jelly cheesecake

I used to go to a neighbourhood bakery in Tiong Bahru area for their jelly cheesecake, which comes in 2 flavour: green (with lime flavoured jelly) and red (with strawberry flavoured jelly, if I am not mistaken). I prefer the green over the red simply bcoz I like the complimentary taste of the sourness of the lime jelly against the sweet, creamy and rich backdrop of the cheesecake.

But after shifting house and moving away from that area, I seldom go back. So when this recipe came out in the Straits Times, I simply had to try!

Jelly Cheesecake

9 McVitie's Original Digestive biscuits
70g butter, melted
250g cream cheese (room temperature, I used low fat)
295g condensed milk (I cut down to 2/3)
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp gelatin
50ml hot water
strawberries for decoration (optional)
One 90g lime-flavoured jelly crystals (I used Tortally brand, as recommended in the newspaper recipe)

1. Crush the biscuits, they should resemble fine bread crumbs. (I put mine in a clean plastic bag and crushed using hand)
2. Put the biscuit crumbs in a bowl, add the butter and mix well.
3. Pour the biscuit mixture into a 8-inch round or square baking tin. Press the mixture and pat down firmly.
4. Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until it is smooth.
6. Add condense milk and lemon juice. Continue to mix.
7. Dissolve the gelatin in the hot water. Strain it if there are insoluble granules. Add to cream cheese mixture and mix well.
8. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the baking tin and spread evenly.
9. Bisect the strawberries, cut out the stalk and trim if necessary.
10. Arrange the strawberries on the cream cheese mixture according to pattern desired. Gently push them into the cream cheese mixture slightly, deep enough to ensure that they will not slide.
11. Leave in the fridge to refrigerate overnight.
12. Follow the instruction on the jelly crystals box to make the jelly solution. Let it cool to room temperature.
13. Pour the jelly mixture until it covers the strawberries (or more if desired)
14. Put the tin back into the fridge to refrigerate until the jelly has set.

Recipe adapted from Jelly Hearts recipe published in the Straits Times (I didn't record the date)

The cheesecake tasted exactly how I remembered it to be: delicious, refreshing, and with interesting contrasting texture.

The bakery's version is plainer, without the strawberries. But I find that the strawberries complemented the jelly and the cheesecake well and they looked so pretty set in the jelly. I should have used more for a more elaborate pattern.

For those that experienced the jelly cheesecake for the first time (like my hubby and mum), after getting through the initial shock of the striking green colour, they actually like the cheesecake, esp my mum.

lemongrass jelly

The description of the recipe goes like this .... simple, fresh and sophisticated. Intrigued, I tried my hands on making since the recipe looks easy and hassle-free enough.

Alas... how wrong! On the first trial, the jelly didn't solidify, so I ended up with bowls of lemongrass liquid after refrigerating them overnight. I guessed it was the water to gelatine ratio that went wrong. I drank them all, refreshing as they were, I was determine to make again.

So on the 2nd trial, I cut down the water and increase the gelatine. Viola! Lemongrass jelly at last.

Lemongrass Jelly

400 ml water
5 packet of lemongrass tea (I got mine from Bangkok on a recent trip there, replace with 1 tbs of chopped lemon grass stems if you are using fresh lemongrass)
3 tsp of gelatine or agar powder
juice of 1/2 lemon
sugar to taste
mint leaves (optional, for decoration)

1. Bring the water to boil, add the lemongrass, stir, reduce heat and let simmer for approx 5-7 mins.
2. Remove from heat and let rest for approx 10 mins.
3. Remove the lemongrass tea leave packet or strain the mixture if you are using fresh lemongrass.
4. Add the gelatine or agar powder and stir until fully resolved.
5. Add the lemon juice and sugar to taste.
6. Pour into jelly mold or any individual container
7. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until jelly has set.
8. Decorate with mint leaves before serving if desired.

I find the taste a nice twist from conventional jelly flavours, and will probably complement a spicy main course well, but it is slightly flat for my palate. I would probably experiment by adding some crushed mint leaves into the jelly or use the jelly in some fruit salad.

I am submitting this post for Aspiring Baker #20 Asian Dessert Buffet hosted by Moon of Food Playground.

walnut paste

Having tried making black sesame milk and realising that it is in fact quite easy to make Chinese traditional dessert at home, I proceeded to try making walnut paste using the same recipe the next day.

For benefit of those not familiar, walnut paste, almond paste and black sesame paste are popular desserts at Chinese dessert houses, especially those at southern China, Hong Kong and countries in South East Asia e.g. Singapore and Malaysia.

This time, I toasted the walnut slightly in the toaster before blending, taking lesson learned from making the black sesame milk. Since I was quite adamant about making walnut paste instead of walnut milk, I doubled the walnut amount. I also make sure that I sifted all walnut milk and boiled the milk slightly longer until it reached paste consistency.

This time, in my opinion, the paste turned out better than the store bought ones. It was really silky smooth and unmistakeably 'walnutty'.... One word of caution, be careful of the portion as it is really filling, and bcoz it is good, not finishing the whole bowl is really a waste.

Since I doubled the walnut amount, the leftover walnut pieces from the sifting process was quite a lot as you can see from the picture above. So not willing to let it go to waste, I tried making walnut pudding using a recipe I found online. The pudding turned out to be a disaster. From the photo below, one would have thought that it looks ok. It tasted quite horrible. And I ended up throwing all the pudding away, which is a shame. I will be on the look out for recipes that can make use of leftover nuts from now on :).

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #20 Asian Dessert Buffet hosted by Moon of Food Playground

black sesame milk

I usually don't try to use blending machine to make my own drink or dessert, thinking that cleaning up is a chore... Hubby has bought the vitamix machine awhile ago. Seriously, it is an excellent machine for mixing and blending. He uses it for making sauces mainly, and always, the sauce turns out beautifully. But I had yet to try until now.

Last weekend, while clearing the dry goods containers, I realised there were quite some stock left.. nuts, seeds, dried mushroom, barley...  Then, I saw the sesame seeds and suddenly, I got a craving for sesame paste/milk. I recalled seeing an almond milk recipe recently... so I thought it was a good chance for me to try out the machine. The sesame amount I had was just nice for making black sesame milk.

Black Sesame Milk

80g black sesame seeds
450g fresh milk (I used low fat since that was all I got)
30g glutinous rice flour (I used glutinous rice to grind)
sugar to taste

1. Put black sesame seeds, glutinous rice and milk into vitamix blender and blend until resemble liquid paste form. (alternatively, blend the sesame seeds first, then add glutinous rice flour and milk to mix if blender does not allow blender and mixing)
2. Sift the liquid paste.
3. Heat up the sifted sesame milk on a pan over medium heat. Stirring until liquid starting to bubble.
4. When the desired consistency is reached, turn off heat, add in sugar to taste.
5. Serve warm or chilled.

Recipe modified from 君之's almond milk recipe.

I tried 2 versions, one without sifting and one with... thinking that the unsifted one will have more texture and flavour. How wrong! The sifted one was silky smooth and rich and the taste was just right with enough punch of the sesame taste without any bitter or burned flavour.  The unsifted one was too 'sandy' to glide down the throat and has a bitter aftertaste. So step 2 cannot be skipped.

From the picture above and below, one can tell the distinct difference between the unsifted (above) and the sifted one (below). I ended up sifting the one above too.

If there is any complain, the sesame milk has a slightly raw taste compared to the ready made ones in dessert houses. So the next time I make,  I will probably try lightly toasting the sesame seeds first.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #20 Asian Dessert Buffet (June 2012) hosted by Moon of Food Playground.