Cranberry Cheesecake: A very late post

I hope you're looking forward to summer! What is the one aspect of summer that you're most looking forward to? Maybe you like the long hours of daylight, the endless blue skies, all the outdoor activities, family gatherings and holidays, the beach, or glorious sunsets? Or perhaps you like watching the magnificent summer thunderstorms? I'm mostly looking forward to enjoying those cool, sweet treats that the hot sun makes me crave. Here is a recipe for a no-bake cheesecake filling that I made last year around this time. I'd promised to post about it when I made those mung bean potato biscuits (remember?) but never got around to writing the post. Well, here it is, a year late, but still a recipe to make.

The Recipe (makes two 8" tarts):

Pie crusts (follow recipe here)

Filling:

• 300 mL fat free, plain greek yogurt
• 400 mL light, plain cream cheese 
• 3/4 cup frozen cranberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp gelatin (powder)
• some water

Mix together yogurt, cream cheese, and milk until a smooth mixture forms. It's best to let the cream cheese come to room temperature so it softens before blending. You can also soften the cream cheese in  the microwave using the defrost setting. 

Melt and cook frozen cranberries in a pan. Pour some water on the bottom of the pan until the bottom is covered with a layer of water. Cook until cranberries pop and soften. Pour into blender and blend until an even mixture forms. Strain to remove large pieces of skin and seed. Return to pan, add sugar, stir to dissolve, and cook until thickened, like a syrup. Take off heat and stir in gelatin to dissolve. Add to cream cheese and yogurt mixture and stir to combine. Pour into prepared pie tins, and place in the refrigerator to set for at least 4 hours before serving. 

Note: you can set aside some cream cheese and yogurt mixture to decorate the top if you like. 

This is the yogurt I used. I also added the jam to the rest of the cranberry puree (it's only a small amount). 

Frozen cranberries.

Mung bean potato biscuits baked into a tart crust

Adding the filling

Swirls for decoration

You can also make it one colour. Texture after setting. 

Lemon Yogurt Bars

These really taste like cheesecake, but I put more yogurt than cream cheese in it so it would probably be more appropriate to call it "yogurt bars". Besides, it sounds more austere than "cheesecake bars". Instead of the traditional graham crackers crust, I make a hearty buckwheat crust. The yogurt I use is 2% plain greek yogurt, and the cheeses I used were light ricotta and light cream cheese. I know it seems like I'm using light everything, but there's no shortage of flavour. Even my mom, who thinks desserts have to be full fat to taste good, couldn't tell I used light ingredients. Try them for yourselves.

The Recipe:
Crust:

• 1 cup dark buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup soy flour
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 – 6 tbsp water
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Yogurt layer:

• 1 cup 2% plain greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup light ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup light cream cheese
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• zest and juice of one lemon

Stir together buckwheat flour, soy flour, wheat bran, and salt. Rub in butter until there are no visible chunks of butter left. Don't worry about keeping it cold because we aren't making flaky pastry; we are only trying to distribute the butter evenly, and I find it easier to do it this way rather than melting it. Add water as needed until it forms a crumbly mixture. If you squeeze a handful of dough together, it should stick together like wet sand. Press into a lined 9 inch (22.9 cm) square tin and bake in a 350 F (175 C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool. 

For the yogurt layer, simply stir all ingredients together, pour onto the cooled, baked crust, and bake at 325 F (~165 C) for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the yogurt layer has just set. Cool to room temperature and chill before slicing into bars. 

Note: to prevent the crust from becoming soggy, I poured about 1/4 of the yogurt mixture over the crust, spread it in a thin, even layer, and baked it for about 5 minutes before pouring the rest over the crust. 

Lemon yogurt filling

Buckwheat crust, before baking

Buckwheat crust, after baking

Baked and cooled lemon square – no cracks! :D

We sliced it into smaller pieces this time to serve as finger food

Snowy day squares

One of the reasons why I like winter is the snow that accompanies it. While others groan and complain about the snow, and avoid mentioning the word with a taboo-like compliance, I absolutely enjoy every glittering moment of snowy Canadian winters. This winter, however, although the first snow arrived weeks earlier than usual in early November, it disappeared almost the moment it hit the ground. This was followed by a week of atypical warm, rainy weather. It was as if winter was trying to tease me.

So now it's mid-December and the weather is 7°C, cloudy and rainy (the wrong type of precipitation!). With no snow to brighten up these long hours of darkness, I think I might just fall into a winter blue. Luckily, there are these snowy squares, with their fluffy, bright, white top layer and their intense, dark, chocolatey bottom layer to tie me through these snowless days.

The Recipe: 
Brownie layer ingredients:
Sifted dry ingredients:

• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup de-fatted soy flour (supposed to enhance flavour, can use wheat flour if that's more convenient for you)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 crushed wheat bran
• 1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients: 

• 3 whole eggs
• 1/3 cup brown sugar 
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup hot water

With electric beaters, beat eggs and sugar until mixture is a thick, creamy yellow mixture. In a separate bowl, melt unsalted butter and stir in milk (any fat content is OK) so that the mixture is just warm. Add and blend sifted flour to egg mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk & butter mixture, starting and ending with flour (ie. flour, milk, flour, milk, flour). Beat in the 1/3 cup recently boiled water just before pouring into a lined 8-inch square pan and placing in a preheated 325°F oven for 20 minutes. 

