Frozen Lemon Cheesecake with berries & caramelized pistachios

This is an eggless version of one of my oldest and most favorite desserts, the frozen lemon cheesecake. I actually made it as a dessert for New Year’s Eve, which we spent in Long Beach with dear friends. I normally make it with raw eggs at home since Swedish eggs don’t have salmonella. I’m sure most Californian eggs are perfectly safe to use but to be on the very safe side, I decided to make version without eggs. Instead of eggs - and sugar - it uses sweetened condensed milk. I’m going to say that the end result is very, very close.

And very, very good. Also quite a bit easier to make.

You can top this with whatever you’d like of course, and whatever berries are in season where you are. We found some super tasty strawberries that I macerated with lime and a little brown sugar, and then I quickly caramelized some pistachios that tasted much better than they look in the photo, I promise. (And all that there’s too this is melting sugar in a small pan, non stick unless you love to clean up, add the nuts, and let them be well coated, turn out on a non-stick surface and cool. Add a very light sprinkling of salt if desired)

Everything can and should be made well in advance. Just remember to bring out the cheesecake a little while before you want to eat - maybe half an hour or so - so that it’s not frozen solid.

Frozen Lemon Cheesecake with berries & caramelized pistachios

Crust:
about 220 g graham crackers
3/4 stick butter, melted (about 85 g

Process crackers into crumbs. Add butter. Press hot crumbs into a springform pan. Place in freezer while you make the filling.

Filling:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 small package cream cheese (about 8 oz)
Whipping cream, about 450 ml
Zest from 1 lemon
Dash of vanilla

Stir together cream cheese, vanilla and lemon zest and stir until smooth. Add condensed milk and stir again.

Whip the cream and fold it all together. Pour the filling on top of the crust, freeze overnight or at least for a few hours.

Thaw for a little while before serving and top with whatever berries you’d like.

Easy homemade kulfi

I LOVE kulfi - Indian ice cream with saffron, cardamom and pistachios. The traditional method is not that easy or quick - but my way is! Super easy! Prep takes all of five minutes but then you have to wait patiently for six hours or until fully frozen. 

I like to use small silicone cups for this, perfect size for single servings 

Easy kulfi 

Serves 6

1 can (400 g) sweetened condensed milk

200 ml heavy cream 

100 ml milk

1/2 g saffron (1 sachet)

1 tsp cardamom

Handful roasted but unsalted pistachios

Pinch of salt

Open the can of condensed milk. Stir in a bowl with cream, milk and the spices. Crush or finely chop the pistachios and add those. 

Divide between cups and freeze. 

Chocolat Coconut Brûlée

 I rarely make desserts nowadays, or at least, so it seems. (I eat plenty of sweets, just not anything fancy. Or well, prepared.) So, as we haphazardly invited friends for dinner, I decided it was well about time to make something proper. And I had a lot of rhubarb to harvest. I decided on a variation on crème brûlée, with a rhubarb compote at the bottom. And coconut milk in lieu of regular milk, for a tropical touch. The recipe I used, from the cookbook "Strawberries and rhubarb" (a Danish book, by Sandra Leigh Dreznin) stated that it was enough for four servings. Instead, I got twelve. For the last four, I didn't have enough rhubarb since I was a bit too generous in the beginning, so I added a small handful of chocolate chips to each ramekin before pouring on the coconut-cream mixture. THAT turned out to be genious. The rhubarb ones turned out too watery and soggy, but the chocolate ones were delicious.

Chocolate Coconut Brûlée
12 small ramekins
12 tbsp chocolate chips
250 ml cream
400 ml coconut milk (1 can)
1 vanilla bean
6 egg yolks
8 tbsp sugar

Extra sugar, for brûlée-ing.

Combine cream and coconut milk in a saucepan, scrape out the vanilla bean and the seeds and the whole bean, and heat until boiling.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add a spoonful of the warm cream mixture and whisk well, to temper the yolks. Then pour the yolks into the sauce pan and whisk well to combine. Heat on medium heat for a few minutes, but don't let it boil. It should thicken slightly.

Divide the chocolate between the ramekins, and then top with the cream-egg mixture. Place the ramekins in a large roasting dish. Pour warm water in the dish, to about half the height of the ramekins. Bake at 150°C for about 40-50 minutes. They should be just set. Cool, and let sit in the fridge for at least one hour but preferrably more.

Just before serving, sprinkle with sugar and use a small torch to caramelize the surface.

White Chocolate Yogurt Panna Cotta

I usually make my panna cotta with all cream, or possibly with a little bit of milk. However, that can be pretty rich, and sometimes it's nice to have a fresher sort of dessert. This one works well!

White Chocolate Yogurt Panna Cotta
5 generous servings

1,5 gelatine sheet
100 ml milk
125 ml cream
60 g sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
100 g white chocolate
200 ml yogurt

Start by soaking the gelatine sheets in cold water. Meanwhile, heat the milk, cream and sugar in a small saucepan. Scrape out the innards of the vanilla bean and add those to the pot. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the white chocolate. When it's all melted, add in the now softened gelatine and stir well. Finally stir in the yogurt.

Pour into five glasses or cups, and place in the fridge to set for at least four hours.

Top with whatever you fancy - since it's fall, I did a quick apple compote topping by heating some diced apples with a little sugar, lemon and cinnamon.

Baked Apples with Agave Nectar

This simple, and fairly healthy apple dessert features two unusual products. Agave Nectar is a sweet syrup, derived from the agave plant (close relative to the one that yields tequila!) and while very sweet it doesn't raise your blood sugar. It also doesn't taste of much - just sweet.

