Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Chocolate Cheesecake with Homemade Strawberry Jelly

Another year passed, and again I made a cake for my beloved son's birthday. He is a devotee of chocolate and strawberries, and because it is very warm outside, the cake had to be appropriate to the weather, cold.
Tort - cheesecake is not very caloric, because I lowered to the maximum the amount of sugar, and hence, is light, delicate and ideal to go with an afternoon tea on hot summer days.

Ingredients for 20 cm spring form: 

500 g quark, (I used organic) 
100 ml of boiling water 
60 g brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa, organic 
4 tsp powdered gelatine

Crust:


100 g ground almonds
 2 tbsp butter

Jelly: 

500 g strawberries, fresh 
50 ml of boiling water 
1 - 2 tbsp agave syrup (optional) *
 2 tsp powdered gelatine

Directions:


Mix almonds with butter. Place the mass in a spring form and create a crust. Lightly grease with oil the collar of the form, the cheesecake will easier part from the from. Dissolved sugar in water, than add gelatin and mix.
Mix quark with an electric mixer, add sugar mixture and gradually add to the cheese. Pour the mixture in to the form and refrigerate for few hours, to solidify. After this time, make a strawberry puree. (*if strawberries are not very sweet, add the syrup). Dissolve gelatin in water, add to the puree. Mix well and pour cheese.Again, refrigerate for several hours. Done.



 Recipe was created in my head and comes from my heart

Friday, June 5, 2015

Rose Confiture Based on an Old Polish Recipe

Rose Confiture is based on a very old Polish recipe. An author - Maria Disslowa - lived at the turn of XIX and XX century. She was a publicist, educator, principal of a school of household and an author of many culinary books.
For years I thought that the rose confiture must be extremely difficult to make. Nothing more wrong, it's very easy but time consuming. What you need is fragrant rose petals, sugar, and a big, clay bowl  - makutra (our grandmothers used it all the time) - or if you don't have it, a food processor will do it. Recipe calls for double the amount of sugar in relation to the petals, I used the same amount, since I reduce sugar in all my dishes.
Why would you like to make a rose confiture? It's taste delicious in all kinds of sweet pastries and cakes, but the best is when used as a filling, in Polish, traditional donuts.

Ingredients for 475 ml of confiture:

300 g fragrant rose petals (any color, any rose, all roses are edible)
300 g brown sugar
1 lemon

Directions:

Clean the petals under lukewarm water and dry well (I used a salad drainer). Get rid of white petals' ending (
they are suitable bitterness). Place petals in a food processor, cover with sugar, squeeze juice from the whole lemon and mix for few minutes. Confiture is ready.
Move it into a glass jar if you are going to use it within a week or two and keep in the fridge. If you are saving the confiture for later, transfer to a suitable, freezer safe container and freeze.

Recipe inspired by Maria Disslowa