An excellent idea from the Leftover Queen

Somehow I have developed a habit that every meal (especially dinner) has to end with some kind of a dessert. Which is why I ended up eating cakes, pies, ice cream, cookies and some other delicious stuff in the evening…But if one wants to keep wearing the same clothes, not a few size bigger, one can not live like this forever. So, I have left the cookies and the ice cream at the store and tried to prepare some light desserts. And below you’ll find one of not-so-heavy dessert, idea came from the Leftover Queen.

First of all, you should use fresh fruits. I only had can of apricots at hand, so I had to go with them…next time though would try with some fresh apricots. So, I was sure that I had a can of halved apricots and prepared the filling. Then I opened the can and discovered that instead of apricot halves, the can contained sliced apricots…so I had to quickly improvise - and decided to prepare those small light snacks in foiled tartlet pans. Came out perfectly!

ca 200 g ripe apricots (ca 4-5)

2 tbsp butter, softened

2 tbsp sugar

1 egg yolk

handful of chopped unsalted pistachio nuts 100 g ricotta

# In a mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until fluffy.

# Beat in egg yolk, then fold in remaining ingredients (keep a tbsp of pistachio nuts as topping).

# If you use whole apricots, cut them in half and remove stones. Place them into the baking dish and divide the mixture evenly among apricot halves. Top with some pistachios. Bake at 180 degrees C for about 30 minutes or until apricots are juicy and the stuffing is browned.

# If you use apricot slices as I did, foil the tartlet pans (I used 6 pans) and place 3-4 apricot slices at the top of the pan. Cover apricot slices with the mixture and top with some pistachios. Bake at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

# Both cases immediate serving is suggested - they taste better when warm. Can be topped with fresh whipped cream as well…

Very tasty! Apricot turns nice and juicy in the oven and pairs well with pistachios. You might want to serve the dessert with some light-flavoured sauce - so that the snacks wouldn’t look lonely in the plate - but I did not have time to come up with the sauce, I was too hungry…This filling is perfect for tartlets as well

And as you can see, I decided to prepare tartlets with this filling, when I had some dough left in the fridge from making the coconut cheesecake (I used up the other half of the dough). I made the same amount of the filling and divided the dough between 6 tartlet pans. Topped with the filling and some extra chopped pistachios. Baked at 180 degrees C for about 25 minutes and served when warm. I guess when you have some bigger tartlet pans, you might want to add some apricot slices at the bottom…But even without the apricot they still tasted great!

Coconut cheesecake

I mean what else are you going to do if you have 500 g of cottage cheese together with some milk and butter in your fridge and you want to defrost the fridge…you need to get rid of everything and so I went for this coconut cheesecake.

This cake was ok, nothing special orextraordinary and a good change for lemony-cheesecakes. Next time though I would substitute regular milk for coconut milk and would process coconut flakes extra small, so that they wouldn’t stuck on your teeth while you are eating it.

The dough came out very tasty though…So here’s what you will need.

For the pastry, I used this recipe. I did not want to change the amounts of the ingredients, just to be sure to get the right consistency, so I ended up making too much of the dough - I could have made 2 pies from this amount…but the good thing was that I could store the leftover dough in the fridge and make something sweet the next day.

This dough, called “pâte brisée” in French is according to Estelle the base for all quiche and pie recipes. And I guess you know it already that if you take the time to make your own crust, the result will taste a million times better (at least!) than if you buy it ready-to-use. As said, the ingredients below are enough to make 2 thin crusts. Use one half of the dough right away and freeze the other half for your next recipe. You will need:

250 g flour (1 and 3/4 cups or a little over 1/2 pound, unbleached, all-purpose)

125 g unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 egg

1 tsp crème fraîche (or sour cream if you can’t find it) - I used ricotta, because that was all I had

1/2  tsp salt.

I also added 1.5 tbsp grated lemon rind because I wanted the dough to be a bit lemony - feel free to leave it out.

 

# Sift the flour over a large bowl and add the salt. Also add the grated lemon rind if you are using it.

# Cut the butter in tiny cubes. Incorporate the butter to the flour with your finger tips (you can’t really use a spoon here… You could use a pastry blender but you’d loose all the fun of making your own “pâte brisée”). The dough will feel like coarse sand grains between your fingers.

# Push the flour and butter mix on the sides of the bowl, digging a hole in the center.

# Break the egg and pour it in the hole in middle of the bowl. Beat it a little with a fork then use a wooden spoon to incorporate the flour little by little. Add the crème fraîche or sour cream (or ricotta) and mix again until the dough is homogeneous. Use your hands to knead the dough and form two balls of the same weight.

