Tag: dessert

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Peppermint Crisp Pudding

My mom usually visits us from SA once a year and one of the things she just HAS to bring me is Peppermint Crisps.

I guard them with my life and my family knows they are not for random snacking.

In fact, I only ever use them to make a Peppermint Crisp pudding for breaking of the fast which is usually held at an ex-pat friends house, with dozens of SA ex-pats and other anglo friends.

The dessert goes down a treat and everyone waits, spoons at the ready, for our host to bring it out.

This year we are under lock down and so we didnt have a big breaking of the fast with friends and I decided not to make the dessert. The kids were super upset and said it just wasnt chag without it. So I made it for dessert for Sukkot and we just finished the last of the leftovers while playing DnD.

Now it feels like a new year 🙂

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Peppermint Crisp Pudding
Prep Time
15 mins
 

Im including original SA ingredients as well as the Israeli substitutes you can use.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: South African
Ingredients
  • 1 litre high fat whipping cream (or more depending on how big you want your dessert)
  • 1 pack biscuits, Tennis biscuits in SA or Petit Burre in Israel
  • 1 tin/tub caramel or dulche de leche (I've also used Lotus spread when I couldn't find caramel)
  • 1 slab Peppermint Crisp
Instructions

  1. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

  2. If your caramel/dulche de leche is thick or not spreadable, pop it into the microwave for 15 seconds or until its still thick but easily spreadable with a knife.

  3. Take your Peppermint Crisp slab and bash it around on the table or with a rolling pin so that it breaks up into small crumbly pieces.

  4. Take the biscuits and, one by one, spread the caramel on each biscuit and place in the bottom of a medium oblong/square glass dish or foil roaster.

  5. Cover the bottom of the dish in caramel biscuits and then spread half your whipped cream on top.

  6. Sprinkle half the Peppermint Crisp over the cream, use the bigger pieces for this layer and keep the smaller pieces and fine dust for last.

  7. Repeat the biscuit and caramel layer and then spread the last of the cream on top.

  8. Take the last of the Peppermint Crisp and sprinkle it over the cream, make sure you take all the Peppermint dust and sprinkle it over the cream too.

  9. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to eat. The sooner you eat it, the crispier the biscuits will be.

I’ve made this recipe parve too, use Riche’s Cream, Lotus spread and parve chocolate as substitutes. In Israel, its really hard to find peppermint chocolate in general, and parve peppermint chocolate is non existent. Instead I used plain parve dark chocolate and I found pure peppermint extract at a specialty baking store and added a few drops to the cream when I was whipping it. Its not quite the same, but delicious nonetheless.

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Thanksgiving and Pie

We were invited for a thanksgiving shabbat this week by American born friends in our neighbourhood. I asked what I could bring and was offered sides or dessert. I chose dessert!

Pie!! I mean who doesn’t love pie?

While apple pie is traditional, our hostess is allergic to apples, so I made two pies. One apple pie and one pear pie. Win win right?

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Apple (or pear) pie
Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
1 hr 30 mins
 

A traditional and simple apple pie recipe.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 1 packet frozen pastry dough
Filling
  • 8 apples (or pears), granny smith apples preferable
  • splash lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 egg for brushing the pastry
Instructions

  1. Peel and slice the apples (or pears) into small chunks.

  2. Place apples, lemon juice, sugars, cinnamon, salt and flour in a bowl and toss with your hands until all the fruit is covered.

  3. Cover bowl of fruit with plastic wrap and set aside for an hour or more.

  4. Take your frozen pastry dough out and let it defrost until it is manageable but still cool, I left mine in the fridge for 1 hour and it was ready when the fruit was ready.

  5. When you are ready to assemble the pie, turn your oven on to 180C.

  6. Once fruit is ready, take your dough and roll out a piece big enough to cover the bottom and sides of your pie dish.

  7. Place the pastry inside the dish and push the sides up a bit so they stick to the dish.

  8. Take your fruit and layer it into the pie dish, making sure the entire bottom is covered. Keep layering the fruit until in reaches the top of the dough up the sides of the dish.

  9. There will be some liquid left in the bowl, pour no more than 3/4 of a cup of this liquid over the top of the fruit before covering the pie with more dough.

  10. Roll out more dough and either place a full round piece on top of the pie or cut into strips and create a lattice top. You can also roll out the dough and cut shapes with cookie cutters, then create a patter with the shapes.

  11. If you place a full piece on top, cut a few slits into the dough to allow steam to escape.

  12. Brush the pastry dough with a bit of beaten egg.

  13. Once the pie is ready, place in the oven at 180C for about 30 minutes.

  14. Keep an eye on the pie and if you see the edges starting to burn you can cover them with a bit of foil molded to fit the pie dish.

