to 10 minutes. Wring the sheets out and stir them into the warm Panna Cotta mixture until dissolved.

Chocolate Truffles

If this is to be a Happy New Year, a year of usefulness, a year in which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because God will direct our pathway. How important then, to feel our dependence upon Him!  - Matthew Simpson

Recipe Souce: Joy of Baking


Ingredients:
Semisweet or Bittersweet chocolate - 8ounces (227 grams), cut into small pieces
Heavy Whipping cream (double cream) - 1/2cup (120 ml)
Unsalted butter - 2tbs (28 grams), cut into small pieces
Brandy - 2tbs
Coatings for Truffles:
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder


Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized heatproof bowl. Keep aside. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil.  Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for a minute or two. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. (If the chocolate doesn't melt completely, place in the microwave for about 20 seconds, or over a saucepan of simmering water, just until melted.) Add the liqueur. Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm which could take several hours or overnight.Place your coatings for the truffles on a plate. Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. Using your hands, or a small ice cream scoop, a melon baller, or a small spoon form the chocolate into round or mis-shaped bite-sized balls.The mixture should yield about 25 to 30 small balls. Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm. Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months. Bring them room temperature before serving.

Tip: You could opt to coat the truffles with different coating such as nuts, shave chocolate, confectioner's sugar, toasted coconut flakes. The option of liqueur could either be omitted or a choice between Grand Marnier, Kirsch, Rum, Bourbon, Kahlua could be used.

Coffee Chocolate Pudding ~A Sweet Punch

It's a magical combination of Coffee And Chocolate

Serve this saucey warm chocolate bowl with a good scoop of vanilla ice cream

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cocoa
Pinch of salt
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
½ cup milk
1 egg, beaten
50g hazelnuts, chopped
For the topping
½ cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cocoa
1 cup strong black coffee

Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift together dry ingredients. Stir through butter, milk, egg and hazelnuts until well combined. Spoon batter into 4 ramekins. Sprinkle over brown sugar and cocoa then pour over coffee but do not stir. Bake for 16 - 20 minutes depending on how done you want it. I baked it for 18 minutes as my husband and child like it a lot more done than it being saucey, whereas I had mine baked at 16 minutes for a more gooey effect. Finally dust with cocoa powder or cinnamon and sugar; serve with vanilla ice cream.

Su's Chocolate Biscuit Pudding

Su brought this over when we had our girlie potluck. This is one dessert which cannot go wrong, and if you are the one who hasn't attempted making a dessert then this recipe is sure to win you some kudos and flattery for your efforts... I had another version of the chocolate biscuit pudding stashed somewhere, but simply couldn't locate that paper. So, with Su's recipe in hand I made this to put everyone at their places for screaming 'DESSERT'. Thankyou Su....your a wonder woman!!!!

Ingredients:
Marie or Any Glucose Biscuit - 1 packet (200 gram)
Butter - 100gms (melted)
Amul Fresh Cream - 200ml (or any fresh cream)
Semi Sweet Chocolate - 400gms 

Crush the biscuits and mix in the butter together. Into a greased glass dish, tip in the biscuit mixture and spread onto the base evenly. Into a saucepan, lightly heat the chocolate and cream together. Pour this chocolate mixture onto the biscuit base and keep in the refrigerator to set for at least 4 hours and serve. Keep at room temperature for sometime before serving.

Spanish Flan

I was sort of not well enough to make anything for the Husband's birthday. My heart did'nt let me get away with the day not making anything. Since Satish loves desserts I resorted to making this flan which is a much more heavier version than the usual creme caramel. A simple and indulgent dessert!
A third entry to Suma's event.

Ingredients:
White granulated sugar - 1 cup
Eggs - 3
Sweetened condensed milk -  1 can (14 ounce)
Evaporated milk - 1 can (12 fluid ounce)
Vanilla extract - 1 tablespoon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color. Carefully pour hot syrup into a 9 inch round glass baking dish, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla until smooth. Pour egg mixture through a sieve into the baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 60 minutes in a water bath. To test the flan for doneness, insert a toothpick, if it comes out clean the flan is cooked. Let it cool completely. To serve, run a knife around the dish carefully invert on serving plate with edges when completely cool.

