It's experimental cooking time! Hooray! Now, since I live in Australia, I'm aware there's more than a fraction of a language gap, so I'm trying to keep things as international as I can make it. And I've tried to photograph everything so you can keep track or find an equivalent.
You'll need everything shown above [Except the spice rack, the deep fryer, and the steamer. We're gadget-philes :D] and a few more things I only remembered when I was in the middle of cooking. Whoops.
So we're clear, I'm also documenting my mistakes and my rescues. Beware. Footnotes ahead.
Berry Nice Cheesecake
- For the entire recipe, you will need a large, spring-form pan to set it all in
- And a cool place to set it in, like a refrigerator
Biscuit Base[1]
Implements
- One mixing bowl
- One small pyrex bowl for melting if desired
- One fork if you don't like using your fingers
- Clean hands if you do
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond meal or almond flour if you prefer a smooth base
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 2 tbsp (or equivalent) of your favourite sweetener[2]
- Approximately 3 tbsp of butter (or the fat of your choice)
Method
- Place your dry ingredients in a bowl
- Add your chosen fat
- At this point, I realised that the butter would work better when melted, and had to fish it out. You cunning readers can melt yours in advance
- Mix butter in until you have a crumbly mixture. If you need more butter, go for it
- When you can make little sandcastles out of it, you know it's ready!
- Grease your spring-form pan
- And pat in your base. You can set it in the fridge if you need extra counter space. I know I did.
Cheesecake Filling
Implements
- Juicer
- Herb grinder or other means of liquefying berries
- Electric mixer and bowl
- Bowl scrapers
- Blender with one of those spice grinder things
- Butter knife
Ingredients
- 500g Marscapone or other cream cheese
- 500g double cream
- 2 1/2 tblsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup (or equivalent) of your favourite sweetener[3]
- A "good handful" of your favourite berries[4]
Method
- Blend your berries in the herb grinder
- Place all your ingredients into your mixer bowl, including your berry goo
- Mix well until the entire lot "butterfies"[5]
- Dish out and press into your spring-form pan and pop back into the fridge until your topping is ready
- Of course you're allowed to scrape off and taste any bits that got too far up the sides. Chef's Perks!
Gelatine Topping
Implements
- Herb grinder
- Pyrex measuring cups (4 cup and 1 cup)
- Small pot
- Cooktop
- Stirring implement of choice
Ingredients
- 3 leaves of gelatine
- 2 tbsp (or equivalent) of your favourite sweetener
- A 'good handful' of berries (you can either match or compliment your cheesecake. It's all up to you)
Method
- This was the first time I was working with Gelatine leaves. I know that we have gelatine powder, but I couldn't find it. So I have to turn this:
Into some tasty jelly... without prior experience. - Take special note of the gelatine directions
- Place the gelatine leaves in cold water, in your 4-cup measuring cup, and set a timer for the appropriate time.
- Blitz your berries again, and put them in your one-cup measuring cup
- Use some filtered water to swish the last of your berry goo out of the herb grinder. Then complete the 1 cup of goo and water.
- Place the mix into your small pot and begin heating
- Add your sweetener[6]
- Now, when my alarm went off, all the gelatine had melted and stuck to the bottom of my 4-cup pyrex measuring cup. I drained off as much water as I could and hit on the brilliant idea of pouring some hot berry mix into the cup, stirring like hell, and then pouring it back.
- Stir like hell until the gelatine is dissolved
- I didn't let it reduce much, but after a couple of pours-back into the 4-cup cup to be certain I had all the gelatine, I was satisfied enough to take it off the heat
- Allow to cool until either lukewarm, or room temperature, stirring intermittently
- Pour carefully over your cheesecake
- Place in the fridge to set until the gelatine is set.
You may elect to defend it from predators, but I'd rather go have a well-deserved drink.
Cheesecake is an excellent way to keep your fats up if, like me, you don't really like coconut-oil fat bombs. If you don't like berries, you can add 100% cocoa powder to taste, or vanilla beans, or even citrus juice. It's also an excellent means of using up any "ugly" fruit you may have lying around.
Allegedly serves eight, but I bet mine will yum it all up inside of one meal-time.
[1] Note for Americans: What you call 'cookies' we call 'biscuits', and what you call 'biscuits', we call 'scones'. Confused yet? I know I am. We also call 'jello', 'jelly', and what you think of as 'jelly', we call 'jam'. This has been your unpaid attempt at greater understanding between nations.
[2] We use granular Stevia with Erithritol. It has its own little measure that does teaspoons and tablespoons only. Much fun when the measurements call for cups. FYI - one cup contains 16 tablespoons. The more you know.
[3] Remember what I said about tablespoons? Yes, I measured out 8 tablespoon equivalents into the bowl.
[4] I used a mixture of raspberries and strawberries, according to my own whims. Just remember that you have to leave room for the grinder blade.
[5] My own, highly-technical term. Basically the cream in the mix turns into soft butter and the whole lot goes relatively solid.
[6] I actually forgot my sweetener until the cooling stage, but it did dissolve, so all is well.