  15. The pie is ready when the pastry is brown and the fruit is bubbling around the edges of the pastry.

  16. Allow to cool down before slicing. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from Inspired Taste

 

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Cheesecake and Berry Weekend

I’ve been craving cheesecake for over a week and even though I bought all the ingredients last week I only managed to make it this week.

It was so easy and delicious.

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Easy Cheesecake with Berry Reduction
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
45 mins
 


Course: Dessert
Ingredients
Crust
  • 1 packet plain biscuits, Petit Bur or Tennis Biscuits
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup melted margerine
  • 1 pinch salt
Filling
  • 2 packages cream cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 splash vanilla essence
Toppinb
  • 1 package mixed berries or berries of choice
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon thickening agent (corn starch)
  • 1/4 cup water
Instructions
Crust

  1. Using a food processor (or a plastic bag and a rolling pin), break up the biscuits until they are a medium to fine powder, bigger bits are ok too.

  2. Add the sugar, salt and margarine and mix well.

  3. Prepare a round springform or pie dish and press the crumb mixture into the base, pressing it slightly up the sides.

  4. Set aside.

Filling

  1. With a hand mixer, mix the cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth.

  2. Gently pour the mixture over the crumb base.

  3. Bake in a 180C oven for 30 minutes.

  4. Remove from oven and allow to cool before adding the berry topping.

Topping

  1. While the cake is baking, add the berries, water, sugar and thickener to a pot on your stove.

  2. Mix well and bring to a rapid boil.

  3. Drop the temperature to a simmer and allow the berries to reduce by 1/3.

  4. Allow the berries to cool before pouring over the top of the cooled cheese cake.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour Easy Cheesecake

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Got yogurt?

We did.

1.5L of Greek style yogurt.

Before it went bad I decided to look up a few recipes to use it up.

Two that stuck out were Snickerdoodle Cake and Frozen Yogurt Bark.

Both turned out delicious!

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Snickerdoodle Cake
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
45 mins
Total Time
1 hr
 


Course: Dessert
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 6 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup Greek style labour
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 180C and prepare 2 loaf pans.

  2. In a small bowl mix most of the cinnamon and 6 tablespoons of sugar together and set aside.

  3. In another bowl mix together flour, baking powder, salt and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and set aside.

  4. In your electric mixer (or a large bowl), cream the butter, sugar and oil on medium speed for about 1 minute.

  5. Add the eggs and mix.

  6. Add the vanilla and yogurt and mix until just combined.

  7. Add in the flour mixture and stir by hand until just combined.

  8. Scoop a 6th of the batter into each loaf tin, sprinkle a thick layer of cinnamon sugar over the batter, repeat 2 more times, ending with a cinnamon sugar layer.

  9. Bake for about 40-45 minutes.

  10. Remove from oven and allow to cool before removing from the tins.

  11. Serve warm with a little butter spread on.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Betty Crocker

 

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Frozen Yogurt Bark
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
4 hrs
Total Time
4 hrs 10 mins
 

Got some Greek style yogurt left over? This is a really quick and easy way to use it up.

Course: Dessert, Snack
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Greek Style Yogurt
  • 2 tbsp honey You can add more or less depending on your taste
  • 1/2 cup fillings/toppings of your choice raisins, craisins, nuts, marshmallows, frozen berries, fresh fruit
  • 1/2 cup strawberry jam heated until runny
Instructions

  1. Mix the yogurt and the honey until well combined.

  2. Add in any fillings you want.

  3. Line a baking sheet with wax paper or tin foil.

  4. Pour the yogurt onto the baking sheet. Thickness depends on you.

  5. Add desired toppings.

  6. Drizzle the strawberry jam over the top.

  7. Freeze for no less than 4 hours.

  8. Remove from freezer and break into pieces.

  9. Store in a sealed container in the freezer.

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A taste of childhood

The other day, while hunting for a tin of coconut milk, I came across condensed milk. It can be tricky to find here so I grabbed one and then stuck it in the grocery cupboard and promptly forgot all about it.

Then last weekend while looking for something yummy to snack on, I pulled out the tin. I also spied a bag of desiccated coconut and an idea struck.

Coconut ice!

I remember the white and pink sugar overload from my childhood quite fondly and decided to whip up a batch and introduce it to my children. Faith was dutifully impressed, Aaron took one sniff and said no way!

Its really, really easy to make and took no time at all. The hardest part was the mixing, its really good for toning your arms!

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Traditional Coconut Ice
Prep Time
15 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 

Super sweet, super sticky, coconut treats.

Course: Dessert, Snack
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 1 tin condensed milk
  • 500 g icing sugar
  • 400 g desiccated coconut
  • 3 drops red food colouring you can use any colour you like and even add flavouring if you want
Instructions

  1. Pour the condensed milk into a large bowl.

  2. Add the icing sugar and the coconut and mix together. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl to get all the condensed milk.