Tip: For those wanting to make it without the evaporated milk the measurements would be 4 eggs and 2cups of regular milk 
There will some hard sugar at the bottom of the dish/mould, do not attempt to scrape this and add it to the caramel sauce to be served.
The flan can be enhanced with honey, lemon zests, and crushed almonds depending on one's preference.

A Sweet Punch~Pear, Chocolate & Almond Crumble

We are down with a nasty cough, so couldn't enjoy this crumble with ice-cream like we wanted to nor did I make custard or cream to go with it. And without ice-cream, heavy cream, custard or any of the like the crumble is just warm enough to delight us all.

Ingredients:
Ripe pears - 1kg (4-5), peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm pieces
Light brown soft sugar - 50gms [ Can substitute with regular sugar]
Grated zest and juice of 1 un-waxed lemon
Swiss milk chocolate - 100gms, roughly chopped

For the crumble:
Plain flour - 100gms [ You could substitute this with Whole wheat flour too]
Butter - 50gms, chilled and diced
Light brown soft sugar - 50gms
Almonds - 50g blanched, lightly toasted in a dry pan and roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Grease 6 ovenproof teacups or ramekins or a pie-dish. In a medium bowl, mix together the pears, brown sugar, lemon zest and juice, and half the chocolate. Divide the mixture between the teacups or ramekins, spooning over any juice. To make the crumble, place the flour and butter in a medium bowl and, with your fingertips, rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, almonds and remaining chocolate. Spoon the crumble over the pears and press down lightly. Place the crumbles on a baking tray and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream.

Hot Chocolate Fudge Pudding

A chocolate dessert which mum used to make for the one of the many dinner parties we have hosted at home. This a warm fudgy dessert to be had with a good dollop of vanilla ice cream. I'm sending this, as an entry to CCN's first blog birthday. Madhuri is celebrating her blog's first year with a bang - 'The Chocolate Fest' along with an awesome giveaway. Who wouldn't want to be a part of it?

Ingredients:
Plain Flour - 1cup
Baking powder - 1 1/2tsp
Salt - a pinch
Sugar - 1/2cup
Cocoa Powder - 1dsp
Milk - 1/2cup
Ghee - 2dsp
Vanilla Essence - 1tsp
For the Sauce
Sugar - 3/4cup
Cocoa - 2dsp
Hot water - 1 3/4cup

Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and cocoa. Add milk, ghee and essence and mix well. Put this evenly into a greased deep dish. Dissolve the sugar and cocoa in hot water and pour over the pudding. Bake at 160C for 35minutes. The pudding will look like a cake and the sauce will form a thick sauce underneath. Serve the pudding with vanilla ice cream.

Praline Bavarian Cream Pudding

Mum regularly made this dessert from her treasured collection of recipes. It would delight anybody wanting a hint of sweet aftertaste... especially after a heavy meal.

Ingredients:
[Serves 6]
Eggs - 3
Milk - 1 1/2cup
Sugar - 1/2cup
Gelatin - 4tsp
Whipping Cream - 1cup
Sugar (for Caramel) - 3tsp
Cashew nut Pieces - 3dsp

Soak gelatine in half cup of milk. Beat the yolks and sugar well till it turns a light yellow colour. Into a pan, heat milk and the egg yolk mixture over low heat till it thickens, and coats the back of the spoon. When it starts to thicken, add in the milk mixed with the gelatine. Take it off the fire and let it cool in the refrigerator till  it is half set, which means it would be slightly wobbly. In the meantime caramelize the 3tsp sugar into a pan. Once the sugar has caramelized, add in the cashew nuts. Coat the cashew, pour the caramel onto a greased tray. Once it is cooled, grind coarsely and keep aside.
Whip the egg whites until stiff and forms soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the half set pudding  until well combined. Then add in the whipped cream and mix well. The pudding consistency should be creamy. Pour the pudding into bowls/ ramekins/ or into a shallow dish and let it set in the refrigerator. Top the pudding with the coarsely ground praline while serving.

A Sweet Punch~ Molten Lava Cake

This month couldn't have gotten any better with the team announcing the Molten Lava cake as the challenge. The timing was just perfect, my brother in law had been pestering me to make him one...and to top it off he spent a good three days with me and my husband. So baked him one to keep him happy. The joyous moment calls for, when the spoon dug right through, to release the warm delicious chocolate center..

