Butter a springform pan and line with parchment paper. I cut a circle slightly larger than the pan so there is a bit of an edge. This is to prevent any leaking. The butter will help the parchment to stick. Finely crush the cookies and mix it with the melted butter. I used a blender to pulse the cookies, which is much easier than stomping them with a rolling pin. Even out the cookie mix into the pan using the back of a spoon to compress and smooth the bottom. Put this in the refridgerator to set.

Now on to the topping. Mix the egg yolks with the sugar and the cornstarch first. I do this first so I don’t get any starch lumps. Then add creme fraiche and bit by bit add the mascarpone. I mix this by hand, but if you use an electric mixer you can add more stuff at a time. Thoroughly mix until the clumps of mascarpone are gone and the topping is smooth.

Pour the topping onto the bottom and bake for about 40 minutes at 190C/374F in the center of the oven. When the cheesecake is done it will still have a wobble to it. If it’s too liquid leave it in for a bit longer. The topping might puff up a bit (as it has with mine this time), but this will fall back down. Turn off the oven and leave to cool with the oven door ajar. When the cheesecake has cooled down enough, leave it to set in the refridgerator for a couple of hours or overnight.

For the cookies I used “bastonje koeken” I’m not sure what a US substitute would be. Perhaps gingersnaps? This cake is also wonderful with cherry pie filling on top. This cheesecake is a big hit with friends and family. NomNOM!

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I had a square brownie tin sitting in the cupboard for quite some time now and it was about time that it got used. We went grocery shopping before I really looked at any recipes. I only got cocao powder and no chocolate bars. Most of the recipes I found online used cocoa and chocolate bars, but I was lucky enough to find this recipe: http://www.cacaoweb.net/brownies3.html.

This is my first making brownies without using a mix and I will never go back to buying brownie mix ever. These came out perfect. I followed the recipe using the self raising flour option. The eggs I used were pretty big and I feared the mixture was too runny, but this wasn’t a problem at all. The amount of sugar might seem large, but these weren’t overly sweet. Because of our gasoven I did leave it in much longer and placed the tin on the highest shelf. You’ll have to experiment with your oven and check your brownie a couple of times after the first 20 minutes.

I added pecans, I still have loads left from making pecan pie. Never buy brownies or brownie mix again. Go for this recipe!

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I had some more puff pastry sitting in the fridge and thought I wanted to try making some custard tarts. I searched online for some recipes which involved me not having to run off to the store to get more ingredients.

For the custard I used this recipe and replaced the full cream milk with semi-skimmed milk. As I haven’t been able to find vanilla extract I used a little bag of vanilla sugar instead.

Grease a muffin tray, place on disks of puff pastry and pour on the cooled custard mix. Don’t overfill because the custard will puff up in the oven. Then I baked them for about 20 minutes at 200°C (400°F). They could have had a bit more cooking time to color the pastry, but as I use a gasoven I feared the pastry might get too dark. The pastry was fully cooked though.

These were just great. I love how I can make wonderful things with a roll of puff pastry . When I tasted the custard it was pretty sweet, as a tart it wasn’t too sweet. I might use a little less sugar next time.

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I usually make plain cheesecake and put some cherry pie filling on top. For this experiment I put some frozen raspberries in the filling.

Preparing the bottom: I use bastogne cookies which are cookies made with rock sugar. I have no idea what would be the equivalent, but using disgestives would be fine. Blitz the cookies in a blender or beat the hell out of them until they have become very fine. Mix well with 50 grams of melted butter. Line a spring form with baking paper, make sure you have an edge of about an inch minimum. Create the bottom, using the back of a tablespoon to spread and create an evenly compressed base. Put this in the fridge to harden a bit.

For the filling: mix all the dry ingredients together and then add your wet ingredients. Once the filling has gone smooth, carefully fold in your raspberries so they won’t break up too much.

Bake the cheesecake at 190C/374F in the center of the oven for 40 minutes to an hour. Keep checking after 40 minutes. The cheesecake should be slightly wobbly and not too liquid. If you make the cheesecake without the raspberries, 40 minutes should be enough. Because there is a minor risk of leakage I wrap the outside of my spring form with a bit of tin foil. Once the cheesecake is done, let it cool in the oven and refridgerate overnight.

