No-Churn Passion Fruit Cheesecake Ice Cream

No-Churn Passion Fruit Cheesecake Ice Cream

by | Jan 11, 2017 | 10 comments

If there is ONE ingredient that perfectly sums up the flavour of summer it would be passion fruit right? (side note: we call it granadilla here in South Africa and I’d love to be able to tell you a funny, quirky story as to why we do but frankly the internet let me down on this one!) And if there is ONE dish that perfectly sums up the feeling of summer, it’s of course, ice cream. Put them together and you’re basically eating a summer holiday! My kinda food.
Also, incase you haven’t noticed yet, there are TWO desserts in ONE here. Bonus! Cheesecake and ice cream are always a good idea.
Put them together and you have a damn good idea! This ice cream is for those days when someone asks you, would you like cheesecake or ice cream? And your answer? Just say ‘YES!’
I crumbled in my favourite Eet Sum Mores (appropriately named, yet innappropriately spelled) but you could use Oreos or gingersnaps or chocolate chips, throw in some caramel swirl or lemon curd, or crushed up meringue!
*sigh* I love my job.

No Churn Passion Fruit Cheesecake Ice Cream

Makes 1L
225g full fat cream cheese

1 tin (400g) sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups cream, whipped to stiff peaks

230g passion fruit pulp

5-8 shortbread biscuits, crumbled

Beat cream cheese until smooth then add in the condensed milk and mix until creamy. Fold in the whipped cream gently and lightly to retain the air.

Pour a third of the mixture into a freezer-proof container (a metal loaf tin works well), swirl 1/3 of the passion fruit into the mix then crumble over some of the shortbread. Repeat with the rest of the mix, swirling and scattering in between each layer. Freeze until firm (about 4 hours). To serve, remove from the freezer for 10 minutes then serve scoops with extra passion fruit pulp and crushed shortbread, if desired.

 

TIP Not a passion fruit person (are you even human?!) then imagine this frozen creamy cheesecakey goodness swirled with strawberries, or blueberries, or mango – no pineapple!

Cheat’s Chocolate Caramel Tarts

Cheat’s Chocolate Caramel Tarts

by | Jun 24, 2016 | 0 comments

#SPONSORED

I’m all for cheat’s anything when it comes to eating – especially when it comes to cravings! The quicker I can get from the making part to the eating part, the better! A few weeks ago, I discovered a ground-breaking new way of making shortcrust tart cases. While I’m all for making pastry from scratch and resting, rolling and blind-baking, sometimes, you just want to eat more than you want to bake and that’s okay – which is why this recipe will change your life. Shortbread biscuits, people. The answer was there all along – duh! Simply crush up the biscuits with some butter, press them into the tart cases and bake for 10 minutes and hey, presto (as they say), you’ve got tart!

While I’m all for shortcuts, the one thing I don’t cut the corner on is proper caramel sauce – nothing from a bottle or ready-made can EVER replace a proper homemade caramel sauce. I like to use sugar with flavour AND sweetness, and while boring white sugar gives you the latter, my favourite unrefined, Natura Light Muscovado Sugar, gives you both – double whammy! And because just two layers of deliciousness is never enough, I’ve topped these tarts with dark chocolate (the good stuff) and a sprinkling of sea salt for some salty crunch. Cheating never tasted THIS good!

Cheat’s Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Tarts

Makes 4

 

200g (half a packet) shortbread biscuits (I used Eet Sum Mores)

1 tbsp melted butter

165g Natura Light Muscovado Sugar or Natura Soft Brown Sugar

¼ cup water

½ cup cream

25g butter

200g good-quality dark chocolate, melted (I use AFRIKOA 70% Dark Chocolate)

sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

 

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Grease 4 x small spring form tart tins. Place the shortbread biscuits in a food processor and pulse until very fine – almost powdery consistency. Add the butter and mix to form a consistency similar to wet sand. Use a teaspoon to press the biscuit crumbs into the prepared tart tins to form a pastry case then bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool thoroughly. To make the caramel, place the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the mixture reaches 140C on a thermometer or until soft crack stage – when a little caramel dropped into a cup of water forms a soft ball which gets hard after a minute. Add the cream and butter and swirl until combined. Remove from the heat and pour into the baked pastry cases. Allow to cool completely then spread with the melted chocolate. Sprinkle a few sea salt flakes on top and allow to set – if you can wait that long that is!

Disclaimer: This post has been created in collaboration with Natura Sugars, however, I only work with brands I think are awesome and that I actually use myself.
Homemade Crunchies (Chocolate Honeycomb)

Homemade Crunchies (Chocolate Honeycomb)

by | Oct 20, 2015 | 0 comments

Honeycomb was one of the first things I created that made me fall completely in love with baking. It’s got that magic – like meringue – where you can make something glorious out of a handful of very basic ingredients. It really comes down to science, but it’s still damn cool when you sprinkle bicarbonate of soda into a molten pot of caramel and it fizzes up like a heavenly volcano. (If there are volcanoes in heaven, I’m pretty sure they will ooze bubbly honeycomb…#justsaying)
 
 
There is not a South African alive that doesn’t have an affinity for, what we call, crunchies. As a kid, my memory of them is of Friday after-school drives home, eating crunchies while letting the chocolate melt on my fingers so I could lick it off. When I say ‘letting the chocolate melt’ I mean it was done purposely, because chocolate bars never have time to melt in my hands! We’d buy the crunchies from this glorious little factory shop in George that sold all Cadbury’s rejected chocolate bars. Rejected by them and welcomed by me!

