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Posts Tagged ‘decadant’

  1. Primal Ginger Cheesecake with Rhubarb Compote

    March 15, 2013 by Tali

    For the last few weeks I have had the craziest craving for cheesecake. Not unusual. I often get cravings for sweet things.

    As a way to control myself I try to make the foods that I’m craving. That way I appreciate them more, and more importantly, I can control what goes in them – which is pretty important when you’re trying to eat a Primal diet.

    Some people may argue over the true primal-ness of dairy – and whether it should be a part of our adult diet. I admit that I should cut back a little on my dairy consumption – but I find that I cope just fine with a little dairy in my diet.

    Do whatever works for you!

    I would recommend checking the ingredients list of the cream cheese you buy. I found that a brand like Philadelphia contains all kinds of additives, and my supermarket own brand soft cheese simply lists: milk. I like that! Or better yet – make your own cream cheese! But who has time for such things?!

    Cheesecake is not something I eat often and so I wanted to have something as close to the real deal as possible! Without all those additives, all that gluten and those refined sugars.

    It was only when the first crops of forced rhubarb hit the shelves that I thought it would be a brilliant idea to make a Rhubarb Cheesecake!

    AND whats goes brilliantly with rhubarb…. GINGER of course!

    There were so many ways in which I could have gone about putting this cheesecake together but in the end I decided to make a ginger cheesecake and use the rhubarb as a compote to accompany it.

    My recipe came to be with a little help from Adriana at Living Healthy with Chocolate.

    Primal Ginger Cheesecake with Rhubarb Compote

    Makes: 1 8-inch cake   Takes: 2.5hrs

    Crust
    Ingredients:

    1/2 cup pecans
    1 cup ground almonds/almond meal
    1 Tbsp Raw Honey
    1/2 tsp ground ginger
    6 Tbsp Butter/coconut oil (melted)

    • Preheat oven to 150 C/300 F
    • Place pecans in a food processor with blade attachment. Process until finely ground
    • Add ground almonds, honey, ground ginger and melted butter – process until it all comes together
    • Press into the base of a greased and lined 8 inch spring-form pan
    • Bake for 10-12mins. Set aside to cool

    Cheesecake Filling
    Ingredients:

    450g full fat cream cheese (at room temperature)
    1 cup full fat Greek yoghurt
    4 large eggs
    15g fresh stem ginger (grated)
    3 Tbsp raw coconut palm sugar

    • Turn oven temperature down to 110 C/230 F
    • Cream together the cream cheese, yoghurt and coconut palm sugar until light and fluffy
    • Add eggs to the mixture, one at a time
    • Finely grate the fresh ginger and fold it into the mix
    • Pour mixture on top of cooled base. Place in the oven and bake for about 1.5 hours. Start checking from 1 hour. You will notice that it will be wobbly in the centre. You want to bake this until it JUST stops wobbling. For me it took 1.5 hours in a fan assisted oven
    • Switch off oven leaving the door slightly a jar and let the cake cool with the oven. After 20-30mins, remove from oven and set aside to cool
    • Once the cheesecake is at room temperature, you can cover and place it into the fridge to chill until you are ready to serve

    Rhubarb Compote
    Ingredients:

    400g fresh rhubarb stems
    250ml water
    20g coconut palm sugar
    35g raw honey

    • Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
    • Chop rhubarb stems into even pieces, lay them evenly in a shallow dish
    • Dissolve the coconut palm sugar and honey in the water, then pour over the rhubarb
    • Place dish in oven, and roast for 15mins, until the rhubarb is tender but still holds its shape.
    • Leave to cool

    When ready to serve, slice cheesecake (best done when cheesecake has been well chilled, preferably overnight) and top with a couple of spoons of rhubarb compote.

    I found that the ginger cheesecake on its own was was quite delightful – and that it didn’t really need the compote. Don’t get me wrong, the tart rhubarb compote was a welcome contrast to the creamy and gingery cheesecake – but if you were to skip the rhubarb this dessert will not disappoint!

    You could even serve this with another complimentary ingredient to ginger… chocolate for example. Ooo or a citrus curd, lemon OR lime would work great along-side the ginger. Or go exotic and pair the cheesecake with perfectly ripe mango slices. Oh, I could go on and on!

