Chilled Orange Cheesecake, recipe by Kristine Kawi

good for 2x 18in round tins

300 g digestive biscuits
156 g unsalted butter
160 g sugar
80 ml water
6 egg yolks
grated rind of 1 orange and juice of 1/4 of the orange
300g cream cheese
300 ml whipping cream

Prepare the biscuit base:
Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag, tapping or rolling with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the biscuits. Remove this base mixture and press into the tins, smoothing with the back of a metal spoon. Chill until firm.

Make the syrup and yolk mixture:
Dissolve the sugar in the water in a saucepan, then boil until it reaches 110F (softball stage). Whisk the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl, then pour in the syrup in a thin stream, whisking continuously until the yolk and syrup mixture is pale and creamy. Continue whisking until cool.

Prepare the cream cheese mixture:
Beat together the cream cheese, orange rind and orange juice. Stir the cheese mixture into the yolk and syrup mixture gradually.

Prepare the cream:
Whip the cream until it stands in soft peaks and fold this into the mixture. Turn into the tin on the biscuit base, smooth the top so that it is level and chill for several hours, until firm. Kristine Kawi

Tiramisu- Kristine Kawi

Ricotta, Mascarpone, and Orange Tart

Make a pate sucre (see how to's) and bake blind.

500 g Ricotta cheese
250 g mascarpone cheese
150g caster sugar
3 eggs beaten
grated zest of an orange and juice of 1/2 orange
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 170c/150c fan
Beat the ricotta and mascarpone together until very smooth and light. Add the sugar, eggs and orange juice and zest. Beat again until everything is thoroughly combined. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for about 45 min until the filling is set. Cool. Dust with icing sugar.

Honey and Orange Madeleines by Kristine Kawi

makes about 20 madeleines

Ing:

4 med sized (60-70g) eggs
180 g flour
160 g melted butter, cooled
90 g caster sugar
15 g dark soft brown sugar or demerara
5 g baking powder
15 g runny and clear honey
grated rind of one orange
juice of a quarter of an orange
pinch of salt
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Combine the eggs, both sugar, and salt in a bowl and work lightly with a spatula until the mixture begins to turn light in colour. Sift together the flour and baking powder and fold them gently into the mixture, together with the vanilla. Add the orange rind and the orange juice.
Pour in the colled melted butter and the honey and mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rest for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190c/170c fan
Grease the madeleine tray with melted butter if necessary.
Scoop the batter into each of the madeleine cavity. Bake for 10-12 min. Do not overbake.

Cranberry and Coconut Biscuits

nutella sandwich biscuits

100 g ground almonds
100 g softened butter
65 g caster sugar
100 g plain flour

Preheat oven at 160c fan.
cream butter and sugar together, add the rest of ing.
Roll and cut into circles.
Lay onto a greaseproof-paper-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 10-15 min
Dont press the biscuits because they are soft when taken out of the oven, but will harden after a while.

French Meringue

2 egg whites
75mg caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Bake in the oven at 110c / 90c fan for 1 1/2 hour. Without opening the door, leave in the oven for another 2 or more hours. For a nicer presentation, you can pipe the meringue; but I don't usually bother, instead I form shapes using two spoons.

Palmier- Kristine Kawi

An impromptu bake using the left-over puff pastry from the galette des rois. Ingredients are threefold:
puff pastry
sprinkling of caster sugar
melted butter
egg wash (optional)

bake at 200c/180c fan for 20 min turning halfway.

Homemade Galette Des Rois

Sweet Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:

Macaroni Pasta- allow 100 g per person (this recipe keeps well in the fridge so make double-triple serving as you like)

Mix the following into the pasta, allow quantity according to taste:

Mayonnaise
Double Cream
A bit of condensed milk (or icing sugar)
Parmesan Cheese
A can of fruit cocktail (drained)
A handful of raisins (optional)

Fruit Tarts

Fruit Tarts

(for 25 cm tart tin)

Make the Pate Sucree and bake blind with baking bean for 10 min on a 200 c/ 180c fan. Remove the baking beans and foil, and bake the pastry for another 10-15 min.

Make the Creme Patissiere

Fill with fruits on top the cream patissiere and glaze with apricot nappage or dredge with icing sugar.

* A fruit tart is only as good as the fruit filling. So the fruit has to be fresh and excellent quality.

Peach Tart

Kiwi, Grapes, and Strawberries Tart

Blueberries Tart

Snowhite Cupcakes (butterless cupcakes inspired from Angel Food Cake)

Ingredients: (Serves 24)

The Batter:
12 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
225 g caster sugar
80 g plain flour
20 g cornflour

(Serves 18)

9 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
170 g caster sugar
60 g plain flour
15 g cornflour

The Icing:
500 g tubs double or whipping cream
30 g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 170c/150c fan

Whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue until they are stiff. Whisk in the sugar gradually to make a meringue.

Sift the plain flour and cornflour together (sifting them twice ensures the cake is light). Fold them into the meringue.

Scoop the mixture into 24 cupcake cases and level them out. Bake for 30-40 min until the cake has risen and is golden and springy to touch. Invert the cupcake cases on a rack. Leave to cool completely.

The icing:

Beat together the icing ingredients and pipe onto the cupcakes. Refrigerate.

Baked Cheesecake in Sweet Pastry Case

French Macarons- Chocolate

Baked Cheesecake in Pastry Base

Victoria Sandwich

Tarte Tatin

Moist Brownies

I love this recipe! The end result is a crumbly and dense that is true to a classic brownie, and yet moist in the middle. It is certainly not so sweet and because I used a top quality chocolate with 70% cocoa solids, you get to taste a chocolatey brownie and not a sugary brownie!



140 g unsalted butter, chopped and softened plus extra to grease
150 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) roughly chopped, plus extra to decorate
58 g plain flour
50 cocoa powder, plus extra to decorate
1/2 t baking powder
200 g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 large yolk
1T vanilla extract
40 g chopped walnuts
40 g plain chocolate chips

1 Preheat the oven to 180 c (160 c fan)
Grease a 20cm square baking tin
2 Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the base doesn't touch the water. Sift the flour, a pinch of salt, cocoa and baking powder into a separate bowl.
3 Meanwhile, using an electric hand whisk, beat the sugar and butter in another bowl until pale and creamy. With the whisk running, slowly add the eggs and the yolk- the mixture should be smooth and creamy.
4 Using a metal spoon, gently fold melted chocolate and vanilla into the butter and sugar mixture, followed by flour mixture, walnuts and chocolate chips.
5 Spoon mixture into the prepared tin and bake on the middle shelf of oven for 33 min. The brownies should have a thin crust on top, but feel soft and not completely cooked in the middle. Cool in tin, then chill for at least 1 hr.
6 Turn out of the tin and cut into bite-sized pieces. Dust with extra cocoa powder and pile on a plate. Use a vegetable peeler to scrap curls from the extra chocolate, sprinkle over the brownies and serve.