Pesach Cake

The ever-elusive Pesach Cake recipe
This is a no-flour, no leavening cake that is traditional for Pesach/Passover.

Had no slivered almonds, so I used all sliced

Ingredients

• 6 (large) eggs, separated
• 250g caster sugar (or use berry sugar OR take regular white sugar and process in food processor until it is very fine)
• 1 pinch salt
• rind of 1/2 lemon
• 250g finely ground mixed nuts (eg. almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts) 

Topping

• 100g semi-sweet dark chocolate
• smooth apricot jam
• slivered and sliced almonds to decorate

Method

Making the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Line a springform pan with parchment paper on the bottom and grease well up sides and on the parchment
3. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks in one bowl and set aside
4. In another bowl, beat egg yolks until creamy. Beat in sugar, salt, and lemon rind.
5. To the yolk mixture, add the ground nuts and mix gently by hand
6. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture, taking your time to reach an even consistency
7. Pour the cake batter into the pan. Bake 35-40 mins.
8. Allow the cake to cool slightly before opening the springform pan and flipping the cake onto a cooling rack. You may want to grease the cooling rack first, as the cake always sticks to it otherwise! Remove the pan bottom and parchment

Decorating

1. Once the cake has cooled, flip onto a serving platter (or first flip on an intermediate plate then flip upside-down again as the bottom surface may be smoother)
2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or a double-boiler (if using a microwave, stir frequently and melt in short bursts to avoid lumps). 
3. Depending on your chocolate, you may want to carefully stir in 2-4tbs boiling hot water to make it a little runnier and easier to spread (we didn't have to do this).
4. Using a rubber spatula, spread a thin layer of apricot jam all over the top and sides of the cake.
5. Spread a thin layer of the melted chocolate over top of the jam on the top and sides of the cake
6. Use the slivered and sliced almonds to decorate (traditional for Pesach is a Magen David on top and some sliced almonds pressed into the sides)

Granny Cake

Here is ilan's Granny's "Long Cake" recipe

The original:

And the revamped:

Ingredients

200g (7/8 cup) butter
250g (1 1/8 cups) caster sugar (this is a finer version of regular white sugar)
6 eggs, separated
100g (just under 1 cup) white flour, sifted
100g (just over 3/4 cup) corn starch
bread crumbs for dusting the pan
icing sugar for dusting over top

Method

Note: This recipe is best done with a stand mixer.

1. Prepare a bundt cake pan by greasing very well then dusting with bread crumbs
2. Cream butter in the mixer
3. Add caster sugar, beat till light
4. Add yellow part of the eggs
5. Mix for approximately 20 mins in stand mixer at a low-medium speed (according to tradition - can it be done at higher speed in shorter time? We will have to try it...)
6. Set oven to 300F at some point in those 20ish minutes
7. Add flour and mix in
8. Add corn starch
9. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff
10. Fold beaten egg whites into the cake mixture gently
11. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour.

Slightly-Healthier-Than-Hers Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is adapted from someone on "Modern Honey".. and she seems to have a lot to say about chocolate chip cookies! The pictures sure do look delicious.

Here's the original: https://www.modernhoney.com/thin-and-crispy-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Here's my mildly healthier (less sugar and heartier flour) adaptation.

Mine did not turn out to be thin, possibly because of the addition of some whole wheat flour, but they still turned out to be incredibly delicious.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup Butter, melted in saucepan
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup White Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup Whole Wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¾ teaspoon Salt
• ¾ cup Chocolate Chips
• ¼ cup Dark Chocolate Chunks, cut from chocolate bar

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Simmer until "butter starts to turn a warm amber color and gives off a nutty aroma". As for me, I was afraid to simmer it for long so I stopped this part shortly after the simmering started. Don't get it brown too long as the liquids will start to evaporate. Pour the butter into a mixing bowl, cover, and let cool 10 minutes somewhere cool and another 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
2. Once it is cooled, add brown sugar and sugar and cream (high speed mixer setting) for 4 minutes. Scrape down the bowl. Add eggs one at a time, mixing gently after each addition until just incorporated. Add vanilla and mix gently.
3. Stir in flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined.
4. Add chocolate chips and chocolate chunks and mix.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 - 30 minutes. 24 -48 hours is ideal. A couple of recipes I've read really stress the importance of this chilling step so if at all possible don't rush to put the cookies straight into the oven! Apparently it helps them to not ooze everywhere so they will turn out chewier and yummier.
6. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
7. Scoop the cookie dough onto prepared baking pans. Bake until lightly golden on the edges, 9 -11 minutes for medium-sized cookies or 11-13 minutes for larger cookies.

