Fantastic Lemon Cheesecake

This cheesecake recipe is based on my lemon meringue pie recipe. It has very similar ingredients but if anything is actually easier to make because you don’t have to separate the eggs. It produces a lovely light cheesecake with a pleasant smooth texture.

Ingredients:

1 pkt biscuits (I like it with ginger biscuits but you can use marie or tennis)
200g butter or marg melted
1 tin condensed milk
Juice of three lemons
2 eggs
1 tub cream cheese
1 tin granadilla pulp (or topping of your choice)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Crush biscuits to a light rubble. Mix with melted butter and press into the bottom of a pie dish.
Place condensed milk, lemon juice, eggs and cream cheese in a bowl and mix thoroughly (don’t worry if the cream cheese goes a bit lumpy, its fine).
Pour mixture into biscuit base.
Bake in oven for about 10 to 15 minutes until top begins to brown lightly.
Remove and allow to cool then top with granadilla pulp (or topping of your choice e.g raspberry coulis).

Enjoy!

Glazed Beetroot

This is a really easy (although fairly time consuming) beetroot dish which makes a great accompaniment to any meal and can be served hot or cold.

Ingredients:

7 - 9 beetroots, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 of a cup brown sugar
1/3 of a cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons butter

Method:

Place all the ingredients in a pot, bring to the boil and simmer for one hour. (I told you it was easy...)

Enjoy!

Spicy Mince

This is a recipe that I stole from my sister after she did a cooking course. It makes a fantastic spicy Mexican style mince. It is super easy and very adaptable according to what you have on hand. I generally serve it in tortilla wraps with grated cheese and basil, we have also discovered it is great with baked sweet potato and sour cream, but really you can serve it however you want. 

Ingredients:
1 onion
1 pkt beef mince
1 chili
2 cloves garlic
4 or 5 tomatoes chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp all spice
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp beef stock powder

Method:
Chop the onion and fry it in a little oil.
Chop the garlic and chili and add to the onion.
Add the mince and brown.
once mince is browned top the pan up with water and add all the other ingredients.
Simmer until the tomatoes have completely broken down and any additional water has cooked away.

You can also add green or red peppers or any other vegetables you like.
If you want the mince to be spicier you can add additional chillies or Perri Perri powder to taste.
If you don't have any fresh tomatoes you can used tinned ones or tomato paste.

Enjoy!

Bafana Bafana Cupcakes!

The other day my sister and I baked some Bafana Bafana cupcakes to celebrate the start of the soccer world cup. They turned out pretty well considering we made up the recipe a we went according to what we had in the house so I thought I'd try and remember it for you

Ingredients

aprox. 400g margarine

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

3 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup milk and water mixed (possibly more)

Method

preheat oven to 180
Cream margarine and sugar together
add eggs and mix well until completely blended
add vanilla essence
gradually add flour, baking powder and milk and water while mixing continuously until you have a smooth batter
full a muffin tray with paper cupcake cups and spoon mixture into them
place in oven and bake for about 15 minutes (you can tell they are ready if they spring back into shape if lightly pressed in the centre)
allow to cool and ice with topping of your choice (we did green and yellow icing to match the bafana colours)

Go Bafana!

They didn't really rise but they tasted very good!

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes With Buttercream Icing

This is the first of what will hopefully be many cupcake recipes. This one is great because they are super chocolaty and also really easy to make. 


Essential skills: none 


Essential equipment: electric beater (or a very strong arm) 



Ingredients: 
(makes 18 large / 30 small) 

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1tsp bicarb

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract  



Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 and line cupcake trays with cupcake liners.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.

Add the egg, water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract and mix with electric beater for 3 minutes.

Scoop mixture into prepared cupcake trays (fill about 1/3 of the way).

Bake for 20 minutes.



Dark Chocolate Buttercream Icing

175g icing sugar

50g cocoa

45ml cold water

115g soft unsalted butter



Sift the cocoa together with icing sugar.

Beat the butter to a cream.

Add water and icing/cocoa, mixing together gradually while beating.

Butternut soup

Here is a great recipe for butternut soup. It is lovely and warming on a cold day. 

Essential skills: none

Essential equipment: stick blender 

Ingredients:

1 butternut peeled and diced

2 onions chopped

2 cloves garlic diced

2cm piece of ginger peeled and grated

1 potato peeled and diced

1 ½ stock cubes (dissolved in 750ml boiling water)

10ml oil

Method:

1.     Heat oil

2.     Add onions, fry till soft

3.     Add ginger and garlic

4.     Add butternut and potato

5.     Add stock

6.     Add enough water so that everything is covered and simmer for aprox 1 hour till all ingredients are soft.

7.     Blend thoroughly

8.     Enjoy!

For an added treat add a dash of cream before serving.

Peppermint crisp delight

Peppermint crisp delight is a truly South African dessert that everyone enjoys. The original recipe is supposed to use orley whip (in fact I think they invented it) but I like to use cream, because who doesn't like excessive amounts of cream?

Essential skills: none

Essential equipment: Electric beater (or a very strong arm for whipping all the cream)

Ingredients:

1 large peppermint crisp

500ml cream

1 tin Nestle caramel treat

1 or 2 packets of tennis biscuits

Method:

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks

stir in the tin of caramel

crush or grate the peppermint crisp and add most of it (leave some to sprinkle on top)

place a layer of tennis biscuits at the bottom of a large dish (some people crush the biscuits but I prefer them whole

cover with a layer of cream mixture

add another layer of biscuits

add another layer of mixture

repeat as necessary until dish is full/mixture is gone

sprinkle remaining peppermint crisp

refrigerate

This can be served immediately after you have assembled it but I find it is a lot nicer if you do it in advance and refrigerate it overnight as it gives the biscuits a chance to soften. Sooo good...