Tag Archives: dessert

Best Ever Plum Crumble

I discovered crumbles not long time ago, but immediately fall in love. Thank to the British for this amazing, simple and absolutely delicious dish! I’ve already tried various sweet crumble recipes – with peaches, mixed berried, pears.. I love them all! But.. Once I stumbled upon a new crumble recipe by James Martin, he is a well-known English chef; the recipe called for plums, spices and wine. And what do you think – it’s the best crumble I’ve ever made and tried! Plums with spices sautéed in red wine remind me mulled wine, and it’s incredibly tasty! This crumble is very aromatic and delicious even without ice cream on top! I slightly adapted the recipe – added oats and chopped nuts, walnuts and/or pistachios is a nice crunchy addition here.

Best ever plum crumble

Servings: 2
Time: 40mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

20g butter

7-8 dark plums, halved, stones removed

1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 star anise

a pinch of fresh nutmeg

1 cinnamon stick

20ml water

60ml red wine

2-3 tbsp golden syrup (I used honey)

2-3 tbsp brown or raw sugar

Crumble topping

50g plain flour

30g oat flour or fine oats

2 tbsp demerara sugar

40g butter, softened

2-3 tbsp chopped pistachios or walnuts

To serve

vanilla ice cream

Preparation

Preheat oven to 200C.
Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the plums and fry for a few minutes.
Add the split vanilla pod, star anise, nutmeg and cinnamon stick to the pan. Add the water, red wine, honey and sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes, until the plums break down to a thick sauce. Transfer plums with sauce to one or 2 individual baking dish.
For the crumble topping, mix the flours and sugar together in a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in chopped nuts.
Sprinkle the crumble over the plums and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden-brown.
Remove and allow to cool slightly before serving with ice-cream.

Enjoy!

Pear&Blackberry Tart

Last weekend I wanted to make a cake, I was dreaming about a huge layered cake with delicious and sweet cream, topped with chocolate or strawberries, or blackberries.. At the end of the day I realized that I can’t decide which one to make and I don’t have all required ingredients. 😀 But I have always been a person that needs something sweet after dinner. I wanted a dessert to satisfy my sweet tooth, and better with cream! So I’ve come up with this beautiful and absolutely delicious ‘pear and blackberry tart’. Honestly speaking, I haven’t made this recipe a dozen or even a couple of times, it was perfect from the first attempt! Nutty shortbread base, tender whipped ricotta cream, pear slices and blackberries – all those things merged together into divine combination. I believe that you would find this dessert to be as delicious as it looks! You just need to go to the kitchen, cook it and enjoy! 🙂 I will make it again for sure!

Pear and Blackberry Tart

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1hr 20mins
Difficulty: moderate
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You can use any favourite fruits and berries, like strawberry&blueberry, raspberry&nectarines.

Ingredients

Short pastry (base)

1 large egg, at room temperature

100g plain flour

75g butter, cubed and softened

35g fine sugar

30g ground almonds

Topping

100ml whipping cream (30-35%), cold

1+1 Tbsp icing sugar

1 tsp cognac or brandy, optional

100-120g ricotta

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon zest

1 large pear, sliced

1 Tbsp lemon juice

8-10 blackberries

2-3 strawberries, sliced, optional

1 Tbsp white chocolate chips

Whisk the egg and set aside a half (a bit less then half) for a glaze.
To make the dough, in a large mixing bowl or food processor, mix flour, butter, sugar, half the egg and almonds until combined. Tip dough out onto a floured surface and bring together with hands. Make a flat disk, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30-40 minutes in a fridge.
On a lightly floured table roll the dough into 21-22cm circle. Brush with remaining egg. Transfer to a paper-lined baking dish.
Bake in preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool completely.
Meanwhile, in a bowl beat cream with 1 Tbsp icing sugar and cognac, if using, until soft peak begin to form. In another bowl, combine ricotta, vanilla, lemon zest and sugar. Add ricotta mixture into whipped cream and whip until smooth for a 1-2 minutes.
Spread cream on the base. Sprinkle pear slices with lemon juice. Arrange pear slices, blackberries and strawberries, if using, on the cream, and sprinkle over chocolate chips. Dust with extra icing sugar, if desired. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

It’s my very first pumpkin cheesecake! 🙂 I do love both cheesecake and pumpkin, but never tried to combine them together until I baked too many pumpkin slices and already couldn’t eat them.
Cheesecake is enjoyed by millions around the world, and each person has its own take on the best way of making it. Truly a scrumptious dessert! I guess that the pumpkin cheesecake is the America’s favorite dessert. Moreover, I’ve heard about National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day, is that true? In Russia we eat pumpkin, too, but usually it’s sliced and simply baked with sugar, or whole pumpkin stuffed with grains (have a look at my recipe here).
I knew how to make a basic cheesecake, so I just added pumpkin puree and some spices. Oh, I’m so happy with the result! The only thing I was worried that it can be too wobbly, finally it set good, just cracked a little. The texture is perfect – creamy, deliciously smooth and not-very-sweet, everything how I like. Unfortunately, the cheesecake has some unwanted calories, thus for weight watchers I recommend to substitute cream cheese with low-fat cottage cheese or quark.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Servings: 8-10
Time: >1hr 30mins
Difficulty: easy
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You need 18cm baking tin for this recipe