  3. Keep mixing. The mixture will be very stiff. Keep going.

  4. Line a square or rectangular, deep sided dish with baking paper.

  5. Scoop out half the mixture and using your hands or the back of a spoon, press the mixture into the dish. It doesnt have to be perfect but the more uniform the thickness is, the better it will look when you cut it into squares.

  6. Add your colouring (and/or flavouring) to the remaining mixture and mix well until the entire mixture is coloured to your liking.

  7. Scoop out the coloured mixture and using your hands or the back of a spoon, spread it over the first layer in the dish and press it down.

  8. Once everything is smoothed out to your satisfaction, place the dish, covered, in the fridge for a few hours.

  9. Once cold and set, remove the coconut ice from the dish, peel off the baking paper and slice into small squares with a sharp knife.

  10. Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to 3 weeks in the fridge.

Recipe Notes

You can add a bit of cocoa powder to the 2nd half of the mixture instead of food colouring to make a vanilla chocolate ice.

 

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Have your (cheese)cake and eat it too!

Once again, Shavuot has come and gone.

Last year I blogged about the awesome cheese blintzes I made (which I made again this year).

This time I decided to try my hand at making a cheesecake. I also wanted to make it sugar free so that Paul could enjoy it too. 

I found a few recipes online and using them as a base, I adjusted to the ingredients I had available.

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Sugar Free Cheesecake
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
50 mins
Total Time
1 hr
 

A fluffy, sugar free, baked cheesecake.

Course: Dessert
Author: Gina
Ingredients
Base
  • 1 packet sugar free chocolate tea biscuits
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 3 tbsp cup for cup sugar replacement
  • 1 tbs vanilla
Filling
  • 750 g ricotta cheese
  • 200 ml sour cream
  • 1 1/4 cups cup for cup sugar replacement
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Base

  1. Crush the biscuits until they resemble fine crumbs.

  2. Melt the butter and mix into the biscuit crumbs along with the sugar replacement and vanilla.

  3. Press the mixture into a prepared round 9 inch springform cake pan (or into the bottom of a glass or pyrex dish.

  4. Bake at 160C for about 5 minutes.

  5. Allow to cool while assembling the filling.

Filling

  1. Beat the ricotta, sour cream and sugar replacement until smooth.

  2. Add the eggs one at a time and beat to incorporate.

  3. Add the lemon juice and vanilla and mix well.

  4. Once your base is cool, slowly pour the filling on top and smooth out the top.

  5. Bake in a 160C oven for 50 minutes. The top will begin to turn brown and crack around 45 minutes. This is normal.

  6. Run a knife around the edge of the cake and then allow the cake to cool to room temperature before transferring to the fridge for at least 2 hours.

  7. Once the cake is chilled you can remove it from the pan.

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More fried things

Tonight the kids and I devoured these delicious apple fritters. So so so much of yumminess!

Apple Fritters
Sweet apple pancakes
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
10 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 cup flour
  2. 1/4 cup sugar (or sugar replacement)
  3. Dash of salt
  4. 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  5. 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  6. 1/3 cup milk
  7. 1 egg
  8. 2 green apples, peeled and chopped (thin or chunky is up to you)
  9. Oil for frying
Instructions
  1. Mix all the ingredients together.
  2. Add oil to the pan and heat.
  3. Place tablespoon amounts of batter into the hot oil.
  4. Fry on each side for 2 - 3 minutes (or until brown).
  5. Place on kitchen towel to absorb excess oil and keep warm in the oven until you are ready to serve.
Notes
  1. Can be served with an icing sugar glaze or with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Adapted from Chef Cooking
Adapted from Chef Cooking
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/

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Diabetic Friendly Apple Crumble

Laura-Kim from Harassed Mom inspired me with her recipe for a Quick Apple Crumble.

I found what I thought was a tin of diabetic apple slices in the store and bought it only to discover it was a tin of diabetic friendly apple puree. Oh well, we made a plan and modified Laura-Kim’s recipe.

Diabetic Friendly Apple Crumble
We adapted this recipe from Harassed Mom to be diabetic friendly. For the original recipe click through to Laura-Kim's site above.
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
50 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
50 min
Ingredients
  1. 175g flour
  2. Half a cup 'spoon for spoon' sugar replacement
  3. 110g butter or marge for a milk free option
  4. 1 tin diabetic friendly apple puree (we used the יכין brand)
  5. 2 green apples, peeled and sliced thinly
  6. Cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Combine flour and sugar replacement in a bowl
  2. Rub the butter/marge into the flour and sugar replacement mixture until it resembles crumbs
  3. In a greased pie dish spread the apple puree and layer the apple slices over it
  4. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon
  5. Cover the apples with the flour and butter mixture
  6. Sprinkle additional cinnamon over the top
  7. Bake at 180C for 35 minutes
Adapted from Harassed Mom
Adapted from Harassed Mom
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/

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Peppermint Crisp Heaven

My mom brought a veritable sweet shop with her when she arrived in Israel, Chomps, Tex, Smarties and of course Peppermint Crisp.