One reader pointed out that the cake looked similar to an unfortunate pubescent teenager’s face(I know where your house lives). Dispite the look, it tastes absolutely wonderful! :p

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I cheated and bought short crust pastry at the supermarket. For Dutch visitors, I bought Tante Fanny’s zanddeeg at the Jumbo.

Lightly grease a muffin tray with butter. With a round cutter cut out circle of dough. I used my big cutter which is about 4 inches in diameter. Place disks inside the muffin tray. My amount of pastry was enough to fill 12 muffin holes.

Then it’s time to blind bake the pastry. I cut small pieces of parchment paper and put this on top of the pastry, this I filled with lentils. You could use dried peas or ceramic beans. I baked my pastry for 15 minutes at 190C. The bottoms were still a bit raw so I took out the blind filling and baked for another 5 minutes so the pastry goes nice and hard.

For the truffle filling: warm the cream in a sauce pan until it starts to bubble. In a bowl break the chocolate and pour over the hot cream. Stir until the chocolate is completely mixed through the cream. Carefully pour the mixture into the pastry cups and leave to cool.

The chocolate filling stays a soft chocolate paste creamy texture. I’ve done a big truffle tart before and used 250ml cream to 300gr chocolate which firmed up more. I prefer the creamy texture with these little tarts.

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I made my first nut pie a couple of years ago. Me being a dummy I didn’t save the recipe so I searched and decided to base my pecan pie on this recipe.

Line a spring form with kitchen parchment and place puff pastry with an edge about 1 inch high, prick the pastry with a fork so it won’t rise. Blind bake the puff pastry for about 20 minutes at 200C while you mix the rest of the ingredients except for the pecans. Make sure your melted butter isn’t too hot when you mix in the eggs or they’ll scramble.

Once the pastry is done, cover the bottom with the pecans and pour over the mixture. I wrapped the bottom of my spring form with tin foil in case of leakage. Bake this at 200C for 30 to 40 minutes or longer until the filling doesn’t wobble. 40 minutes wasn’t enough for my gas oven so I left it in for 50 minutes, checking every 10 minutes after the first half hour.

I overstuffed my pie and didn’t have a high enough edge. Also the pie was still a bit soft after cooling down. Next time I’ll make shortcrust pastry and make sure not to over fill the pie. Still this pie is scrummy!

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I used to make Delia’s scones. These were nice, but didn’t come close the the yummy scones I got at our usual breakfast spot. Through an online search I hit the jackpot and came across this Joy of Baking, cream scones recipe. Because I didn’t have all the listed ingredients and used what was available, I was able to create my dream scones. Here is my version.

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well, I use a large shallow bowl to make my scone dough. Place the butter into the mix and cut it into pieces. I find cutting it in the dry mix helps to seperate the pieces.

Rub the mix and butter between your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs and you have no more clumps of butter.

Create a well and break the egg into it. Add the yoghurt into the well and mix it up with a knife. Now gradually combine your “breadcrumbs” into the moisture. Start using your hands once most of the moisture is incorporated. Knead it into a smooth dough, but don’t over knead. If the dough is too dry and doesn’t incorporate the whole mix, add a tiny bit of yoghurt at a time.

Roll or pat the dough to about half an inch and use a cutter (4″) to cut the dough. Don’t twist the cutter or the scones won’t rise as nicely.

Place the rounds onto a baking sheet. For a gas oven, place your sheet/rack at the top shelf and bake for 20 minutes at 190 degrees C. Check your scones at 15 minutes with a toothpick. For an electric oven I would advise to use the middle shelf.

Note, in the joy of baking recipe the scones are brushed with cream before entering the oven. I found it unnecessary to brush my scones with anything. They turned out nicely golden and crisp on the outside regardless.

We often eat our scones with strawberry jam and sometimes some whipped cream. In the above picture I topped them with cherry pie filling.

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