Gateau Jeté - Happy Birthday Matt!

So if your springform cheesecake pan is getting deformed and starting to show signs that it might fall apart on you unexpectedly, well I'd suggest that you heed those signs and consider getting a new one. That is not what I did. Instead I just bent it a bit so that the spaces at the bottom where the outer ring was no longer perfectly circular more-or-less matched up the with circular base and proceeded...

All was fine for the initial baking of the crust, but a cheesecake crust is not particularly heavy.

When I then added the filling and proceeded to transfer my creation to the oven, well...

Cheesecake mess all over the oven

...and where I placed the broken pan on the stovetop

The Recovered Cheesecake - now in a smaller sturdier pan

No longer is there a well-defined crust under the base and around the edges of the cheesecake. I think it is partly on the bottom but also distributed as crumbs throughout the middle. We shall see what happens when we slice into it. Here's what it looks like after baking and settling a bit (it was pretty lopsided when it first came out, but that went away):

The Cooked version

It still smells a lot like cheesecake. I still have hopes it will be delicious. And I have attempted chocolate curls (more like little chocolate slabs and flakes in my case) and some raspberry sauce to go with it so we can always just eat the toppings with ice cream if the cake itself is inedible.

I will post the recipe now and you can scroll down to the bottom to see what it looks like when we slice into it later this evening at Matt's birthday dinner.

This recipe is based on the following but with a few modifications: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/deep-dark-chocolate-cheesecake-236209

Ingredients

Crust

• roughly 1.5 - 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
• roughly 0.5-1 cup of ground nuts (in this case a few almonds and some hazelnuts)
• a little less than 1/2 cup melted butter

Filling

• ~9oz good dark chocolate (I used Callebaut)
• 1kg spreadable cream cheese
• 4 large eggs
• A generous 1/3 cup sugar (since my chocolate was already sweetened)
• 1/4c cocoa powder, sifted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Prepare crust - mix the ingredients together and press into a springform pan lined with parchment paper and greased
3. Bake crust about 8-10 minutes then remove from oven to cool
4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and set aside to cool (to lukewarm but still spreadable consistency)
5. Beat cream cheese with the cocoa and sugar until well whipped and smooth
6. Add eggs one at a time, beating each one in gently at low speed until just blended
7. Mix in the lukewarm chocolate 
8. Pour the filling in the pan and transfer to oven
9. OPTIONAL: dump a portion of the pan contents into the oven, scrape it up again, and reassemble the cake in another pan. Let oven cool while you clean interior and underneath, finding some of your 19-month-old's toys in the process. Once oven is clean, reheat to 350 and put the reconstructed cake in to bake
10. Bake for about an hour or until centre looks at least close to set (but don't overbake)
11. Remove cheesecake from oven and cool about 5 minutes before using a knife to separate the cheesecake from the edge of the pan (but leave the springform assembled)
12. Let cool slowly to room temperature then refrigerate for a good while before serving (I think slow cooling helps improve the texture and reduce cracks, not that cracks are the largest of my problems here)

Toppings

• you could top with chocolate ganache and chocolate curls as the original recipe calls for...
• or you could do like me and attempt to make some chocolate curls but keep them on the side so that if your cheesecake is a disaster then you can at least eat ice cream with chocolate bits
• in my case I thought it would also be a good idea to have some raspberry sauce at the ready again either to go with the cake or to eat with the ice cream if the cake proves inedible 

The Final Result

Sorry, it was too tasty. No pictures but it was delish. It actually looked more-or-less like a regular cheesecake, but the crust wasn't quite as crusty.

Lemon Cheesecake

I've made a couple of cheesecakes lately that were loosely based on the following recipe: https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/other-dessert/italian-lemon-biscotti-cheesecake.html

The first had a biscotti crust only because we happened to have a pile of leftover biscotti.  The next was graham crackers and it was good too.  Sometimes I like using Anna's Cookies for a slightly different flavour. UPDATE on the crust: now we use half nuts and half cookies to make it less sugary. If you wanted to make this gluten free you could probably just smush some ground/chopped nuts in the pan and I'm sure it would do the trick.

