Perfect cheesecake!

One of the best cheesecake recipe I've ever tried! This weekend will make it again, I guess I've already make it 10 times at least. Easy to cook and eat))), doesn't crack and enjoyed by 100% who tries it.

Ingredients

 

Crust: 

  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs or other cookies (you need some simple cookies ( flour, butter, sugar) similar to shortbread, but try to get cookies those do not contain too much fat as you add butter to the bottom layer dough)

  • 1/3 cup sugar

  • 7 tablespoons butter, melted (100 g)

For the Creamy Cheesecake:

  • 5 blocks of full-fat cream cheese (40 ounces total), softened to room temperature (1150 g)

  • 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar

  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

  • 5 large eggs plus 3 egg yolks, at room temperature

  • 1/2 cup heavy cream ( 33-35% fat)

 

Method:

Crust:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees (176 С). Lightly spray a 9" (22,5 сm) springform pan with non-stick spray.

  2. Wrap the bottom and sides of the pan with heavy duty tinfoil. Do several diligent layers here to ensure no water creeps through when you place the pan in the water bath. Set pan aside.

  3. In a large bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter; stir well to combine. Firmly pat the mixture into the prepared pan.

  4. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Place partially baked crust on a cooling rack and set aside while you prepare the filling.

Creamy Cheesecake Filling:

  1. In the blender bowl, food processor, stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in a very large bowl using a hand held mixer, beat the softened cream cheese until completely smooth, scraping the bowl as needed.

  2. Add sugar and vanilla and beat smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed. Add in the eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  3. Add in the cream and beat until it's just incorporated in the batter.

  4. Pour filling into prepared crust and, using a silicone spatula, smooth the top.

  5. Place the cheesecake pan into a large, deep pan. Fill the pan with 2 inches of hot water. This is your water bath and will help ensure your cheesecake comes out crack free.

  6. Carefully place the pan in the oven and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Turn oven off and let the cheesecake sit, undisturbed, for 35 minutes, inside the oven with the door shut. The cheesecake should be still slightly wiggly.

  7. Remove cake from oven and gently run a knife very around the edge of the cake. Place the cheesecake pan on a cooling rack and cool completely, then loosely cover the pan with saran wrap and chill for at least 8 hours. I also tried to put the cheesecake in the fridge in a springform pan and get it from it when it completely set, works good as well.

White chocolate bars with apricot and coconut.

One more easy and always successful French recipe)) Apricot, coconut bars with white chocolate.

Ingredients:

250g shortbread (in the original French recipe Petits Beurre)

100g butter

125ml condensed milk

40g shredded coconut

80g dried apricots

 

For the white chocolate layer:

200g cooking good quality white chocolate

2 tsp vegetable oil (I used coconut)

Method:

1. Prepare the baking dish ( 20cmx20cm), spread with vegetable oil and cover it with cling film. The height of bars is about 1 cm, so the baking dish should be at least 2 cm high.

2. Grind the cookies in a blender and additionally in a coffee grinder so that there are no large pieces left, almost flour consistency is needed.

3. Wash the dried apricots, dry and finely chop (cubes with 3-4 mm side).

4. Put the butter with the condensed milk in a thick-bottomed saucepan and melt over a low heat, stirring constantly. Consistency should be absolutely homogeneous.

5. Pour the crushed cookies into a bowl, add chopped apricots, shredded coconut and mix thoroughly. Add melted butter with condensed milk, mix everything thoroughly until a homogeneous "dough" is obtained.

6. Put the dough in the form, spread evenly. Put in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes, better longer.

7. Melt white chocolate with vegetable oil on a water bath, thoroughly mix it to obtain a homogeneous consistency.

Pour the chocolate glaze on chilled dough. It is better to get it out of fridge 10 minutes before pouring the glaze. Glaze will spread more evenly if the dough is not extremely cold.

8. Place in a fridge until the glaze is completely set.

To serve: cut into portioned squares, I got 16 pieces. It is convenient to pull the entire layer out of the mold with the film and cut it evenly on the board.

Peach crumble with pecans

Perfect summer dessert!

Ingredients:

Peach Filling:

2 and 1/2 pounds peaches, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 and 1/2 Tablespoons bourbon

2 Tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Crisp Topping:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, at room temperature

3/4 cup (75 grams) old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup (57 grams) pecans, finely chopped

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (106 grams) light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

2/3 cup (82 grams) all-purpose flour

ice cream, for serving, optional

Metod: 

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). 

  2. In a 9x13-inch baking dish , combine the peaches, bourbon, orange juice, orange zest, vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Toss well, making sure the peaches are well coate

  3. Sprinkle in the cornstarch and toss well to combine. Set aside while you make the crisp topping.

 Crisp Topping:

  1. Cut butter into cubes and set aside.

  2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, pecans, both sugars, cinnamon, cardamom, and flour.