# Place the balls of dough in plastic wraps and let them rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour before using or freezing.

# Let the dough warm up a little before rolling it out.

Not that difficult, isn’t it? Now you’ll need a filling for this pie crust. I guess this is the time to improvise, like I did. Wasn’t 100% happy with the result, as I already mentioned, so I have pointed out what I would do differently the next time, in order to get a soft and creamy pie:

500 g cottage cheese (curd or ricotta would probably give you much smoother consistency)

2 eggs

4-5 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet tooth you are)

a pinch of salt

150 ml milk (if you like the pie to taste more like coconut, use coconut milk instead)

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 tbsp flaked coconut (process the flakes into extra tiny pieces if you like your pie to be more creamy and not very grainy)

 

# Have all ingredients at room temperature when starting.

# Beat eggs in top of double boiler (if you have one - I don’t have and I used a heavy saucepan instead). Add sugar, salt and milk and cook over boiling water (or at low heat, when not using a double boiler), stirring constantly, until thickened.

# Remove from heat and add vanilla. Gently fold in coconut flakes.

# Process the cottage cheese with a blender until smooth - this way you’ll cake comes out more creamy and not very custardy (or use curd or ricotta, mashed through a sieve). Combine cheese with the rest of the ingredients, stir thoroughly.

# Now you have the dough and the filling ready and you can start baking. Remove one dough ball from the fridge, let it warm up a bit and roll it into a ring which would cover the bottom and the edges of the pan you are using (I used 23 cm springform pan). Place the dough into the pan and pour over with the filling.

# Bake at 190 degrees C for about 30 minutes.   

It’s a nice and light cake for a change with very simple and clear flavours. I liked it - coconut and vanilla paired very well I thought - but I guess some people might find it a bit bland. Probably you can spice it up by adding some of your favourite flavours in the filling. Im sure one can have lots of fun coming up with variations and toppings for this recipe

The king of cakes

Honestly, for me this cake was the best ever. I discovered it by chance, as me and J were called over at our firends place after work and I wanted to bring something sweet. At first I thought I’ll prepare a chocolate cake as it is simple to make and you can’t go wrong with it. And I only had an hour an 15 minutes to prepare something, so the last thing I should have done, was to start making something really fancy and then realise that I don’t have all the ingredients nor the skills to finish it. But, but, but - I had some pistachois and I thought there is no harm in just looking what kind of cakes one can prepare with those tasty nuts. And there you go - I ended up finding this recipe and it was decided that I won’t do some boring chocolate cake but will prepare this lovely Gateau Surprise Chocolat Pistache. The pictures were so lovely already, so I couldn’t resist. I quickly scribbled the recipe on paper, rushed into the kitchen (it actually took me 3 steps, our apartment is not that big) and started to mix the ingredients together. After all, I only had 1 hour and 10 minutes left.

You’ll have two possible ways to prepare it - either in a springform pan (23-25 cm) or in small cake pans (around 5 cm wide, 12 cakes). I chose to use the springform pan, cause it seemed easier to me and also, because I didn’t have any small cake pans. In many cases my cakes have fallen down once they are ready, so to prevent this, I decided to use this kind of pan - it seemed to me that there was so little of the batter and if I use a regular round-shaped pan, the cake might turn out very thin…I was wrong, because the batter rose significantly - so the next time I would use the regular pan.

You’ll need two bowls for mixing the batter. An electric mixer would also be nice, as with it help you’ll be able to prepare the cake more quickly.

270g plain all-purpose flour, divided in half

2 tsp baking powder, divided in half

1 tsp baking soda, divided in half

150g unsalted butter, room temperature, divided in half

250g caster sugar, divided in half (I used regular sugar, and it came out nice as well)

4 eggs

275 ml plain yogurt or sour cream, divided in half

1½ tsp vanilla extract, divided in half

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

125-200 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

100 g shelled pistachio, chopped finely

# Prepare the chocolate batter first: in a food processor or with an electric mixer mix together half of the sugar, butter until fluffy. Add in two eggs one at a time, pulsing in between each addition.

# Add in half of the yogurt and half of the vanilla extract, pulse again.

# In a medium bowl, combine half of the flour, half of the baking powder and baking soda. Also add the cocoa powder.

# Add the flour mixture into the food processor and mix again until the flour is just incorporated.

# Pour the batter into the cake pan, or if you are using individual cake cases, then using an ice cream scoop, place one scoop of batter into each case. Place the chocolate batter into the fridge.

