Cheesecake ice cream with blackberry lemon swirl

After very cold weeks we’ve been having 30°C (86°F) days here in Sao Paulo – not very wintery, I admit it, but perfect for ice cream. :)

I bookmarked this delicious recipe last year but never made it during summer – that’s what happens when one has too many recipes on their “to try” list: lots of wonderful ideas to try, but not enough time to do it. :)

I tweaked Natalie’s recipe just a little to use the blackberries and lemons I had around, but she did not mind at all. :)

Cheesecake ice cream with blackberry lemon swirl

Blackberry lemon swirl:
generous ½ cup blackberries, fresh or frozen – I used frozen, unthawed
½ cup (50g) caster sugar
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
finely grazed zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup (60ml) water
1 tablespoon corn starch

Cheesecake ice cream:
112g (4oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (200g) caster sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (180ml) whole milk
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 ½ cups (360ml) heavy cream

Start by making the blackberry lemon swirl: combine blackberries, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a small nonreactive saucepan. In a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch and add to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil and thickens – while you stir, break the blackberries with a fork so they dissolve into the jam.
Let cool completely.

Now, the cheesecake ice cream: in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy and smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, mix until creamy and set aside.
Bring the milk to a boil over medium-low heat. Remove from the heat and add ¼ cup of the milk to the cream cheese mixture and mix until combined and smooth. Continue with 2 more quarter cups of milk and then add the entire mixture back to the pan with the rest of the milk.
Stir over medium-low heat until thickened slightly (should take around 3 minutes). Remove from heat, strain mixture and cool for 10 minutes. Combine the zest, heavy cream and cream cheese mixture together then refrigerate for 1 hour. Pour into your ice cream machine and freeze according to manufactures instructions.
When ice cream is thickened and finished freezing, slowly pour in the blackberry lemon syrup and let ‘swirl’ a few times in the machine before turning off - you can also do this by creating layers of the ice cream to a container and adding the syrup between layers , then swirl with a knife a few times.

Serves 6-8

Honey poppy seed cakes with orange icing

Knowing how much I adore Donna Hay, my lovely friend Valentina sent me the links to Donna’s appearance in “Master Chef”; after watching the videos my love and admiration for her work are even bigger – she’s so adorable! I liked the videos so much I thought I should share them with you – parts 1, 2 and 3.

Speaking of Donna, these honey cakes come from Off The Shelf – but the poppy seeds and the orange icing are my twists on her recipe.

Honey poppy seed cakes with orange icing
from Off The Shelf

Cakes:
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (184g) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (146g) caster sugar
3 tablespoons honey
2 eggs
1 ½ cups + 1 ½ tablespoons (225g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons poppy seeds

Icing:
1 ½ cups (210g) icing sugar, sifted
zest of 1 orange
1-2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; butter twelve ½ cup (120ml) capacity muffin pans.
Place butter, sugar and honey in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Fold through the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds.
Spoon the mixture into prepared pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in pans on a wire rack then carefully unmold.
Make the icing: place the icing sugar in a medium bowl and mix in the zest. Gradually add the juice, mixing, until desired consistency. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cakes.

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above, used ½ cup capacity mini loaf pans and got 5 cakes

Apple and passion fruit crumble

Are you tired of my apple recipes yet? :)

I know I’ve been using apples like crazy lately, and must confess that I still intend to make a couple of recipes with them before the end of their season.
Let me tell you one delicious thing I found out the other day: I never knew apples and passion fruit were so good together. Luckily, Bill did. :)

Apple and passion fruit crumble

6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced – I used Gala
½ cup (100g) caster sugar
pulp from 8 passion fruit*

Topping:
1 cup (115g) rolled oats
2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (129g) brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup (46g) all purpose flour
100g unsalted butter, softened
vanilla ice cream or heavy cream, to serve – yogurt goes really well, too

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; butter a 2-liter baking dish. Mix together the apples, sugar and passion fruit pulp and put in the dish.

Using your fingertips, rub together the oats, brown sugar, flour and butter to make a crumbly topping. Sprinkle over the fruit and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.
Serve with ice cream, cream or yogurt.

* the passion fruit I used were huge (there’s a photo here), so 4 were enough

Serves 4

Very tangy lime lemon bars

Facing the possibility of making either lemon or lime bars, what does one do? I solved that dilemma by making lemon AND lime bars – why choosing one if you can have both? :)

After I made the cocoa brownies – courtesy of Chuck – Ana Elisa told me that I would love Alice Medrich’s books; I ended up buying Bittersweet and Pure Dessert and these delicious and mouthwateringly tangy bars are from the latter.

Very tangy lime lemon bars
from Pure Dessert

Crust:
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup (50g) caster sugar
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour

Topping:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (224g) caster sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 eggs
finely grated zest of 1 lime and 1 lemon
¼ cup (60ml) strained freshly squeezed lime juice
¼ cup (60ml) strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
powdered sugar for dusting, optional

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) baking pan and line it with aluminum foil leaving an overhang on two opposite sides. Butter the foil.

Start with the crust: in a medium bowl, combine melted butter with sugar, vanilla and salt. Add flour and mix until just incorporated. Press dough evenly over bottom of pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until crust is fully baked, well-browned at the edges and golden brown in the center.
Now, the topping: while crust is baking, stir together sugar and flour in a large bowl until well-mixed. Whisk in eggs. Stir in zest and juices. When crust is ready, reduce heat to 150°C/300°F, slide rack with pan out and pour filling onto hot crust. Bake 20 to 25 minutes longer, or until topping no longer jiggles when pan is tapped.

Remove from oven to a wire rack to cool completely. Lift up foil liner and transfer bars to a cutting board. If surface is covered with a thin layer of moist foam (not unusual), blot surface gently with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture; repeat with a fresh piece of paper towel if necessary.
Using a long, sharp knife, cut bars into 16 or 24 daintier bars and sift powdered sugar over bars, if desired. Stored in an airtight container, bars can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Makes 16

Apple yeast sugar tart

I love discovering things, and equally like rediscovering them – I bet you all do, too.

After leaving this book unattended for a couple of years – I checked my Amazon account and saw that the book was purchased in June, 2006 – it has found a way lately into my kitchen; after making the soup with tiny omelettes, I went through the book again – 824 pages of it – and bookmarked many, many recipes. This is one of them – a tart that my MIL called “delicious”. :)

Apple yeast sugar tart
from The Cook's Companion

1 ¾ cups (245g) all purpose flour, sifted
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 egg
½ cup (120ml) warm whole milk
2 tablespoons (28g) softened unsalted butter
2-3 eating apples – I used Gala apples
1/3 cup (67g) demerara sugar
½ cup (120ml) thick cream*

Place flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl. Whisk egg with milk and mix into flour mixture. Work in butter and knead to a smooth, thick batter – I used my Kitchen Aid with the hook attachment. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a draught-free place for 30 minutes. Knock back dough, then press it into a 22cm buttered pie plate or loose-bottomed flan pan, cover with plastic and allow to recover for 30 minutes (it will have puffed slightly).

Preheat oven to 225°C/437°F. Peel apples, cored them and cut into eighths. Press apple slices into the dough, and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Place pie plate/flan pan on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 200°C/395°F. Spoon cream over apples and bake for 20 minutes. The top should be slightly caramelized and the tart light and spongy. Eat warm.

* I used heavy cream and whipped it to soft peaks before pouring

Serves 4