Ingredients:

Semi - Sweet Baking Chocolate – 4 oz (113g)
Butter – 4 oz (113g)
Eggs – 2
Sugar – 1/3 cup (75 g)
All-purpose Flour – 1/4 cup (40g)
Butter – for greasing ramekins

In a double boiler, melt chocolate. In a medium mixing bowl, beat Eggs and Sugar until light and fluffy. Once chocolate is melted, remove pan from heat and add in butter. Mix until the butter melts fully. Add chocolate/butter mixture into the eggs, add all-purpose flour and mix until well incorporated. Butter bottom and sides of ramekins (small glass/porcelain bowls) and pour in mixture about 3/4 way full. Place ramekins on a baking tray and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 C) for 10 – 15 minutes. Shorter for gooey (molten) inside, longer for stiff inside. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

Apple Pie

Some like it plain, some like it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, some with custard and some with a generous dollop of whipped cream. You cannot refuse somebody dessert, especially for someone just out of the hospital. Yeah! on our weekend over to my inlaws, my bro in law says "Chech don't come empty handed!" Asked him if an apple pie was alright, and he goes, "just bring it on chechi"....

Ingredients:
Short Crust Pastry
All Purpose Flour - 2 1/2cups
Salt - 1tsp
Granulated Sugar - 2tbs
Unsalted Butter - 1cup, cut into i inch pieces
Chilled water - 1/4cup
Apple Filling

Apples - 6 large, peeled, cored, sliced into 1/4inch pieces
Granulated Sugar  - 1/4cup
Brown Sugar - 1/4cup
Lemon Juice - 1tbs
Cinnamon Powder - 3/4tsp
Nutmeg Powder - 1/4tsp
Unsalted Butter - 2tbs
One egg with a couple of tablespoons of milk whisked - to brush the pastry

For the Short crust pastry (Pate Brisee) - Into a food processor, place the flour, salt and sugar and mix until well combined. Add in the cold butter and process the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Pour about 1/4cup water through the feed and the mixture holds together to form a dough. Do not process for more than 30-40seconds. Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and gather into a ball. Divide the dough into two halves, cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour. Grease a 9inch pie dish. Take out one half of the dough, roll and flatten the dough to cover the base of the pie dish. Roll the dough outwardly from the center to get uniform thickness. Brush off any excess flour and gently place pastry to fit the base of the dish.Cover with cling wrap and place back into the refrigerator.

In the meantime, the apple filling can be made, by combining the apples, both the sugars, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg powder and butter into a medium saucepan. Then cook the apples for a medium to high flame for about 3-4minutes till the apples turn soft and the liquid reduces and becomes thick. The liquid will turn syrupy and caramelized. Place the apple filling into the base of the pastry filled pie dish.

Then take out the other half of the dough. Roll and flatten the dough to cover the apple filling. Moisten the edges of the base pastry with water so as to tuck and seal the top pastry. Crimp the top pastry as desired. Once the top of covered, trim off excess pastry. In the middle of the top pastry, make a slit so as to let the steam escape while the pie is being cooked. Lightly brush the top pastry with egg and milk mixture and bake into a preheated oven of 180C for 40-50minutes till the top is golden brown and juices are bubbling. Its tempting to cut the pie right away, (I did that to take my photo, plus we were heading out to my inlaws).Resist as much as you can and let the pie sit for a couple of hours so that they turn out to be perfect wedges.

Chocolate Cheesecake Gateau for the Loved Ones!

Criss just said, "come over have dinner and your staying...and you have no choice but to say yes"....I immediately got on to the phone to get the husband to agree with the plan, while Criss got Yogi bear and boo boo bear (our other two friends) to stay too...the plan was set....the dinner was beef biriyani, chicken cutlet, raita and pappad. While the food was being coordinated we got our dearest friend Lesa, PC and lil Mia to skype in from S'pore to add to the evening entertainment. I thought a meal is not complete without the dessert, and I pitched in, and got to make a cheesecake and toffee apple upside down cake with some cream. All in all the weekend was absolutely fantastic with Maash and his brilliant idea of watching the movie Inception, and then part our ways. A weekend that was truly worthwhile....it was time spent with people you love being with