1024px-Peppermint-Crisp-Split

I remember biting off the ends of the Peppermint Crisp and sucking milk through it like a straw as a kid. Good times.

So while mom is here we decided to make a Peppermint Crisp Tart for pudding.

Peppermint Crisp Tart
A traditional South African dessert made with cream, caramel and Peppermint Crisp chocolate
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Prep Time
15 min
Total Time
15 min
Prep Time
15 min
Total Time
15 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 tub whipping cream
  2. 1 can caramel (or make your own by boiling a can of condensed milk. In Israel I used a tub of ready made dulce de leche)
  3. 1 packet of coconut biscuits (Tennis biscuits in SA, in Israel I used vanilla petit biscuits)
  4. Milk for soaking biscuits
  5. 1 large slab of Peppermint Crisp,crumbled. (Any peppermint flavoured chocolate would do)
Instructions
  1. Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks
  2. Dip the biscuits briefly in the milk and place in a single layer on the bottom of a large square/rectangular dish
  3. Cover the biscuits with a layer of caramel
  4. Sprinkle half the crumbled Peppermint Crisp over the caramel layer
  5. Add another layer of dipped biscuits
  6. Add another layer of caramel
  7. Cover with a thick layer of whipped cream
  8. Sprinkle the remaining Peppermint Crisp over the top of the cream
  9. Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve
Notes
  1. You can mix a bit of the caramel into some of the cream and include a layer of caramel cream in the middle of the tart.
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/

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The Melktert Saga

If you follow me on Facebook you would have seen that for Shavuot I was going to make a melktert (this one from FB). Well I did, except it did not set. The custard part is supposed to set enough that you can cut the tart into slices. Mine was still liquid enough that you had to eat it with a spoon in a bowl.

So I was chatting to some friends about it and they suggested that I freeze it and make ice cream, so I popped it into the churner and a yummy melktert ice cream was born.

Below is the recipe I used, I’m not sure if it was the recipe itself, the fact that I did it on the stove top and not the microwave or if it was the ingredients (Israeli not South African) I used that caused it not to set, so if you want to try it out as a traditional melktert give it a go, if it does not set then carry on with the freezing/churning part and make it into an ice cream like I did.

Melktert (Ice Cream)
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
3 hr
Total Time
3 hr 20 min
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
3 hr
Total Time
3 hr 20 min
Base
  1. 125g
  2. 85g melted butter
Filling
  1. 1 can condensed milk
  2. 1 can milk
  3. 2 cans hot water
  4. 2 tablespoons butter
  5. 4 eggs
  6. 6 tablespoons corn starch
  7. pinch of salt
  8. cinnamon
Base
  1. Crush the biscuits either by placing in a zip lock bag and smashing with a rolling pin or by pulsing in a blender until the biscuits are crumbs.
  2. Mix the melted butter into the biscuits.
  3. Press the mixture into a greased dish and either bake for 8 min on 180°C or chill in the fridge for an hour.
Filling
  1. Combine all the ingredients in a microwave proof bowl.
  2. Place in microwave on high for 7 minutes, remove and beat.
  3. Microwave for 5 minutes, remove and beat.
  4. Microwave for 3 minutes, remove and beat.
  5. This could be where I went wrong, I didn’t have a microwaveable bowl so I heated the custard on the stove, stirring continuously for about 25 minutes. It did thicken quite a bit.
  6. Let the custard cool down, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t form a skin, alternatively cover the custard with cling wrap on the surface so the skin cant form.
  7. Once cool, pour into the dish over the back of a spoon so you don’t break the biscuit base.
  8. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top.
  9. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours so the custard sets.
Ice Cream (If your custard didn’t set this is the point where you turn it into ice cream)
  1. Pour the unset custard into your churner and churn as per instructions.
  2. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer proof bowl,cover and freeze until hard.
  3. If you don’t have a churner you can place the custard into a freezer proof bowl, cover and freeze for at least three hours, remove every hour or so and mix well so ice crystals don’t form.
  4. I scraped the biscuit base into the churner at the very beginning, you can leave out the base and crumble it on top after the ice cream is made or you can add half to the churner and half over the top later, totally up to you.
Notes
  1. I am going to attempt a new recipe for the melktert so watch this space!
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/