I’ve covered my homemade version in dark chocolate because I love how the bitterness balances the sweetness of the honeycomb, but feel free to coat yours in milk or even white chocolate. A sprinkling of sea salt also gives these a deliciously grown-up twist!  My memory of them is not quite the perfectly formed crunchies most would be used to, but I urge you to embrace this because cutting honeycomb into perfect bars? Ain’t nobody got time for that!  What you will have time for though, is slowly letting the chocolate melt so you can lick it off your fingers!

Homemade Crunchie Bars

Makes 8

 

50ml water

190g Natura Golden Caster Sugar

50g Natura Light Demerara Sugar

140g glucose (available from pharmacies or baking shops)

60g honey

10g bicarbonate of soda

500g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, melted (for coating)

 

Grease and line a 20cm-square baking tin with non-stick baking paper.

In a medium pot, over low heat, combine the water, sugars, glucose and honey until completely dissolved. Turn the heat up and simmer until the syrup reaches 144°C – if you don’t have a sugar thermometer, simply drop the syrup into a small cup of tap water. It is ready when it forms a hard ball almost immediately.

Remove from the heat and, working quickly, add the bicarbonate of soda all at once. Whisk until the honeycomb foams up then immediately pour it into the prepared baking tin.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Once completely cold, use a sharp serrated knife to cut the honeycomb into bars.

Dip the bars in the chocolate (you can also use a pastry brush to paint the chocolate on) and allow to set on a sheet of baking paper.

It is very important to store honeycomb in an air-tight container to avoid it becoming sticky. If you have silica gel sachets saved from shoes or handbags, place one of them in the bottom of the container to help absorb humidity.

TIP It is very important to store honeycomb in an air-tight container to avoid it becoming sticky. If you have silica gel sachets saved from shoes or handbags, place one of them in the bottom of the container to help absorb humidity

Chocolate Peppermint Crisp Fridge Bars

Chocolate Peppermint Crisp Fridge Bars

by | Feb 15, 2015 | 3 comments

This no-bake 5-ingredient recipe’s deliciousness revolves around three quintessential South African ingredients – sweetened condensed milk, peppermint crisp bars (can be substituted with any peppermint or mint-flavoured chocolate or sweets) and ‘Eet sum mores’ which are delicious, buttery shortbread biscuits. Of course, these yummy ingredients are bound together with lots of melted chocolate so if you haven’t realized it by now, your diet is pretty much destroyed.

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s idiot-proof and even better is that you can use just about anything in it – nuts, biscuits, dried fruit, sweets, marshmallows, cherries, breakfast cereal, your favourite chocolate bars – have I left anything out?! 😉

When I created this recipe last year for a quick segment on Expresso Morning Show, I had no idea just how popular it would be. I put it up on Facebook as I didn’t think it was worth a full blog post and then forgot about it pretty quickly. Except that now, it has been shared over 18 000 times (and so I’m eating my words… and the cake!)

Chocolate Peppermint Crisp Fridge Cake

Serves 8-10

 

100g butter

300g The Kate Tin Milk or Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped

½ tin sweetened condensed milk (eat the rest of the tin with a spoon)

200g shortbread biscuits (Eet sum mores)

160g peppermint crisp bars, chopped (I also used some mint aero)

80g mini marshmallows (optional)

Line a standard loaf tin or baking tray with a sheet of baking paper and set aside. Place the butter, chocolate and condensed milk in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on a medium to low heat until smooth. In a separate bowl, break the biscuits into pieces and combine with the peppermint crisp chunks and marshmallows (or whatever other ingredients you’re using). Combine the cooled melted chocolate mixture with the biscuit mixture and stir until combined. Pour into the lined loaf tin and place in the fridge until completely set. Unmould and cut into slices.

 

 

5-Ingredient Nutty Chocolate Magic Bars

5-Ingredient Nutty Chocolate Magic Bars

by | May 12, 2014 | 0 comments

Idiot-proof doesn’t come close to describing these bars. I mean, you don’t even need a bowl to make them! It’s a simple case of layering 5 ingredients and banging the tray in the oven. No stirring, no mixing, and no effort. But I don’t promise that waiting for them to bake won’t take effort because it will. It will in fact be torture. Now I hear you asking, ‘But Kate, why are they magic?!’ Well, because you just layer the ingredients in the baking tin, and while they are in the oven, they magically split into a crumbly biscuit layer, a sticky caramelised toffee layer and a nutty, chocolatey layer on top. What I love the most about these magic bars, besides the fact that they’re ridiculously easy and decadent, is that they’re just as versatile. Don’t like coconut? Swop it out for oats, or puffed rice or granola. Add more nuts, take out the chocolate, sprinkle in smarties or chocolate malty balls, the sky is the limit!

5-Ingredient Nutty Chocolate Magic Bars

No mixing, no washing up, simply layer the ingredients in a baking pan and the bars magically come together during baking.

Makes 24

 

125g butter, melted

150g chocolate or digestive biscuits, crushed

1 tin (395g) sweetened condensed milk

1 cup The Kate Tin Dark Chocolate Chips or The Kate Tin Baking Chocolate, chopped

2 ½ cups chopped nuts, coconut or oats (or a combination of all)

 

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20 x 20cm non-stick baking pan. Pour the melted butter into the tray and sprinkle the biscuit crumbs over evenly. Pour half the condensed milk over. Layer the remaining ingredients on top one at a time and press down firmly with the back of a spoon then pour the remaining condensed milk over. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until light brown. Loosen from the sides while still warm and cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.