    Notes:
    I found the base to be a little on the soggy side – I guess this could be because it’s made with nuts. Next time I may try using coconut palm sugar instead of honey and maybe coconut oil instead of butter to see if that makes a difference.

    In a further attempt to rid the cheesecake base of moisture – I will attempt next time to drain the cream cheese and yoghurt of as much moisture as possible by straining it though some cheesecloth.

     


  2. Chocolate Torte

    June 18, 2012 by Tali

    Everyone needs to indulge in a little chocolate sometimes.

    What better way to enjoy the food of the gods than in rich, dense and powerful cake-like form?

    I say cake-like because this isn’t really a cake – not in the sense that I know of cake; to me a cake needs to be fluffy, light and, to be honest, have a little more height to it. This is not a pie or a tart either.  One could liken its texture to something like a brownie – it is dense, fudgey and intoxicating in its chocolatey-ness. I have decided to label this delicious baked good as a torte.

    This temptress of a dessert packs a real punch. There is A LOT of dark chocolate AND cocoa powder involved in this recipe. It is gluten, nut and (any kind of) flour free. This baby would be acceptable to a vast number of people – unless of course they don’t like chocolate; but let’s be realistic – anyone who doesn’t like chocolate needs their head checked!

    I came across this recipe a few weeks ago when looking for something that was both nut and gluten free. I was baking for a friend’s bridal shower/kitchen tea. The lady of the hour is allergic to nuts, and her sister is gluten intolerant so in an effort to please them both I searched for a recipe that could fulfil both their dietary requirements. It just so happened that it also allowed room to satisfy my requirements as a primal enthusiast.

    This recipe uses a short list of ingredients and an even shorter method – therefore this should please anyone who hates spending too much time in the kitchen.

    In short – This recipe pleases pretty much everyone!

    To make this more Primal-acceptable – I adapted the sweetener from the original recipe which I found here.

    By replacing the caster sugar with unrefined coconut palm sugar I made this an almost guilt-free treat. But believe me – this stuff is so good – you’ll think you’ve just sinned BIG TIME!

    I’d like to try this with honey at some point – it may make the texture even better. If you experiment with that – please let me know how it turns out!

    Primal Chocolate Torte
    Adapted from a recipe by Shana Hillman

    Makes: One 8 inch pan/tart dish  Takes: 45mins

    Ingredients:
    120g Dark Chocolate ( I used Lindt 70%)
    120g Unsalted Butter
    150g Coconut Palm Sugar
    80g Cocoa Powder
    3 Eggs (beaten)
    1 tsp Vanilla extract
    1 pinch Sea Salt

    • preheat oven to 150C/300F. Grease an 8/9 inch tart pan.
    • place the butter and chocolate in a bowl, over a double boiler and let it melt, very gently
    • meanwhile, beat your eggs then add vanilla extract
    • place all of your dry ingredients – coconut palm sugar, salt and cocoa powder (sifted) – into a bowl
    • when your butter and chocolate have melted, remove from heat
    • add egg, incorporating fully, then fold in the dry ingredients
    • once the mixture is combined, pour into tart pan and spread evenly
    • place in your preheated oven for 25-30mins
    • remove from the oven and cool

    Serve as a dessert – warm with cream/ice cream and some tart, fresh berries. Or let cool to room temperature and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee – add the cream and berries for extra indulgence.

    You could amp up the decadence scale and top this with a luscious chocolate ganache to turn it into a seriously dangerous indulgent treat.


  3. Primal Chocolate Ganache Tart

    February 8, 2012 by Tali

    Oh the excitement! February the 14th is drawing ever nearer!

    Yup!

    Can you feel it? All that love in the air! The romance?  – No, neither can I!

    I’ve never been a massive Valentine’s day fan. It’s just a way for card companies, chocolatiers and florists to make money! right?!

    I think (as most girls do – however unconventional they are) that it would be nice if that special someone made some kind of gesture on St Valentines’s day [even if we do say we’re not into it].

    Yes, I think we are probably testing you!