Ingredients should be at room temperature

Crust

150g graham crackers, finely crushed

80g butter, melted

Filling

350g cooked pumpkin, then pureed

220-250g cream cheese

30g brown sugar + 40g white caster sugar

2 tbsp double cream (35% fat)

2 whole eggs + 1 egg yolk

2 tbsp cornstarch (cornflour)

1 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger powder

small pinch of ground cloves, allspice and salt

Method

To make crust. In a medium bowl, blend butter with graham crumbs. Press the mixture into the base of baking tin to create an even layer. Chill for 10 minutes in the fridge, then bake in preheated 160C oven for 5-7 minutes. Take the tin out and let it cool for 10 minutes.
To make filling. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with sugar until smooth consistency. Add pumpkin and combine. Break one at a time, add egg yolk, mix to combine. Add double cream, cornstarch, flour and all spices. Beat until well combined. Pour the filling into crust, spread evenly and bake in preheated 180C oven for 45-50 minutes.
Take the tin out of the oven, let it cool at room temperature. Cover the baking tin and refrigerate overnight.
Remove cheesecake from the tin and slide onto a plate, slice and serve.

Enjoy!

[Click the photos for a closer look]

Apple soufflé

It seems I’d been eating and eating during the past two months, too many delicious pies and sweets, so me and my husband decided to limit the amount of sugar and fat in our regime and keep more healthy diet for a month or so. Diet doesn’t mean the food should be tasteless and dull. Thou, plain meal like steamed fish with broccoli or buckwheat isn’t so bad, especially after a few days of eating it without adding too many salt, spices, butter, cheese or whatever makes it more yummy. 😀

Another happy moment – desserts for healthy diet do exist! A good and tasty example is Apple Souffle. Apples are baked, then pureed and mixed with egg whites, after those easy steps you need to bake it and voila – tender, airy and delicious dessert is ready! 🙂
I adapted the recipe from old Russian book published in 1984.

Apple soufflé

Servings: 2
Time: 50mins+
Difficulty: moderate
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You can serve apple soufflé with cold whipped cream or a glass of cold milk.

Ingredients

300-350g apples

2-3 tbsp water

2 tbsp white caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon, optional

2 egg whites

a pinch of salt

some butter or oil for greasing

Instruction

Wash, peel, core and cut apples into 4 slices. Put on a baking tray, add water and bake in preheated 180C oven for 20-30 minutes or until soften.
Puree apples. Put apple puree in a small pan, add sugar and cinnamon, cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks. Continue beating, add warm apple puree and beat all together for 2-3 minutes more.
Brush ramekins with butter, pour in apple mixture. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 15-20 minutes.
Serve warm. Enjoy!

I’m bringing these delicious and beautiful soufflé to all wonderful bloggers who is celebrating Fiesta Friday anniversary at Angie’s place and two co-hostesses Selma and Nancy. Enjoy! 🙂

Winter Orange Cake

Hello everyone! Hope you had wonderful and joyful winter holidays! As you may know from my previous posts, me and my husband have been to Russia, and it was a memorable and great trip. We celebrated New Year and Christmas eves with the whole family, met with friends, and had lots of fun with a snow: throwing snowballs, rolling and tumbling around, and exploring virgin and deep snow on foot! Once we almost were frozen to the bones, because it was -30C/22F (and the phone told me it was felt like -40C in the night)! But wool socks, mittens, fur hats and thick coats do wonders! 😀

So, I was torn by what recipe to start 2015 with. I decided to warm up cold days with a superb and fantastically delicious winter dessert -an orange cake. Oranges and mandarins may not be the most obvious fruits in baking, but for me it symbolizes the winter season. The smell of mandarins rind always brings back my childhood memories, when my parents bought them for the New Year eve. The cake is moist, bright, tangy, and delightful in both taste and texture. It is also great any time of the year. 🙂

Winter Orange Cake

Servings: 6-8
Time: 1 1/2 hr+
Difficulty: moderate
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You can use fresh orange slices as is, or cook them in a sweet water (1 cup water+1/3 cup sugar) for about 20-30 minutes on a medium heat – it helps to get rid of orange bitterness.

Ingredients

2 small oranges or 1.5 medium size, sliced

3 Tbsp demerara sugar

160g butter softened

120-150g golden caster sugar, depends on your taste

3 heaped tbsp orange jam (or fine-cut marmalade)

3 eggs, beaten

160g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/3 tsp baking powder

40g almond powder (ground almonds)

1.5 medium-size oranges or 2 mandarins, finely grated zest and juice

Glaze:

3 heaped tbsp orange jam/marmalade

1-2 tsp orange-flavoured liqueur (Grand Marnier or Cointreau), optional

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease the 18cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Sprinkle the base with demerara sugar. Arrange orange slices on the base, making overlapping layer.
Beat the butter and caster sugar until pale, mix in marmelade and beaten eggs. Fold in flour, salt, baking powder, almonds, orange or mandarin zest and juice.
Pour the batter into tin. Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes, until golden and firm to touch.
Allow to cool for a few minutes at room temperature.
Meanwhile, make a glaze by warming 3 Tbsp jam and liqueur (if using) in a small pan with a little water.
Carefully turn out the cake onto a serving plate, while it’s still warm. Prick holes in the cake. Spoon glaze over the cake.
Serve warm! Enjoy!

Adapted from Jamie Oliver magazine/issue 26