Cookies & Cream (Oreo) Cheesecake

I was looking for a recipe to use the cream cheese that I had sitting in my fridge. I decided to make this to bring to church for afternoon tea. I have been wanting to make a cheesecake with Oreos for a long time... and I had a packet of Oreos in my pantry for that purpose :)

(Adapted from Taste)
250g chocolate ripple (or Oreo) biscuits, halved
150g Oreo biscuits or cream-filled chocolate biscuits, roughly chopped
100g butter, melted
500g light cream cheese, softened, chopped
3 eggs
2/3 cup caster sugar
extra Oreo biscuits to decorate (optional)

Process 250g halved biscuits in a food processor until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add butter and process until combined. Press mixture over the side and base of a greased 20-cm springform pan. Refrigerate it for 30 mins to set (or freeze it for 15 mins).

If your food processor is not big enough (like mine), you may process the biscuits in a few batches. Place all the processed biscuits into a bowl and add melted butter and mix until it looks like wet sand.

In a mixing bowl, whisk cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking until combined. Fold in 150g chopped biscuits. Pour mixture into refrigerated pan. Place pan on a baking tray and bake for 50 mins to 1 hour at 160C or until just set (cheesecake will wobble slightly in the centre).

Turn off oven. Cool cheesecake in oven and leave the oven door ajar for 3 hours. Refrigerate overnight. Decorate with extra Oreo biscuits. Slice and serve.

Some extra tips:
How to line the base of a cheesecake pan
How to make the perfect cheesecake base
How to cut a cheesecake

Pear & Cinnamon Cake

This recipe is from Almost Bourdain. This cake is healthy and delicious. It is pretty much the same way as you would make a batter for a cake except you add a layer of sliced tinned apples (or in this case, I used pears) in the centre and on the top of the cake.

I had a tin of sliced pears in my pantry and it came in useful for this attempt. People have commented that this cake is moist and I personally think that it is not too sweet. I like it :) If you want the apples or pears with a slight crunch, I reckon you could use freshly sliced granny smith apples or sliced pears. Cook them (especially the apples) with a bit of water, brown sugar and cinnamon, until they have softened but are not mushy. Use this in place of tinned fruits.

If you don't have flaked or slivered almonds for the topping, just add a mixture of brown sugar and ground cinnamon.

Recipe is available here.

Bird Nest's Cupcakes

This is not your Asian tonic - dried Swallow's saliva :p This is a little cupcake that looks like a bird's nest with eggs. I made these mini cupcakes on Easter Sunday and brought them to church for afternoon tea and also gave some larger cupcakes to a birthday girl.

(recipe adapted from a cupcake recipe book I borrowed from the library)

125g butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder
3 Tbsp milk

To decorate:
125g mascarpone cheese
50g icing sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
1 Chocolate Cadbury Flake
Sugar-coated chocolate eggs (Buy these mini chocolate eggs from Big W. They should be on sale 1-2 months before Easter)

Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift the cocoa powder and flour (sometimes I don't bother sifting :p) into the mixture and fold them in with the milk.

Spoon mixture into the cupcake moulds lined with paper cases. Bake for about 10 minutes at a preheated oven of 180C or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow them to cool before you decorate.

Put cheese, sugar, cocoa powder in a bowl and beat it until it is smooth and well combined. Spread the frosting onto the cakes. Break the Cadbury Flake into shards resembling twigs and arrange them on top of the frosting to create a bird nest look. Finish off with a couple of chocolate eggs in each nest.

This was how it was supposed to look like in the recipe book :

This is not only suitable for Easter but also appropriate as birthday cupcakes! :)

Tuna Sandwich & A Lovely Afternoon Tea

Mini tuna sandwiches

I invited 2 girl friends to afternoon tea today. I made 2 sweet and 2 savoury finger foods for us to enjoy - scones, chocolate cake, cheese and tomato muffins and tuna sandwich.

(makes 12 mini round sandwiches)
12 slices of white or wholemeal bread (I love wholemeal bread)
1 x 90g can tuna
1/2 lebanese cucumber, sliced (round shapes)
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
butter

Using a 4cm round cookie cutter, cut out round discs of bread. Lightly spread one side of the round slices with butter.

Drain tuna to remove the brine or oil that it comes with. Place it in a bowl and add mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and mix well, using a mashing action to break up the tuna at the same time. If you like, you may add a bit more mayonnaise.

To assemble, place 1 slice of cucumber on 1 slice of round bread (buttered side). Top with a small amount of tuna mayonnaise mixture, just enough to cover the cucumber slice. Top it with another slice of round bread (buttered side down). Display on platter and serve.

