Yogurt lime cheesecake bars

Every time I discover something nice I like to share it with you, being related to food or not – and what makes me happy is that many of you feel the same, and I can ask you about something as far from the kitchen subject as a good product suggestion for frizzy hair that I get many answers – so, thank you. <3

Frizzy hair crisis almost averted – with the help of my Brazilian readers over on Facebook – now it’s my turn to share something special with you: one of my favorite food magazines, one that I use over and over again for both recipes and inspiration has now launched a beautiful website, packed with lots of delicious recipes and stunning photos – I hope you enjoy it!

Even though I rely on Delicious Australia very often, most of the times I tweak the recipes here and there, and this cheesecake slice is no exception: 200g of cookies would be swimming in 175g of butter, so I changed the recipe slightly and was very pleased with the result.

Yogurt lime cheesecake bars
slightly adapted from the wonderful Delicious Australia

Base:
200g digestive cookies
85g unsalted butter, softened

Topping:
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (125g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 2 limes
300g thick Greek-style yogurt
300g cream cheese, room temperature
3 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan, line it with foil leaving an overhang in two opposite sides and butter it as well.

Place the cookies in a bowl of a food processor and blitz until finely crushed. Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles wet sand. Press firmly into base of pan. Chill for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, rub sugar and lime zest with your fingerprints until sugar is fragrant. Add the yogurt and cream cheese and whisk to combine. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and salt, then pour over base. Bake for 20-25 minutes until set and slightly golden around edges. Cool, then chill until set. Dust with icing sugar and cut into bars to serve.

Makes 24

Melted butter banana cake for busy days

It is very clear that I haven’t had time to write for the blog – well, I haven’t had time to cook or bake, really (and all that makes me really sad).

For days like these, when there is barely any time to play around in the kitchen or to write a blog post (type recipes, edit photos and translate them for my other blog), I bring you this banana cake: it is delicious, the recipe is put together in no time at all and since the butter is melted you don’t even have to wait for it to soften. Very quick, very good – exactly what I need nowadays.

Melted butter banana cake
slightly adapted from Dan Lepard

175g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 orange
200g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
250g all purpose flour
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
250g very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
3 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter an 6-cup capacity loaf pan and line it with baking paper, buttering it as well.

Place the sugar and orange zest in a large mixing bowl and rub together with your fingertips until sugar is perfumed. Stir in the butter, then beat in 100g of the flour until smooth. Add the eggs one by one, beating each one in well before adding the next, then mix in the juice, vanilla and banana. Sift in the remaining flour, baking powder and salt, and stir until smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer pulls out with only a few crumbs sticking to it, it's done.

Serves 6-8