Ingredients:
Base
Digestive biscuits - 100gms
Butter - 50gms melted

Filling
Cream Cheese - 225gms
Castor Sugar - 100gms
Eggs - 2 separated
Gelatine - 2tsps
Plain bitter chocolate/ chips - 100gms melted
Whipping cream - 125ml

Decoration
Whipping cream - 150ml
Chocolate curls/ sprinkles

Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs and stir in the melted butter. Press onto the base of a 7inch spring form tin and chill. For the filling, beat the cream cheese until smooth and add the sugar, egg yolks and melted chocolate. Dissolve the gelatin in 2tablespoons of hot water and add to the cream cheese mixture. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture. Then lastly fold in whipped cream. Pour into the tin and chill until set. To decorate the gateau, pipe a border around with the whipped cream and decorate with curls or sprinkles.

Peach and Cinnamon Cobbler

Mum has finally turned 50 on June 30....somehow for me she was always in her forties....(lol). Though mum and dad are right now holidaying in Kerala, it didn't stop me from making something for her children and grandchild to celebrate the joyous occasion. Though we are about 500kms away. Mummy, this is for you!

Ingredients:
Plain flour - 175gms
Castor Sugar - 175gms

Butter - 175gms
Peaches - 500gms stoned and roughly chopped
Eggs - 3 beaten
Cinnamon powder - 1tsp
Baking powder - 2tsp
Vanilla Extract- 1tsp
Cornflakes -70gms crushed
Whipped cream to serve

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 9inch spring-release cake tin and line with baking paper. Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon powder into a large bowl, add in the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until the mixture is smooth. Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the surface using a palette knife. Arrange the peaches on top, Stir in crushed cornflakes into the remaining mixture and drop spoonfuls of the mix over the peaches. Bake for an 1 hour or until risen firm and golden brown.

100th Post - Lemon Citrus Cheesecake

Its my 100th post...''Wooohhooo".. I'm totally ecstatic and overwhelmed at the fact that I have made it this far. After all the zillion ISD calls to my Mum on the basics,  I feel 'I'm not that bad a cook now'. So thank you Mummy for the constant thunderous verbal admonishing. Thank you Sat and Arun for being the guinea pigs to my every created dish and sometimes to the disastrous ones too. Thank you Jen gurl and BJ for being my everyday tasters to the desserts and bakes I dish out. My all time assistant needs special mention which is my son, for pitching in to help which only results in a messed up kitchen and house. And much to your surprise you just might find my vegetable peeler in his toy box, or an onion peel stuffed into the DVD player.

Speaking of my "My blog", this is something that birthed out of sheer boredom. In my random surfing on the net I have came across images of dishes being plated/ baked/made in the most exquisite and alluring ways possible. And bang on I knew that more than the cooking, its capturing the food through the lens that gives me the absolute pleasure. A new found hobby, and blogging is all about a continuous journey of not only cooking different culinary styles, but experimenting the new, being introduced to the unknown and getting to know amazing blogger friends. An ode to myself for having reached one of the many milestones - Cheers!!

Ingredients:
[For the base]
Digestive Biscuits - 150gms crushed
Butter - 2 oz melted

For the filling
Lemon Jelly - 5oz
Cream Cheese - 8oz
Castor Sugar - 4oz
Vanilla Essence - 1/2tsp
Whipping cream - 250ml
Sour cream - 150ml

To garnish
Kiwi - cut into semi roundrels
Strawberries - quartered

Into a large bowl, combine the crushed biscuits and melted butter. Press onto the bottom of a well greased of 8-9 inch spring form pan. Refrigerate to chill while making the filling.
Dissolve the jelly in 150ml of hot water, and leave it cool and set partially. In the meantime, using a hand - mixer beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in vanilla essence. Add the sour cream and beat well. Into another clean bowl beat the whipping cream till stiff and soft peaks are formed. Fold the cheese mixture into the whipped cream. Fold in half-set jelly. Pour over the biscuit base and leave to set in the refrigerator overnight. Once the cheesecake has set, garnish with kiwis and strawberries and serve.

Tip: To procure lemon jelly is what I found difficult, so instead used 2tsps of gelatin dissolved in 4-5tbs of water. Microwave the gelatin mixture for about 5-10 secs till dissolved. Add about 1tsp of lemon essence to the gelatin mixture. Add this to the folded cream cheese mixture and combine well.