    I don’t expect diamonds (though I would never decline!) but maybe cook us a nice meal? Take us out, plan a random surprise, it doesn’t have to cost much, or anything at all. Just… make us feel like you haven’t completely forgotten about us.

    Asking to be acknowledged romantically is not very lady-like!

    Oh, and a set of gym weights is NOT an acceptable Valentine’s day gift!

    I honestly never meant for this post to turn into a rant so I shall move on!

    I had been meaning to make Mo a chocolate tart for quite some time.

    It was after seeing some in the window of La Maison du Chocolat in Paris, about a year and a half ago (just a day before he proposed to me). See! Keeping it all romantic and stuff!

    Now, I’m pretty sure the tarts we saw in the window were baked chocolate tarts having referred to the photo above, I see that the ones from La Maison du Chocolat, are indeed ganache tarts, which involve very careful baking in the oven makes this whole process so much easier for me to pull off!

    My reason for choosing a ganache tart is not out of laziness. In fact, I plan to one day find/discover/invent a recipe for paleo/primal baked chocolate tart. For the purpose of keeping the number of ingredients to a minimum and to avoid adding sweeter, I decided to make Mo a primal friendly dark chocolate ganache tart!

    For Christmas, Mo’s mom made some primal pumpkin pie (we had a Thanksgiving meal for Christmas). The recipe she used was from Mark’s Daily Apple. In the post Mark mentions that the crust can be used for any number of pies and tarts, and so I was very keen to attempt to make his walnut pie crust, as a tart shell, and make some primal appropriate chocolate ganache to fill it!

    The crust is simple to make, as is the ganache. So I really had no excuse to hold out on Mo any longer!

    Primal Chocolate Ganache Tart

    Makes: 6 x 10cm tartlets   Time: 30-40mins

    Ingredients:
    280g Walnuts
    30g Unsalted Butter
    1 tsp Baking Soda
    1/4 tsp Salt

    300g Dark Chocolate (I used 72%)
    165ml Double Cream

    • Pre-heat oven to 175C or 350F
    • Place walnuts into a food processor, and pulse until nuts are ground.
    • add baking soda, salt and cubed butter (Mark suggests melting the butter, but the pastry chef in me was keen on using cold butter) pulse once again until the mixuture is fully combined, and begins to clump together.
    • divide the mixture between 6 10cm (4 inch) tartlet tins and press into the sides and bottom until even and well packed in
    • bake these for 15-20 mins until evenly browned.
    • once the crusts have cooled, make your ganache.
    • chop the chocolate finely, and gently par-melt in the microwave at 50%.
    • gently warm up your cream in a pan, and once the chocolate is melted and the cream is warm, (but not boiling!) Pour cream over chocolate, and gently stir until you have a nice glossy ganache.
    • pour the ganache into the tart shells and let them set in the fridge.
    • when ready to serve, VERY gently remove from the tartlet tins, and serve with some whipped cream and a complementary fruit (the tartness – pun intended! – of the fruit will be a welcome contrast to the rich chocolate).

    WARNING: These tartlets are INCREDIBLY rich! Don’t be surprised if you can only manage a few mouthfuls!

    They are rich, and they are not exactly sweet. So not for the faint hearted, but great for the dark/bitter chocolate lovers out there!

    You could maybe use a slightly less intense chocolate for the ganache, but bear in mind, the higher cocoa content your chocolate has, the better it is for you! Also, chocolates from different origins will have different flavour notes, so use a chocolate you enjoy eating!

    I found the walnut crust to be pleasing, particuarly with the added salt! Mmmm salted chocolate! But walnuts tend to be a little on the bitter side, so next time, I’ll probably try using pecans (possibly a walnut/pecan mix) or maybe hazelnuts (Mmm nutella style!) in a bid to reduce the bitterness.

    I reckon these are the prefect valentines dessert to share with a loved one, and I’m serious when I say share! good luck attempting one of these alone, in one sitting! (I do NOT condone, suggest OR recommend this!)


  4. Double Chocolate Crisps (Havreflarn)

    February 5, 2012 by Tali

    errrrrr…… you said what now!?

    So, quite a few months ago – maybe even a year ago, Mo’s mom had bought a box of these strange looking biscuits/cookies.

