Simply divine cheesecake slice

I've stumbled across a wonderfully easy cheesecake slice recipe using Arnott's lattice biscuits (remember those from your childhood?). Great for a quick cheesecake craving! I've made a few tweeks to make it my own (and slightly healthier).

Ingredients
1 pack lattice biscuits (possibly 2 packs depending on the size of your dish)
125g light cream cheese
approx 200g fresh ricotta
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
zest and juice of one lemon
2 tsp gelatine (dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water)

Method
Beat together the cream cheese, ricotta, sugar, and vanilla essence until smooth. Add in the lemon zest, juice and dissolved gelatine and mix until combined. Cover your dish with non-stick paper (optional) and  place a layer of biscuits on the base, sugar side down. Evenly spread the mixture and place another layer, sugar side up, of the lattice biscuits. Cover and refrigerate until set. Enjoy with friends!

Gingerbread reindeer cookies

Today I had the pleasure of babysitting my almost 4 year old nephew, so to entertain him we decided to make gingerbread cookies (as well as make paper aeroplanes, draw food that started with the letter 'C', draw other food stuffs including a rotten orange (this was a black scribbly circle), make and eat lunch, watch and critique the wiggles, build marble racing towers....phew!). So here's the low down on these delicious treats:

{ ingredients }

125g softened butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg yolk

2 1/2 cups plain flour

3 tsp ground ginger

3 tsp cinnamon (can also add a bit of nutmeg if you like!)

1/2 cup golden syrup

{ method }

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Beat butter, sugar and yolk until smooth. Add dry ingredients and syrup and mix well to form a dough. Knead dough and divide into 2 batches. Roll out between 2 sheets of baking paper until about 5mm thick. Cut out awesome shapes (I opted for scandinavian forest creatures courtesy of ikea cookie cutters!). Bake on baking paper for about 15mins. Enjoy!

Coconut macaroons

I don't really consider myself a coconut-loving person, but these macaroons are delicious, and so moreish! Crunchy outside and gooey centre....fabulous!

{ ingredients }

4 egg whites

180g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp coconut extract (this can be omitted, but makes them super tasty)

120g almond meal

120g desiccated coconut (I used a combination of shredded and desiccated)

{method}

Preheat over to 150 degrees celcius & line oven trays with baking paper.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and gradually add sugar, beating until dissolved after each addition. Fold or gently stir in the extracts, almond meal and coconut.

Drop teaspoons of the mixture 5cm apart on the trays and bake until lightly browned (20-30mins). Share and enjoy!

pancake time!

Saturdays deserve pancakes...well, that's what I think anyway! These delicious (and may I add fool-proof) pancakes are from Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast and go fantastically well with strawberries and syrup. Yum! This recipe makes enough dry mix for 2 batches (each batch will make about 12 pancakes), so you'll be half way there next weekend! Here's the deal:

{ ingredients }

Dry mix:

300g plain flour

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

20g vanilla sugar (or caster sugar)

Wet mix:

1 egg

250ml milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

{ method }

Mix up all the dry ingredients. Halve the total mix (2 x 150g), and store half in an air-tight container for next time.

To the remaining half add the wet mix, whisking well to ensure no lumps.

Heat up your fry pan (no oil needed as it contains butter), and pour/spoon approx. 2 tablespoons of the batter for each pancake (feel free to make them as big or small as you like!).

Once bubbles appear, flip them over and cook on the otherside for a minute or two.

Eat them up while hot!

blood orange, lemon and poppyseed biscuits

I've had a giant packet of poppy seeds lurking in my pantry for some time now taunting me whenever I poked my head in, so thought I'd put some to use. I've used a blood orange for this recipe simply because that's what I had, but feel free to use whatever citrus you have on hand.

{ ingredients }

2 tblsp poppy seeds

1 tblsp orange zest

1 tblsp lemon zest

approx. 1/2 tblsp orange (or lemon) juice

125g softened butter

150g caster sugar

1 egg

190g self-raising flour

{ method }

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and smooth, add the egg & mix through. Add the flour, poppy seeds, zest & juice and mix until combined. The mixture should form a dough ball, and not be too sticky (if so add a little more flour). Place small rolled balls of the dough (about 2 tsp worth, you can make these as large or small as you like!) onto a baking sheet allowing room for them to spread & cook until golden brown (approx. 15 mins). Enjoy with a cup of tea!