Category: Shavuot

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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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Yogurt = cheese. No, really!

What happens when you ask your husband to by you plain yogurt to go with your muesli and instead of coming back with the 500ml bottle you were expecting he presents you with a 3L bottle instead?

You ask FB for recipes to use up the yogurt, that’s what.

You also get some great options.

  • Fruit yogurt smoothies
  • Frozen berry yogurt drops
  • Yogurt chocolate chip muffins
  • Tsatsiki
  • Yogurt pancakes (which I made last night and were delish)
  • And a half dozen suggestions to make Labneh cheese

After doing a bit of research and buying a brand new pair of knee high stockings I set about making cheese. It was really really easy and I will definitely be making more of it!

Look closely, you can see the liquid draining out the stocking

 

Cream cheese!

 

Labneh balls rolled in sweet chili mix, rosemary & garlic mix and a few plain ones for the kids.

 

Labneh Cheese
A simple and delicious Lebanese style cream cheese
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Ingredients
  1. 1 cup full cream (or high fat percentage) plain yogurt
  2. pinch of course salt
  3. cheesecloth (or a pair of new knee high stockings - I used 20 denier)
  4. a colander or large sieve
  5. a bowl big enough to fit the colander/seive
Instructions
  1. Place your colander into your bowl and then your cheesecloth over your colander.
  2. If you are using stockings, double them up and get someone to hold them open for you.
  3. Mix your salt and yogurt together.
  4. Spoon or pour your yogurt into the cheesecloth/stockings.
  5. Tie the top of the cloth/stockings closed at the top, squeezing the yogurt towards the bottom as you go.
  6. Now you can either leave the cloth/stockings in the colander as is or you can hang them above the colander and let gravity help (I hung mine from the kitchen tap).
  7. Leave your yogurt to drain for at least 24hrs, the longer you leave it the firmer the cheese will be.
  8. You can leave it out on the counter (in winter) or in the fridge if its too warm.
  9. When you are ready to unveil your cheese, give it one last squeeze to remove any residual liquid and then, over a plate, unwrap the newly formed cheese.
There are a few options once your cheese is ready
  1. You can place it in an airtight container in the fridge and use it as a plain cream cheese spread.
  2. You can roll the cheese into small balls and then roll the balls into various herb and spice mixes before placing in an airtight container in the fridge.
  3. You can roll the cheese into small balls and then place them in a glass jar with a well sealing lid. Top the balls of cheese with a high quality olive oil to preserve them. You can also add various herbs and spices to the oil to infuse the cheese with flavour.
Other options
  1. You can also add your herbs and spices to the yogurt before draining if you like which will give you a flavoured cream cheese when you are done.
Adapted from various recipes on the web
Adapted from various recipes on the web
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/
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Cheese, cheese, everywhere!

Shavuot, a celebration of the day the Jewish people received the Torah. As with all Jewish celebrations, we have special food related to the holiday. For Shavuot that means dairy.

Cheese, cheesecakes, pasta with lots of cheese and cream, ice cream, and most importantly (to me anyway), cheese blintzes. Yummy crepes filled with a sweet cream cheese mix and fried. They can also be made as savoury blintzes.

I found a recipe on Tori Avey’s site and modified it slightly. They were delicious!! Recipe below. All the lovely pictures taken by Paul.

batter
batter

 

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Fold over the bottom

 

Fold sides in
Fold sides in 

 

Keep rolling up and tucking the sides in
Keep rolling up and tucking the sides in 

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Cream Cheese Blintzes
Yields 9
A yummy sweet cream cheese filling wrapped up in a delicious crepe.
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Crepes
  1. 4 eggs
  2. 1 cup flour
  3. 1/3 cup sugar (I used cup for cup sugar replacement)
  4. 3/4 cup milk
  5. 1/4 cup water
  6. 1 tsp vanilla
  7. Pinch of salt
  8. Nonstick cooking oil spray
  9. Oil
Filling
  1. 1 package cream cheese
  2. 1/4 cup sugar (I used cup for cup sugar replacement)
  3. 1 egg yolk
  4. 2 tsp fresh lemon juice (I didnt have any and it was fine)
  5. 1 tsp vanilla
  6. Pinch of salt
Crepes
  1. Mix all the crepe ingredients together.
  2. Make sure the batter is smooth and there are no lumps.
  3. Transfer your batter to a jug for easy pouring.
  4. Spray a non stick pan with oil spray.
  5. Pour a small amount of batter (about a third of a cup) into the pan and swirl the pan around to spread the batter.
  6. Leave for a minute or two until the crepe is set, the exposed side of the crepe will feel slightly tacky if you touch it but not completely dry.
  7. Do not flip the crepe.
  8. Set aside on a plate and separate each crepe with wax paper or paper towel.
  9. You should get about 9 thin crepes.
Filling
  1. Mix all the filling ingredients together with a fork.
  2. The mix should be thick-ish and slightly lumpy.
Put together
  1. Lay out one crepe.
  2. Place a tablespoon or so of filling onto the bottom half of the crepe.
  3. Roll the crepe up and over the filling and fold in the sides.
  4. Continue rolling (and folding in the sides) until the crepe is sitting, fold side down on your surface.
  5. Set aside.
  6. Continue this process until all the crepes are rolled.
Final Step
  1. Heat a small amount of oil in the pan.
  2. Place 2 or 3 blintzes, fold side down, in the oil and fry for 30-60 seconds.
  3. Carefully turn the blintzes and fry the other side for 30 seconds.
  4. Remove from oil and drain on paper towel.
  5. Repeat this process with the remaining blintzes.
  6. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.
Notes
  1. The original recipe called for ricotta cheese as well as cream cheese. I didn't use ricotta and the filling was fine.
  2. If your batter is too thick you can add a dash more milk or water to thin it out. Your crepes should not be too thick or you wont be able to roll them up.
  3. You can leave out the sugar in the filling and add mushrooms, spinach or any other savoury filling.
  4. These are best served hot but I ate one that had cooled down and it was just as delicious.
Adapted from Tori Avey
Adapted from Tori Avey
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/
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Cheesecake Ice Cream

With the Jewish holiday of Shavuot coming up its pretty customary to make a cheesecake and eat ice cream and other dairy yumminess. But I got to thinking, why not make cheesecake ice cream?

Cheesecake 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
Ingredients
  1. 175ml milk
  2. 200g castor sugar (I cannot find castor sugar in Israel, so I took 200g brown sugar and whizzed in in my blender until it resembled castor sugar)
  3. 350g cream cheese (I used a ‘New York’ cream cheese which is kind of salty)
  4. Splash of vanilla
  5. 1 large egg
  6. 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  7. 250ml dessert cream
  8. biscuits for decorating
Instructions
  1. Bring milk to a simmer.
  2. While milk is heating, beat sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and the egg until smooth.
  3. Once milk is heated, add the milk to the sugar mixture and whisk very quickly so the egg doesn’t scramble.
  4. Return the mixture to the stove top and simmer while continuously stirring until the custard thickens.
  5. Remove from heat and leave to cool to room temperature.
  6. Once cool, place in the fridge for an hour or two to start chilling.
  7. Lightly whip the cream and gently fold it into the chilled custard.
  8. Add the lemon juice and mix gently.
  9. Now you can add the mixture to your ice cream machine and churn as per instructions or if you don’t have one, transfer the mixture to a freezer proof dish, cover and place in the freezer for at least 3 hours, removing the dish and stirring the ice cream every hour or so to prevent ice crystals from forming.
  10. Serve with crushed biscuits sprinkled on top or as a filling between two flat biscuits
Adapted from Nigella
Adapted from Nigella
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/