    (Mo is my fiance for those that are interested)

    The box called them ‘double chocolate crisps’. I was intrigued, but not overly excited.

    I don’t tend to get all that excited about biscuits and the like.

    One bite of these babies and I was hooked! I could have eaten the entire box! Thankfully I was in company, and totally lacking in chutzpah.

    They were incredibly crisp, totally delicious, oat-ey with and almost nutty flavour (although no nuts are mentioned in the recipe) and a generous amount of chocolate adhering the 2 halves together make them rich and totally decadent, the perfect partner to a cup of tea or coffee.

    It was on that day, I decided that these were my favourite of all store bought biscuit/cookie confections.

    Being the lover of baking that I am, I finally decided to take it upon myself to attempt to recreate these gems!

    I knew (from the packaging) that these were a Swedish biscuit. But I had no idea what the Swedes called these, or how to find a genuine recipe.

    I was largely helped along, by Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini who started off a search for a recipe (in 2004) by asking her readers if they knew of any. The contributions range from 2004 up until 2011 and there were a few different suggestions mentioned.

    What I found largely beneficial, was discovering the Swedish name for them, HAVREFLARN,  which allowed me to search further for an appropriate recipe.

    It comes as no surprise to me that there was a vast array of recipes online. Some were similar, some identical and some quite strange.

    My first attempt used one of the more simple recipes (including syrup in the mix). It produced a very tasty, but highly textured cookie whereas the boxed version has a lot less texture.

    I then decided to try processing the oats – with disastrous results! They turned out crumbly and dry.

    I then attempted an alternative recipe whose ingredients better matched up to those noted on the box – minus all the added preservatives…

    I decided to try a half recipe, see how it turned out, and in my rushed attempt to throw the mixture together,  I made a few little errors.

    Firstly, the whole recipe calls for 1 egg, instead of using half an egg I threw in a whole one, making the mix rather wet. Secondly, I also failed to use half the amount of sugar. I’ve never claimed to be a genius!

    I spooned a few dollops onto a baking tray anyway, and was quite pleased with my results! They didn’t look quite as refined as the boxed cookies, but they had a similar crunch, just not quite as nutty in flavour. Maybe the people over at GILLE toast their oats?

    So in some ways, I guess I developed my own recipe, and despite the doubling of sugar, they weren’t overly sweet. Woohoo!

    Double Chocolate Crisps / Havreflarn

    Makes: 10 double cookies   Time: 40-45 mins

    Ingredients

    50g Butter, melted
    120g Oats
    1 whole Egg
    130g Caster Sugar
    1 Tbsp Plain Flour
    1 tsp Baking Powder

    150g good quality dark chocolate

    Preheat oven to 175 C/ 347 F

    • Combine oats, sugar, egg and melted butter.
    • Sift in flour and baking powder, and mix through.
    • Take teaspoon sized amounts of mixture, roll into balls, and space generously onto a lined baking tray. (You should have approx 20 pieces to make 10 biscuits)
    • Wet the back of a teaspoon and gently flatten the balls, they will spread, but this should allow them to spread evenly, reducing a dome in the centre.
    • Place trays in preheated oven and bake for 7mins, then turn trays, and bake for a further 3-4mins.
    • They should be a nice even golden brown so you may have to adjust your timing to suit your oven.
    • Once ready, place onto a cooling rack.
    • Chop chocolate finely, and melt either over a bain marie, or very gently in the microwave.
    • Once biscuits are cool, and chocolate is melted, dip the underside of once, and then place another underside onto the chocolate, adhering the two together, leave to set. If you are impatient like me, stick them in the fridge to set.
    • Pour yourself a cold glass of milk, or pop the kettle on and make yourself a brew.
    • Eat and thoroughly enjoy!

    When I made this batch pictured, I was feeling a little experimental, and decided to try some with milk chocolate.

    They were good, but I think part of the charm of these biscuits is the intensity of the rich dark chocolate, paired with the warm nuttiness of the crisp, oat-ey biscuit.

    I feel like maybe I could have refined this recipe a little further, but I’ll leave that to another day.

    I’m pretty certain this is a recipe I’ll come back to!

    Hmm… Think I’ll go get myself that glass of milk – these things aren’t gonna eat themselves!