Ingredients

CRUST

• 1 c finely crushed graham crackers/anna's cookies/biscotti
• 1 c finely chopped nuts (just almonds works well or whatever type you like or a mix)
• 1/3 c butter, melted

LEMON CHEESECAKE

• 1kg spreadable cream cheese (either leftover from a bar mitzvah or purchased at Costco) OR use 3 8oz blocks and WHIP IT GOOD 
• a generous 1/2 c sugar (original called for 3/4 cups but I do a bit less)
• 1 tsp lemon zest, grated
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice, fresh
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350'F
2. MIX crushed biscotti/graham crackers and melted butter. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9 inch springform pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
3. BEAT cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, juice and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.
4. BAKE 55 min. to 1 hour or until center is almost set.
5. Let cool then place in refrigerator - best to let it sit for at least 4 hours before slicing (if you can wait!)

Coconut-Mint Sorbet with Chocolate Freckles

I was looking for this recipe this morning and realized that it wasn't posted here.. this one comes from the super fantastic "Batchworks Sorbet" in Roberts Creek, BC (definitely worth a visit!)

Now that I read this over again, I see there are a few steps I haven't quite followed correctly in the past - on a couple of occasions, that has led to ice cream soup disaster, but on the whole whenever I make this it is incredibly delicious and well-loved!

Ultimately the best way to avoid disaster is to make sure everything is well-chilled before you try to do the churning step.  This means that it's better to make this at home than to try to transport your ingredients and ice cream maker to someone else's house - if the ice cream maker and/or the ingredients are above a certain critical temperature at the time of churning, then it will never work!  I will type up the original recipe here, not the shortcut version that has been mostly successful for me.

I also highly recommend chilling the serving bowls because this sorbet is best when it's fresh but it will start to melt quickly while you're trying to eat it, and so it is best to stall that process as much as possible.

Ingredients

3/4 c sugar
3/4 c water
400mL can of coconut milk
1/2 bunch fresh mint, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 oz bittersweet dark chocolate

Directions

Step 0. (Optional Katie addition in case you want to take a shortcut later) - Give the can of coconut milk a good shake and put in the refrigerator to chill it. Leave it there until you need it later in this recipe.

Simple syrup mixture with mint added

1. Bring the sugar and water to boil in a medium saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes then add the fresh chopped mint. Cool completely. Chill in the fridge for 2-24 hours.
   
2. In a blender, add the coconut milk to the water/sugar/mint mixture.
3. Blend on high for 2 minutes. (optional: push through a strainer to remove chunks of mint - I've never bothered with this step). Add vanilla.
4. Chill mixture well (if you've pre-chilled your coconut milk, you can just carry on to step 5).
5. Put the mixture in an ice cream maker and churn as per directions.  Once the sorbet is churned, put in a suitable somewhat shallow container (recipe calls for a "rectangular shaped tub", but I use a flat-bottomed metal bowl) and place in the freezer to get the sorbet nice and cold. This will take about 20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, over a double boiler, melt the dark chocolate. While the chocolate is still hot, drizzle it with a spoon in a thin line over top of the sorbet. Let it harden and then mix it in. Add enough drizzles until it is nicely freckled.



Freckling in progress..

7. Place the sorbet in a cold freezer for at least 30 minutes.  Cover the top with plastic wrap to prevent ice crystals from forming. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes before serving.

mmm... time to get my mint mixture made so we can feast tonight!

Cobbler!

I've never made cobbler before, but I wanted a quick to prepare, summery, baked, delicious dessert and it seemed like it might fit the bill...

I started with http://allrecipes.com/recipe/51535/fresh-southern-peach-cobbler/, but made a few minor tweaks...

Ingredients

Fruit part

8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges  - I didn't bother to peel them and I only had three peaches so I added 2 apricots and a bunch of blueberries (510g in fact)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar  - I used less... more like 1/8 cup.  You could reduce the white sugar too.
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch 

Cobbler part

This isn't exactly how I made it, but it is what I'd try if I did it again...
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup boiling water

 Cinnamon Sugar for the Top

I happened to have some cinnamon sugar already on hand - I don't think I used more than about a tablespoon in total - here's what the original recipe says:
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine everything in the "fruit part" list.  Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a large pyrex baking dish (I used the big rectangular one). Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients from the cobbler part.  Blend in butter with a pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined (it should still be quite crumbly, but without powdery flour left loose).
4. Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. I formed little mounds on the spoon (trying not to handle the topping too much) then plunked them on top.  
5. Sprinkle entire cobbler with your desired quantity of the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

Enjoy warm with ice cream!

