FOODIE WEEKEND - Mini Lemon Cheesecakes

Happy Weekend, everybody! 

What a busy week it was for me.  As you may already know (or not) I am throwing a party for about 40 people this coming Monday.  Monday? Party? Yes, party on a Monday because this weekend is a long weekend since UAE is celebrating the Eid Al-Fitr that starts tomorrow, Sunday the 19th of August.  This celebration is to mark the end of Ramadhan where Muslims fast for a month.  I took advantage of the long weekend to get together with some friends.

Since it is going to be a lunch buffet, there will be a lot of cooking to be done and desserts are must.  I planned to make a few types including this Mini Lemon Cheesecake! Yesterday I tested the recipe and I think the cheesecake will be a hit especially with the kids.  The idea of mini appeals to me as it means no messing with cake cutter or being left with half a cake  that takes a lot of storing place in the fridge.  With mini cakes like this, stacking them up in a plastic container is sufficient and that means I have space in my fridge for other things! 

Mini Lemon Cheesecakes

Ingredients (makes about a dozen cakes)

500 grams of cream cheese

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest

1 table spoon of lemon juice

1/2 to 3/4 cups of sugar (depending on how sweet you like them to be, 

I used slightly over half a cup)

A dozen pieces of wafers or butter cookies or mini digestive biscuits to use 

as the base of the cake 

(I use a butter cookie that fits nicely at the bottom 

of my paper mold)

Chocolate chips, colorful sugar rice or thinly sliced lemon for decoration.

Method

Beat cream cheese, egg and sugar until creamy

Add in the vanilla extract, lemon zest and lemon juice

Meanwhile line your cupcake mold with paper molds and place the cookies at the bottom.

When the mixture is nicely mixed and fluffy, pour the mixture into the mold, 

becareful not to overflow!

Sprinkle the preferred decoration and bake in a pre-heated oven of 175 degrees 

for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, don't worry, the cakes will be a bit wobbly, it's normal. 

Remove from the tray and leave to cool on the cooling rack.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Note :

If you cannot find the correct size cookies for your based try crushing a few digestive cookies and mix it with a little bit of melted butter.  Press some down flat at the bottom of the paper mold before pouring the cheese mixture.  This should create the same effect :)

For my Muslim readers and friends, Eid Mubarak!

FOODIE WEEKEND - Classic Tiramisu

Hello, everyone! How time flies and here we are again, passing through another weekend. Last week if some of you remember, I shared a recipe for Eggless Tiramisu and this week, I made the classic version or the original recipe for tiramisu that calls for the use of egg yolks.  Honestly speaking, I kind of like the simpler recipe without the egg but Captain thinks that a tiramisu should be with eggs or it is not a tiramisu!  Well, to honor his Italian heritage, I share with you today the recipe for Classic Tiramisu.

Classic Tiramisu

Ingredients

A pack of 20 savoiardi or lady finger biscuits

500 grms of mascarpone cheese

1 cup or 275 ml of whipping cream

4 large egg yolks

Double shots of espresso (sugared) mixed with 

1/2 a cup of coffee (sugared) chilled

1/2 or 2/3 cups of caster sugar

Some cocoa powder for sprinkling

Shaved or chopped dark chocolate for sprinkling, I used chocolate chips this time

1/4 cup of marsala wine or 2 teaspoons of dark rum (optional)

Method

Beat the egg yolk until light and fluffy, add in sugar and marsala wine and mix well.

Heat the mixture over a pot of boiling water, so it is best if you use a metal bowl that absorb heat well.  

The eggs will be cooked by the steam from the water in the pot below (I hope I make sense here since I actually forgot to take pictures, sorry!)

The eggs mixture should become smooth and when it starts to bubble, remove from the heat and set aside.

In an electric mixer, beat the whipping cream until fluffy. In a bowl, mix mascarpone cheese and sugar until smooth. 

Add in the egg mixture into the cheese and mix well working slowly.

Fold in the whipping cream in the cheese and egg mixture.  

Lightly dunk savoiardi/lady fingers in the coffee and espresso mixture and arrange them in a mold. 

Cover the savoiardi with half of the cheese and cream mixture. Smooth with spatula.  Sprinkle the cocoa powder on top of the cheese and cream mixture followed by cheese and cream and cocoa powder.  

Finally sprinkle the shaved/chopped chocolate/chocolate chips on top and chill for at least couple of hours before serving.

Note :

The color of the cheese, cream and egg mixture should be the lightest of yellow unlike white in the eggless recipe and it was slightly runny but all that was not a problem after chilling in the fridge for almost 3 hours! 

Buon Apetito!

FOODIE WEEKEND - Eggless Tiramisu

Hello wonderful! Happy weekend and hope you all have some nice summer activities arranged for this weekend.  As for us here, we are going to spend time at home watching Olympic track and field events on television and cheer for our favorite team!

This week for Foodie Weekend I am going to share with you a simple tiramisu recipe.  When I say simple, it is really simple! This recipe today calls for no eggs.. yes, no eggs at all.  This is a great option for those who is a bit reluctant in using 'almost' raw eggs in a dish or for those who is allergic to eggs.  Besides being easy, this recipe takes about 15 minutes to prepare and is a great treat for that last minute lunch or dinner party!

Happy trying and buon apetito! 

Eggless Tiramisu

Ingredients
A pack of 20 savoiardi or lady finger biscuits
500 grms of mascarpone cheese
1 cup or 275 ml of whipping cream
Double shots of espresso (sugared) mixed with 
1/2 a cup of coffee (sugared) chilled
1/2 or 2/3 cups of caster sugar
Some cocoa powder for sprinkling
Shaved or chopped dark chocolate for sprinkling
1/4 cup of marsala wine or 2 teaspoons of dark rum (optional)

Method
In an electric mixer, beat the whipping cream until fluffy 
In a bowl, mix mascarpone cheese and sugar until smooth. If you are using the alcohol, this is the time to add it.
Fold in the whipping cream in the cheese mixture.

Lightly dunk savoiardi/lady fingers in the coffee and espresso mixture and

arrange them in a mold 

Cover the savoiardi with half of the cheese and cream mixture. 

Smooth with spatula.

Sprinkle the cocoa powder on top of the cheese and cream mixture.

Again repeat arranging coffee soaked savoiardi on top of the first layer

Followed by cheese and cream and cocoa powder.  Finally sprinkle the shaved/chopped chocolate on top and chill for at least a couple of hours before serving.

Note :
In traditional recipe, marsala wine is normally used.  
You can add more or less alcohol as desired.
Shaved chocolate is normally used in restaurants but in my house we prefer our chocolate on the chunkier side, hence chopped chocolate was used.
You can also substitute savoiardi/lady fingers with light pound cake, in-fact pound cake is easier to work with as you can cut into desired size and makes better looking tiramisu when sliced.