Served in a really nice 2-tier stand,which was kindly given to me by a friend

Top platter - chocolate cake and scones. Bottom platter - mini tuna sandwiches and savoury muffins

My friends and I really enjoyed the afternoon tea with such a sumptuous spread. I could do this again with other friends!

Simple & Perfect Scones

These are the best and fluffiest scones that I have eaten and this was at "Tea and Niceties". I recalled that 'RM' (a lovely old lady that I know from work) makes really nice scones and so I asked her for her recipe when I got the chance to speak with her on the phone.

To my big surprise, there are only 3 ingredients to her recipe! I finally had a chance to give it a try with 'E' and 'G' today when they came over for afternoon tea. These scones and the recipe are rather different from the ones that I have tried or those that you typically find.

1 cup cream (or light thickened cream)
1 cup lemonade
3 cups self-raising flour

Sieve flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add lemonade and cream. Fold in the flour gently until the mixture is just combined. The mixture will be quite sticky and moist. I tried to put the batter onto a lightly floured benchtop but it was too moist for me to knead. Instead of using a round cutter to cut out the scone, I placed about 1 heaped teaspoon of batter into mini muffin trays. Alternatively I think you could scoop 1 Tbsp of batter and place it on a tray lined with baking paper or put the batter into lightly greased muffin trays. This recipe makes about 20 mini-muffin-sized scones.

Bake at 230C (or 210C fan forced oven) for 10-12 mins. Serve warm. Dust with icing sugar (optional). Serve with strawberry jam and whipped cream (whip thickened cream until light and fluffy). Have it with your favourite tea. Hmm.... that is an afternoon tea to enjoy!

Apparently the secret to fluffy scones is lemonade (I have been advised that Schweppes brand is preferred but I have Kirks in my pantry)! These scones are quite close in taste and texture to the ones we ate at T&N. The exterior of this scone has just a slight crust and the interior is soft. Break it into 2 and have it with strawberry jam and whipped cream. It almost melts in your mouth... yum yum!

'RM' also shared that you could add some chopped pitted dried dates and add ginger ale instead of lemonade.

I don't know about you but I cannot get enough of this and I shall make another batch tomorrow!

I think these scones will freeze well too. If you decide to make some ahead of time, you may freeze them in zip-lock bags. Just ensure that the scones are not squashed before they are frozen so that they can be frozen 'whole'. To enjoy, simply warm it up in the microwave.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Pieces of chocolate cake with scones on a platter

I chanced upon this recipe from Taste and have been wanting to try this delicious-looking cake.

'Flourless' means that no flour is used, but it is usually replaced by either hazelnut or, more commonly, almond meal (nuts ground finely - alternatively you can use a food processor to ground whole/half nuts into a 'meal'). 'Flourless' also means that this is suitable for people who are gluten-intolerant. I love the hint of nutty flavour in this chocolate cake. This recipe requires a little bit more effort. Try it when you want to attempt something different, or when you need an idea for something enjoyable you can make for friends on a gluten-free diet.

Recipe is found here. I find that half the amount of chocolate and cream is more than sufficient to ice the entire cake. I had a bit of leftover after icing the entire cake. Store the leftover icing in the fridge and use it on your toast, just like nutella!

Healthy Mixed Berries and Yoghurt Muffins

Shteppi shared that she was making these muffins. I recalled that I have some near-expiring greek yoghurt in the fridge. Hence I asked Shteppi for this recipe to use up my greek yoghurt in my fridge.

Greek yoghurt tends to be a little more sour so I compensated it by adding a tad more sugar. Anyway if the end result is not sweet enough (like Shteppi said of hers because she usually tend to put in lesser amount of sugar than require), you may have the muffins with your favourite jam.

I have all of these ready in my pantry/freezer already:

1.5 cups self raising flour (I used wholemeal ones for a healthier version)
3/4 firmly packed or 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar (I reckon 3/4 cup white sugar can be used instead)
1/3 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup plain yoghurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
100g frozen mixed berries (I used frozen blueberries which I bought when they were on sale)
3 eggs

In a mixing bowl, mix well flour, sugar, rolled oats and hazelnut. Then add eggs, oil and yoghurt and whisk them in. Lastly fold in the berries. Place them into prepared muffin trays and bake 180C for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

I haven't tried if mine were sweet enough or tasty but they looked really good. The portions above yields 12 standard muffins. I froze them in 3 packets of 4 for Quop and my breakfasts. This is an easy and really healthy option for a quick snack or brekky!