Chocolate, Orange, Almond Cake

Gluten free?  Low sugar?  Want an easy recipe? Just want some chocolate cake?  This recipe suits just about everyone...  Thanks to Heather for sharing it with me!

Ingredients:

• 2 unwaxed oranges (or just get normal ones and wash them well)
• 200g ground almonds
• 125g white sugar (the original calls for 250g but this is plenty)
• 50g cocoa powder
• 6 med eggs (I used 5 large ones)
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder (super-precise, right?)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:

Pre-steps:

The only trick to this recipe is that it requires some pre-planning.  You're supposed to prepare the oranges the day before.  Throw the whole oranges into a pot and fill with cold water.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer gently for 2 hours.  Drain and cool (stick them in the fridge until you're ready to use them).  Go do this part right now and you can have cake tomorrow!

The actual recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F) - the rest won't take long, so get this started.
2. Cut oranges in half and get rid of the little stem thingy and any obvious pips.  Don't peel them!  Everything except obvious pips and the stem bit goes straight into the cake.  Yes, really.
3. Grease and line a 9" springform pan or some other vessel in which to bake your cake.
4a. If you have a food processor, just toss everything in there and "whiz" it until it is smoothish (but a little bit grainy/lumpy is fine).
4b. If you don't have a food processor, throw the oranges in a blender and pulverize them.  If your blender is super awesome, you can just throw everything else in there but that was a bit of a disaster when I tried it, so I'd recommend taking the blenderized oranges and throwing them in a bowl with everything else then using a hand mixer or arm power or whatever you happen to have to mix everything together.  Again, no need to go too crazy here - this is a moist, dense cake so you don't need to be too concerned about beating it perfectly.
5. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake in your preheated oven for about 50 minutes.  Don't overbake it - you don't want blackened sides.

That's it!  Top as desired.  It's yummy with a side of raspberry sorbet too.

But....
If you want to make this super decadent and delicious, then I'd highly recommend topping it off with some chocolate-cream cheese frosting like I did the last time I made it.

Frosting Ingredients:

• about a third of a block of cream cheese
• roughly a couple of tablespoons worth of butter (softened)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• roughly a couple of heaping tablespoons worth of cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• about 1/4tsp of vanilla

Frosting method:

Start by beating together the butter and cream cheese to soften them.  Then put the rest in and beat it until it's smooth and creamy and wonderful.  

Super-chocolately Sorbet

Here's the link: http://food52.com/recipes/17877-david-lebovitz-s-chocolate-sorbet

Here's a copy of what you'll find at the link - so easy!

• 2 1/4cups (555 ml) water
• 1cup (200 g) sugar
• 3/4cup (75 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 6ounces (170 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large saucepan, whisk together 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk for 45 seconds.
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it's melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup (180 ml) water. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have decided to actually write out my edits to the recipe "Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies" from allrecipes.com - one that I've had an old print out of for years now.  Here is my version.  These are great for hiking - they're like granola bars and cookies at the same time!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened (or substitute ½ cup peanut butter + ½ cup butter)

½ cup brown sugar (packed)

½ cup white sugar (or a little less)

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup white flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 ½ cups oats

1 cup chopped nuts/seeds of your choice

1 cup chocolate chips

½ cup raisins (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F (165 C)
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth.
3. Lightly beat in the eggs, 1 at a time (use low speed, don’t overbeat).
4. Stir in vanilla.
5. Sift together and combine the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a separate bowl.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir gently until just blended.
7. Mix in the oats, nuts, chocolate chips, and raisins.
8. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased baking sheet – flatten cookies slightly for more even cooking.
9. Bake for ~12 minutes in the preheated oven. They probably won't look quite done when it's time to take them out, but the centres won't look gooey either.
10. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

** Extra batter can be frozen in rolls wrapped in wax paper so you can simply slice off and bake cookies for fresh, warm, cookie goodness anytime! **