Peach Crumble Cheesecake

Heather asked why I haven't blog for so long and I have been asking myself that too. Laziness most probably sums it up but that is not the entire reason. 

I love the part about the food - cooking, eating and even the photo sessions (have tons of photos waiting to be posted) but not so much the latter part of blogging, ie the photo editing, composing and typing. The most daunting task for me is converting my Chinese thinking mind into English hardcopy. To put down in English words what I am thinking in Chinese calls for some major reconstruction thinking (a lot of brain cells) and so very time consuming. I told hubby I need to go for English course. Hubby sometimes helped to correct my grammar and punctuation! 

So, when I do not appear in this space for a while you know I am taking a break from thinking... in English only ie :-p.

I have done this cake three times for different occasions and always a crowd winner. The recipe came from a cook book Mui Fung gave me 4 years ago for my birthday. It is called 'A Touch Of Classic Baking' by Kevin Chai.

This is a simple basic cheesecake but with the addition of the peach and the crumbles on top, the humble cake gained superstar status in my book.

Here is the recipe.

Peach Crumble Cheesecake

500g cream cheese

100g caster sugar

3 eggs

250ml whipping cream

2 T cornstarch

1 can (825g) halved peach, drained and wiped dry

Base

250g digestive biscuit, crushed

120g butter (melted)

Topping

150g plain flour

40g caster sugar

75g butter

Preheat oven to 160C

1. Combine finely crushed biscuit (I put all the biscuits in the food processor and gave them a good 1 minute blitz) and melted butter well. Press evenly and compactly into the bottom of a 9" cake pan.

2. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, making sure each egg is properly mixed in before adding the next. 

3. Stir in whipping cream and cornstarch, mix well.

4. Spread a thin layer (about 1/2 cm thick) of the cheese mixture on top of biscuit.

5.  Arrange peaches onto the layer and pour in the remaining cheese mixture to cover the peaches.

6. For the topping, combine flour and sugar, rub in butter until mixture resembles bread crumbs.

7. Sprinkle over the cheese mixture.

8. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool completely and refrigerate. Serve cold.   

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

This is a totally outrageous but truly glorious indulgence. That is what you get when you marry cream cheese and chocolate.
Remember the cookbook I got from the MV Doulos? The Sweet Comfort Food is the title and it does exactly that - so comforting especially on a Monday. Whatever Monday's blues...out the window they go.
I had to reduce the butter and sugar contents to lessen the sinfulness of this sumptous treat.
Warning, do not read on if you are on a diet.

Chocolate and cheesecake brownies
Cheesecake mixture:
225g cream cheese
1 egg, beaten
50g castor sugar
1 tsp. vanilla essence

Brownies mixture:
200g dark (bittersweet) chocolate
30g unsalted butter
50g brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
50g all-purpose flour

1. Preheat ovento 160C/325F. Line a 7 inch cake tin with baking patchment.
2. To make the cheesecake mixture, beat all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.
3. For the brownie mixture, melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. When melted, off the heat and stir well. Add sugar and mix to dissolve. Pour in egg a little at a time and keep stirring till thoroughly mixed. Gently stir in flour.
4. Spread 2/3 of the brownie mixture over the base of tin. Spread the cheesecake mixture on top, then spoon on the remaining brownie mixture in heaps. Use a skewer to creat twirls on the two mixtures.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until just set in the centre.
6. Leave to cool in the tin, then cut into small pieces (not more than 1"x 1" :p)

Indulge but in dainty bites! Best with a strong cuppa black coffee without sugar.
Jo

Homemade Boursin On New Year's Day

We were so good on the first day of 2008!!
We went vegetarian!
But to make the meal more palatable for some, I had to resort to a rather sinful treat - Boursin!
And the meal still turned out so refreshing after the viscous onslaught of meat during the last week of 2007.

Beet root, boiled and sliced, served with a honey/red wine vinegar/chives/salt and pepper dressing. One of my all time favourites.

I made the baked potatoes which we had for Christmas dinner by popular demand. This is a very simple-to-do dish which I picked up from channel 703 and it is so easy and so tasty.

Boiled broccoli and carrots, and just tossed with butter, salt and pepper.

A crusty french wholemeal loaf with sunflower seeds and herbs fresh from the oven. An English baker which I met many years ago indulged the secret of getting a crusty surface. Will post the recipe later at a more leisure pace.

Here is the star of this first-day-of-the-year meal - the special homemade Boursin cheese spread. So easy to do and taste so much better and fresher than the expensive stuff you get at the supermarket shelves.

Simply gorgeous and sooo finger licking good with the baked potatoes...

...and the freshly baked bread.

Homemade Boursin Cheese Spread
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
30g butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoon parsley, minced finely
4 cloves garlic, boiled for 3 minutes, mashed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper - optional

Mix all the above together well.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Leave for 30 minutes or so for the herb and seasonings to infuse.
Can be kept in fridge in an airtight container for 3 days to a week.

Jo