Mini cheesecake

Everybody loves cheesecake, so let's get down to business. For this recipe I use pressed cottage cheese, because, well, there's a problem with cream cheese around here. And by 'problem' I mean we can only find salted cream cheese, yuck, so we're forced to be creative. Looking for a solution to the cheesecake problem, I've had one of my friends tell me she buys excellent cottage cheese from a local farmer and I've decided to give it a try. The result was even tastier than I could have hoped for, so if you're looking for a cream cheese replacement in this recipe, pressed cottage cheese is my solution. However, I have never used the store bought kind, quark or curd cheese, but if you get to do it, please let me know how it goes.

Ingredients for six 10 centimeters (4 inch) tartlets.

If you decide to bake a dozen tartlets, please remember to double all quantities

170 grams digestive biscuits

90 grams butter

250 grams pressed cottage cheese

1 large egg

200 ml sour cream

100 ml milk

75 grams sugar

5 ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract

15 grams flour

pinch of salt

Directions:
Preheat you oven to 160ºC (320ºF) and place rack in center.

Process the biscuits until fine, transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in the melted butter until evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of your tartlet pans and bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack while preparing the filling.

Beat the cottage cheese, sugar and egg until combined. Add the sour cream, flour, salt, and vanilla extract, mix well. Gradually add the milk, scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Depending on the consistency of your cottage cheese and sour cream the amount of milk needed in this recipe may vary. My advice is to add it gradually, until your reach the desired consistency, rather creamy than runny.

Spread the filling into the pans; bake the cheesecake for about 30 minutes or until just set. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecakes cool inside with the door ajar (this prevents them from cracking).

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. Serve with fresh fruit or berry reduction (recipe coming soon).

Panna cotta

I know it's already autumn (well, in the Northern hemisphere it is. The rest of you are lucky, spring is coming, yay!) and you would rather eat apple and pumpkin pies, but why don't we change that for a couple of days? All I'm saying is let's have something else sweet today and tomorrow we'll go back to stuffing ourselves with pumpkin, apples and tons of cinnamon. If you already miss the hot summer days, I'm thinking Panna Cotta.





Panna Cotta, as you already know, is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk, sugar, gelatin, and letting it cool until set. It is a very quick and easy dessert, you can't go wrong even if all your cooking skills are limited to boiling eggs and brewing tea. It is especially quick and if it takes too long, you're doing it wrong. Above all, it is absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
500 ml whipping cream
50 ml cold milk
60 g caster sugar
7 grams gelatin powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Flavorless oil for greasing the cups


Directions:
Lightly oil six cups (or ramekins) with oil.
Heat the whipping cream and sugar in a saucepan, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the saucepan from heat and add the vanilla extract.
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold milk in a small bowl and let stand 5 minutes.
Pour the mixture over the gelatin and stir well until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
Divide the mixture into the prepared cups or ramekins, chill until set, at least three hours.
Serve straight from the cup or unmold the panna cotta by running a sharp knife around the edges.
Serve with fresh berries or berry reduction (recipe coming soon).











Notes:
If you decide not to grease the ramekins, you will still be able to unmold the panna cotta by placing the cups briefly into a bowl of hot water before inverting them onto their serving plates.