  3. Add in the cubed butter and, using two forks or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles a coarse meal.

  4. Sprinkle topping evenly over peaches. Place pan in the oven.

  5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the peaches have begun to burst and release their juices and the topping is golden brown.

  6. Allow the juice to settle slightly (about 15 minutes), then serve warm!

Cheat cinnabons

Cheat Cinnabon's made of puff pastry. Great solution when you do no have time for regular cinnabons but you terribly desire it)))

Cheat Cinnabon's made of puff pastry. Great solution when you do no have time for regular cinnabons but you terribly desire it)))

Cheat cinnabons

Ingredients:

1 pack of rectangular yeast-free puff pastry

75g butter, room temperature

75g brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 yolk + 2 tbsp milk (to coat buns)

60g raisins (I didn't add)

For glaze:

1-2 tbsp cream

3/4 cup icing sugar

vanilla essence

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 220C

2) Mix butter with sugar and cinnamon, mix thoroughly

3) Roll puff pastry, spread butter and cinnamon mixture evenly over the entire surface. Roll up the pastry, wrap in baking paper and put in the freezer for 20 minutes.

4) Remove the paper and cut the roll with a sharp knife into circles about 2 cm thick.

5) Cover the baking dish with baking paper, put the pieces of dough on it. Not very tightly so that the dough has space to rise, the distance between the buns should be about 0.7-1 cm.

6) Beat yolk with milk and cover buns with this mixture.

7) Bake for 10 minutes at 220 and another 10-15 minutes at 200.

8) For the glaze: start with 1 tbsp of cream, gradually add the icing sugar, mix thoroughly. The consistency should be quite thick, if suddenly the mixture has become very thick, you can add more cream. Coat the slightly cooled buns with a ready-made glaze

Blueberry tart with lavender

 I'm mad about tarts! I can easily make them with my eyes closed. I love them cause there is always much filling and very little of crust. Sure I have the best crust recipe, so if you are still looking for the best recipe, try the one I use. It's a blueberry tart with lavender. Ingredients are very simple but lavender adds magic to the flavor!  Recipe is bellow. Enjoy!

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Blueberry tart with lavender

 

for 20-22 tart baking dish

Ingredients:

for the dough (I often make a bit more than I need for 20-22 tart diameter: 125 g of butter, 70 g almond flour, 180 g flour, 1 egg, 2 table spoons of sugar and 4 g of salt, from extra dough I make cookies or small tartalets that keep in the freezer until I’d like to make small tarts very quickly)

100g cold butter 82.5 % fat

50g almond flour 

20g small brown sugar

1 egg

4g salt

for the filling

 350-400 g blueberries

200 ml cream 33% fat

2 eggs

70 g sugar 

vanilla extract 1-2 tea spoons 

1.5 table spoons corn starch

a pinch of dry lavender flowers (about 1 tsp, you can use more if you are a fan of lavender taste)

Method:

crust

1. Cut the butter into pieces, process the flour and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. add almond flour, sugar, and salt, and process again. Put the mixture in a separate bowl, add an egg. Mix it thoroughly. Using floured hands, fold the dough into itself until the flour is fully incorporated into the fats. Form it into a ball. Do not knead it too much. Flatten the ball into 1-inch thick discs using your hands. then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 60 minutes.  

2. When ready to use, roll out on a lightly floured surface until 3mm. If the dough is too cold, let it get warmer a bit and then roll it. Using a roller pin put the dough into a baking dish, using fingers fit the dough in the baking dish and trim extra edges with a rolling pin or a knife.  Put it  in the freezer for 30 minutes ( you can easily prepare this dough in advance and keep if the freezer, you won’t need to defrost it before baking) 

3. Put a heat-resistant plastic wrap (I use a baking sleeve) and fill with rice or beans.

Bake in the oven ( without convection) at 170С 10 minutes with rice or beans and 5 minutes without it. Chill it a little (minutes 10 will be enough)

filling

 4. Mix cream with lavender in a saucepan, bring to boil, remove from the heat cover with a lid and let it infuse for 1 hour.  Filter it with a sieve.

 5. Beat eggs with cream using a hand blender. Add vanilla extract.

7. Mix blueberries with sugar and corn starch, mix thoroughly.

8. Put the berries in a prepared base, pour the cream mixture evenly over the entire surface. Bake for another 30-35 minutes until the filling is firmed and the dough on the edges becomes golden. (baking time may vary depending on the oven, so check regularly).

8. Let the tart cool completely and put in a fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.