Marshmallow cheesecake layer: 

• 3 egg whites
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup light cream cheese
• 2 tbsp yuzu preserve (purchased at Korean, Chinese, or large mainstream supermarkets, price ~ CAN$4 – 6/L)
• 1/2 tsp ground fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tbsp cornstarch

In the meantime, we prepare the snowy layer. Very simply, make a meringue by beating egg whites to soft peaks, add granulated sugar and lemon juice, and beat until you get stiff peaks. Set aside. Beat together cream cheese, orange marmalade, ginger, milk, and cornstarch until mixture is smooth. Add egg whites by quickly and vigorously beating a third of egg whites in first, then gently folding in the rest. Take the brownie-bottom layer out from the oven, pour snowy layer on brownie layer and spread with a spatula or spoon to make an even layer. Return pan to oven, lower temperature to 300°F and bake for 25 minutes or until top looks like lightly toasted marshmallow. Allow squares to cool to room temperature, and place in an airtight container to refrigerate until square is completely chilled. Slice into squares of desired size and enjoy. 

Note: if you really like the top layer (like I do), you can just make the marshmallow cheesecake layer, cut into individual pieces and freeze it. When eaten frozen, it melts in your mouth like ice cream and is a summertime delight. 

Light and fluffy toasted marshmallow cheesecake layer

Out of the pan, a little scraggly on the sides, but who cares? Just slice off the four edges (for your taste-testing:-)

Chilled and cut into squares. Yum!

White chocolate green tea truffle cheesecakes

I decided to try a new recipe this weekend by combining green tea and white chocolate into a cheesecake. The idea was to use white chocolate to sweeten and add richness to the regular green tea cheesecake. It resulted in a truffle-like texture and a delicious sweet-tart taste due to the combination of white chocolate and green tea powder. I used mini-muffin tins to portion these cheesecakes.

The recipe: The crust: I combine 1/4 cup dark buckwheat flour, 1/2 cup barley flour, 3 tbsp melted butter, 1/8 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar in a bowl and divide and press into the bottom of 24 mini-muffin tins. These bake in a 300 F oven for 10 minutes and allow to cool. The cheesecake: I combine 3/4 cup plain, light cream cheese with 1/2 cup plain, fat-free greek yogurt in a bowl. Then I stir in 3 oz melted white baking chocolate, 1 tsp green tea powder, and 1 tsp cornstarch. Finally, I add 1/2 cup liquid egg, and 1 tsp vanilla extract if desired. Once the cheesecake batter is thoroughly mixed, I divide it into the 24 mini-muffin tins and bake in a 300 F oven for 12-15 minutes. Once they cool for 10 minutes or so, they can be gently eased out of the muffin tins and and chilled for a few hours before serving. Yum!

Note: The base to these cheesecakes can be substituted with the base for the purple cheesecake or a traditional graham cracker cheesecake base if preferred.

Purple Cheesecake

It's February! The weather has been wonderful here – some snow, lots of blue skies, lots of sunshine – but I've been largely confined to indoor areas. You see, February is a midterm month, which means Valentines day, my birthday, and any other sunny day are traditionally spent intimately with textbooks. This long weekend provided a much needed breather and an opportunity to test a recipe that had been brewing at the back of my mind through out all those hours of studying. The recipe involved using a new kitchen equipment that I'd been planning to buy for a while: the potato ricer. I was so excited to try it and finally did yesterday. Let me tell you, it felt so incredibly satisfying to press the pulp out of the potato and watch the potato spaghetti-shaped strands emerge from the bottom. I used it to make a purple sweet potato cheesecake.

The recipe: Steam three small purple potatoes (about 1 lb) until soft. Mash potatoes and 12 oz light, plain cream cheese together in a bowl. Add 3 tbsp brown sugar, 3/4 cup milk (any fat content will do) and 2 egg whites. Using a whisk, gently stir to thoroughly mix all ingredients without adding air. Pour into two 6 inch round cake pans lined with parchment paper on the bottom only. Even out the top and place in the refrigerator (I just covered mine and placed them outdoors) to chill. Meanwhile, to make the base, stir together 2 tablespoons each whole wheat flour, soy flour, and coconut flour with 2/3 cup milk and 2 tbsp melted butter. In a separate bowl, beat an egg white with 1 tablespoon sugar and a pinch of salt to medium peak. Fold egg whites into the flour and milk mixture. Gently pour the base batter on top of the chilled cheesecake batter, being careful to keep the surface of the cheesecake even. Bake in a 250F oven for 1 hour 30 minutes. Top should be golden brown. Let the cheesecakes cool at room temperature before chilling in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. Run a thin spatula around the edges of the chilled cake and gently turn it upside down onto a plate. Slice, serve, enjoy!

I used the potato ricer to mash the potatoes and cream cheese. This eliminates the need to bring the cream cheese to room temperature first. I find 3 tablespoons of brown sugar makes the cake sweet enough for my tastes, but if you prefer sweeter, feel free to add more. Baking the crust on top of the cheesecake has many benefits. You don't have to worry about baking in a water bath, excess soufflé, or cracks. It also prevents a soggy crust. Just make sure not to use removable bottom cake tins and remember to line the bottom of the cake pans with parchment!