# Rinse the bowl of the food processor and prepare the pistachio batter: mix together the rest of the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the last two eggs one at a time, pulsing in between each addition.

# Add the remaining yogurt and vanilla extract, pulse again.

# In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the flour, baking powder, baking soda and all of the chopped pistachios (don’t chop pistachios too small - the cake is nicer, when you’ll feel crunchy pistachios under your teeth).

# Add this flour mixture into the batter and process again until the flour is just combined.

# Remove the chocolate batter from the fridge. Sprinkle the chocolate pieces evenly and liberally over the surface of the batter (I used the principle “the more the merrier”, and it turned out fabulous).

# Gently pour over the pistachio batter on top of the chocolate pieces, or alternatively if you are using the individual cases, then use an ice scoop to place the pistachio batter on top. Smooth out the surface using a spatula.

# Bake at 180 degrees C for 50 minutes, or if you are making the individual cakes, then for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

# Allow to rest for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.

The recipe suggests to cool the cake completely, but I did not have time for that. So after the 5 minutes passed, I rushed off to the friends’ place, holding the hot cake in my hands (in a plate of course). The nice chocolaty smell was surrounding me while I was walking in the street and I bet people I passed, were dying to get a piece of the cake.

So, we ate the cake when it was still warm, not cooled, because then the chocolate was still soft in the middle and it made the whole cake very soft and moist.

A nice treat, I would say…or unbelievably good even! I was surprised how moist it turned out, actually. It is a perfect combination of pistachios and chocolate, very dense and delicious.

For blue cheese lovers

Sometimes one can afford to eat something heavy, right? Especially if you have had a rough day at work and you haven’t have time to eat lunch. When you finally get home, you obviously want something which does not demand a lot of work (chopping and cleaning the ingredients for example) and which can be prepared in the oven, so that while the food is cooking, you can make yourself ready for enjoying the evening. On an evening like this I decided to use up the Gorgonzola cheese I had in my fridge. Broccoli was also in the vegetable shelf, so that is how this casserole was born.

300 g chopped broccoli florets

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

200 g cream cheese

100 g blue cheese (I used Gorgonzola)

100 ml cream(20%)

200 g chopped bacon (optional)

About 3 tbsp breadcrumbs and some small  pieces of butter for the topping.

 

# Boil (in water seasoned with salt) or steam broccoli florets until tender. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. If you prefer firm broccoli, don’t bother steaming or boiling - it will soften a bit in the oven (but will stay crunchy).

# Melt 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir.  Also add cream cheese, crumbeled blue cheese and cream. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Stir in broccoli florets.

# If you use bacon or some other kind of meat, fry it in a pan and stir it into the cheese mixture as well.

#  Pour mixture into a medium-sized casserole dish (I used an oval dish, 23 cm diameter). Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and place some small pieces of butter on top.

# Bake at 180 degrees C for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

I served it without any side dish as I did not want to ruin the lovely blue cheese taste with anything. It was rather tasty, but it was a bit difficult to get it out of the casserole dish - it was not firm enough. Kind of like eating some kind of stew. So maybe you should add one lightly beaten egg to the cheese mixture to get a bit more firm result.

Ripe bananas are good for many cakes

I have already tried banana bread. Several times now, because whenever I have some totally ripe bananas sitting on the table, they are asking to become a moist and tasty bread. Well, one day I discovered there are other things you can do with them. A banana-bread-like cake for example. Super-easy. You only need two bowls and 15 minutes to mix the ingredients together, no messing around with electric mixers or other gadgets. It tastes a bit like banana bread, but is a lot more moist and tender. A keeper, definite keeper.

You’ll need a 23×33 cm baking pan or a round 23 cm baking pan and the following ingredients:

2 cups (400 grams) granulated white sugar

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) flour

3/4 cup (75 grams) cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

 2 mashed medium sized bananas

1 cup (240 ml) warm water

1/2 cup (120 ml) milk

1/2 cup (120 ml) safflower or canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

 

# In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

# In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. You will notice that the batter is quite thin.

# Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 180 degrees C for about 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  

# Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Prepare the frosting. You might wanto to use Chocolate Ganache for frosting, like the original recipe says. I improvised a bit (tried to use up some cream cheese leftovers), so I made this kind of a frosting (similar to the one for the carrot cake): mixed together soft butter (1 tbsp) and cream cheese (3 tbsp); added some powder sugar and some melted chocolate. Then I spread the frosting on top of the cake. Made a kind of decoration with a fork, as you can see…You might want to top the cake with some dried banana  chips, but I didn’t have any…