Virgin plum oil, that I got sent to me from France, is intriguing. It tastes strongly of almonds, the same was as apricot kernels. Great alternative for those allergic to nuts, but craving the flavor. In this dessert - not essential. Swap it for a little butter, and perhaps a few drops of almond extract, if you have it.

Baked Apples with Agave

3 apples, cored and cut into wedges
2 tsp agave nectar
2 tsp virgin plum oil
1 tsk cinnamon
2 tbsp almonds, chopped

Mix all ingredients. Place in an oven-proof dish and bake at 200°C for 15 minutes or until the apples are soft. Serve with ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Recipes in Swedish:
Ugnsbakade äpplen med agave

Rhubarb & Pineapple Cobbler

Wednesday already? I know it's really time to share bookmarks but I haven't posted a recipe for several days and I really want to share this awesome rhubarb-pineapple cobbler with you. It's really yummy! A cobbler is somewhere in between a cake and a crumble, and in combination with tart fruit, it's really quite perfect. You can use all rhubarb or all pineapple, of course, but I liked the combination a lot. I bet some cherries would be nice in there as well, should you happen to have any!

Rhubarb & Pineapple Cobbler
Serves 6-8

300 g rhubarb
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sugar (preferrably raw demerara sugar)
1/2 pineapple, fresh
100 g butter, at room temperature
90 g sugar (preferrably raw demerara sugar)
1 egg
50 ml cream (full-fat)
60 g rolled oats
60 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp baking powder



Peel the pineapple, and cut into small pieces. (I usually do this by halving it lengthwise, then cutting it again into thin long wedges, that I slice.

Slice the rhubarb into similar-sized pieces as the pineapple. Melt the butter (2 tbsp) in a frying pan, add the rhubarb and sprinkle over the sugar (2 tbsp). Fry for a minute or so until very lightly caramelized. Place in a pie dish along with the pineapple.

For the topping, beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the egg and the cream, and then stir in all the dry ingredients. Dollop the batter over the fruit.

Bake at 175°C for about 20 minutes, until the cobbler is golden brown. Serve slightly warm, with ice cream or vanilla sauce.

Recept på engelska:
Rhubarb & Pineapple Cobbler

Mystery Mocha

Not your best option if you're looking for pretty, but OH so tasty. I found this over at The Pioneerwoman Cooks, one of my always-favorite food blogs. We made this for a simple afternoon coffee-and-cake session, and it was very nice.

It will look really weird during the cooking. Don't worry. That's as it should be.

Mystery Mocha

175 g sugar
150 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
30 g dark chocolate
25 g unsalted butter
125 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

topping:
100 g brown sugar
100 g sugar
4 msk cocoa powder
250 ml cold, strong coffee



Mix sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Melt the butter and chocolate, and add to the dry ingredients. Add milk and vanilla, and stir. Pour into a greased oven-proof dish, about 20*25 cm.

Mix the topping - brown sugar, sugar and cocoa powder. Sprinkle on top of the cake batter. Pour over the coffee. (This is when it will look really weird.)

Bake at 175°C for 35-40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool slightly, but serve it while it's still a bit warm. It's great with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.



Recipe in Swedish:
Mystisk Mocka-kaka

Fruity Semifreddo for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Commercial holiday or not, I like any excuse to make something cute, pink and heart-shaped. And I happen to like the message: love.

So, spread some love today - tell your loved ones that they are, indeed, loved.

And make this dessert. It's yummy, and rather addictive. (So make a lot.)

Fruity Semifreddo

3 egg yolks
100 g sugar
200 ml cream (35-40% fat content)
200 ml greek yogurt
200 ml raspberries (frozen, then thawed, or fresh)
1/2 banana
100 ml mango, diced
1 tsp lime juice
200 ml mini meringues (or crushed meringues)

Beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy. In a separate bowl beat the cream until it holds soft peaks, and fold in the yogurt. Fold both into the egg yolks.

With a blender or food processor, mix the banana, mango and lime. Stir this into the creamy batter along with the meringues. Finally add the raspberries and swirl to make it marbled in color.

Pour into a silicone mold and freeze for at least six hours. Remember to thaw for half an hour before serving.

Recipe in Swedish:
Fruktig semifreddo

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Berries

Sweden got hit by a snowstorm last night - well, it's still snowing - and we're again drenched in snow. The buses aren't working, and most people can't get to work. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty ready for spring to come...

Panna Cotta is such a simple, and lovely dessert, and I think it works all year round. The only problem is to use the right amount of gelatine - you want it to be set, but not too firm. I always serve it out of glasses or cups rather than trying to unmold it, so I usually err on the side of too little gelatine. For me, I find that 1 sheet of gelatine for every 200 ml of cream works well enough.

And about the cream - it's called different things in different countries. We call it whipping cream, but others call it double or heavy cream. You want something plain, definitely NOT sweetened, and with a fat content of about 35-40%.

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Berries
Serves 5

400 ml heavy cream (35-40% fat content)
4 tbsp sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 gelatine leaves

Berry topping:
100 g raspberries (frozen, then thawed, or fresh)
100 g blueberries (frozen, then thawed, or fresh)
2 tbsp sugar

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Heat cream, sugar and the scraped seeds from the vanilla bean until it's just starting to boil. Remove from heat.

Squeeze the water from the gelatine, and stir them into the warm cream. Make sure they dissolve completely.

Pour into glasses or cups, and place in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours.

For the topping - thaw the berries if they're frozen. Stir with the sugar, until the sugar has dissolved. Spoon carefully on top of the panna cottas, and serve right away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Vaniljpannacotta med rårörda bär