Weekend Cooking: Best of 2024

Last year, I decided it was a good idea to start doing an annual post at the end of the year where I would announce what my cookbook of the year was, and the recipe of the year. 

Last year, that was easy for both catgories. There was one clear winner when it came to the book that we had cooked the most out of. The big issue for me this year is that if you asked me the question again of what was the cook book you used the most during 2024, then the answer is...the same book, which is Dinner by Nagi Maehashi.

There was a new cookbook from Nagi (yes, we call her just her first name in our house) during 2024, and we have cooked quite a bit from that one since we got it, so I thought for my Best of 2024, that would be the book that I chose, but as you can see from the picture, it really is about both of the books

I haven't shared any thoughts about Tonight yet, so I thought I would take this opportunity to do so! We were very excited when news broke off a new Nagi cookbook, and I was very interested to see what she would come up with. Interestingly, all the recipes in this book are new, with the exception of one which was the very first recipe she ever put up at the Recipetineats website, which is the Sticky Pantry Chicken. We liked that recipe. Her first cookbooks was a mixture of website and new recipes

The idea behind this book is that when you get the question What's for dinner tonight then you should be able to use this book to find something that you have the ingredients for in your pantry and that will be easy and delicious. What you do get in this book are options. For example, there is a recipe for Veitnamese Coconut Lemongrass Pulled Pork where there are four different ways to serve it.

The book is broken up in to the follow chapters

What I Crave

The Fastest Recipes

My Favourites Made Easier

What You've Got on Hand

Charlie

One 

Salads I Love

I love Roasted Veg

Sunday Suppers

Sweets 

Sides.

The chapter I was most interested in when we first started hearing about the book was the Charlie chapter. Charlie is what Nagi calls her base stir fry sauce and now, if we are making her stir fry, we always make a batch and have some in the fridge for using next time. I was therefore interested to see what the other recipes were that she used it for. Our favourite recipe in this chapter is Honey Pepper Chicken. It's so good!

I think that the recipe that we have cooked most out Dinner is an Indian Coconut Prawn Curry. Think butter chicken but with prawns. It's pretty quick and easy and delicious. We do have to wait for my son not to be home as he won't eat prawns.

Other recipes we have tried including Normandy Pork Chops, One Pan Chorizo Couscous, Every Day Stir Fry, Chicken and Tomato Pasta and an Orange and Poppy Seed Loaf. There is still plenty left for us to explore!

Oh, and the other thing to mention is that they fixed the index so that it is much easier to use than the one in Dinner!

What about the best recipe for 2024? Again, not as clear cut as last year. The recipes that we cooked the most this year were from Nagi with the one that we made over and over again being this one for Spicy Pork Noodles.

I have, however, chosen the single recipe that I got the best reaction for and that I spoke to people about most. If the subject of cheesecake comes up, I can't help myself. I have to talk about the recipe for Baklava Cheesecake from Georgina Hayden's book, Greek-ish. I even talked about it to an American lady who was on our Scotland tour about it. She was very keen to go home and make it! The full title of the recipe is actually Baklava Cheesecake, I Love You! and I have to say I love it too! I loved the idea of using filo pastry for the base, and the baklava flavours with the white chocolate cheesecake are so delicious!

Baklava Cheesecake, I Love You - Georgina Hayden

225g caster sugar
1 lemon
1Tbspn rose water
60g unsalted butter
100g walnuts
1 tspn ground cinnamon
250g filo
200g white chocolate
200g feta
280g full-fat cream cheese
200ml double cream
3 Tbspn honey
Chopped pistachios, to serve




First, make a syrup.Place 100g of the caster sugar in a small saucepan with 125ml of water and two strips of lemon zest (use a peeler for this). Bring to the boil on a medium heat, swirl to dissolve the sugar, then reduce the heat a little. Simmer for 5–8 minutes, until you have a thick, but not coloured syrup. Stir in the rose water and leave to cool completely.

Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin with a little of the butter. Place the walnuts in a dry frying pan and toast for a few minutes on a medium heat. Once they start to smell nutty, stir in the ground cinnamon and 25g of the caster sugar. Let the sugar caramelise slightly, then tip the nuts out onto a chopping board. When they’re cool enough to handle, finely chop.

Melt the rest of the butter in a small pan. Lay two sheets of filo over the cake tin, overlapping slightly, so they completely cover the base and sides, then brush all over with the melted butter. Sprinkle a quarter of the chopped walnuts over the bottom, and repeat the process twice more with filo then butter and walnuts (keep the remaining walnuts aside). Top with a final layer of filo, really push it in to the bottom and sides, then brush with butter. Trim off any excess pastry around the top with scissors and bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes, until crisp and golden.

When the filo shell is ready, remove from the oven and drizzle the cold syrup over the hot pastry, particularly down the sides. Leave to cool.

For the cheesecake filling, break the white chocolate into small, even pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Either melt in a microwave or over a pan of simmering water — be careful that the bowl doesn’t touch the water in the pan or the chocolate will seize up. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is just melted.

Meanwhile, break the feta into pieces into a large bowl. Add the remaining 100g of caster sugar and blitz with a stick blender till smooth. Add the cream cheese and finely grate in the remaining lemon zest. Beat with a whisk, not a stick blender, until smooth (electric beaters would be best if you can handle more washing up). Add the double cream, whisk until light and then finally stir in the melted white chocolate.

Spoon the filling into the baked and cooled filo case, loosely cover and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, overnight if possible. Just before serving, drizzle with a little honey and scatter over the reserved walnuts, and some chopped pistachios for a pop of colour.

And finally, for this year these are the cookbooks that I accumulate throughout the year! Do you own any of these?

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in My Kitchen in November

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I usually share everything I have made over the previous month. I did try a couple of new things this month!

The first treat I made this month was Orange Poppyseed Loaf which was from Nagi Maehashi's new cookbook called Tonight. This was a big winner, especially the cream cheese frosting. I love it when a recipe includes cream cheese frosting. It's a shame that you can't put it on everything!

My next bake is called Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka, which is also known as Polish mountain cake. The recipe comes from the cookbook Sift by Nicola Lamb, which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. I also shared the recipe. This was a delicious cake, consisting of two layers of choux pastry, filled with a mascarpone custard and a plum jam!

We had a 13 people around for lunch last weekend. My husband cooked a barbecue and made pap and gravy (which is a South African dish), the guests bought the salads, and I did two different types of dessert. The first dessert was a pavlova board. I made the pavlova nests, but like last month, it took two attempts. I had made the nests on the Thursday and they were in the oven drying out. When my step daughter was asked to put the oven on for dinner, she didn't check and so it was only when she smelt sugar  burning that she realised they were in the oven! I therefore had to remake them. That's five lots of meringue over the last two months for various reasons!

I can't, however, take credit for the presentation of the pavlova board. When I made one a few years ago, my fruit was just all mixed up,  but Ash did a great job of making the board look pretty. The sauces are a salted caramel sauce, a chocolate sauce and a raspberry sauce which I made.

The other dessert was a Coffee Cream Cake. This is one of my husband's favourites, and now, it is one of his friend's favourite as well! I have shared the recipe for this one before.

I went to Aldi the other day. Even though I do my best to resist the lure of the centre aisle, I wasn't strong enough to not buy this 3D Christmas tree cake pan. I am planning just to do a very simple vanilla cake and then decorate it for our family Christmas lunch in a couple of weeks time. Hopefully it will look okay! I think that the other dessert will be a Peppermint Crisp Tart which my husband makes so it would appear that I won't have too much to do for the family Christmas lunch.

We visited the French Christmas Market last weekend. Whilst I didn't think it was particularly Christmassy, I was very excited when I saw that there was a company there selling baking kits. There were four different varieties available including canneles, madeleines and two different flavours of macarons. I chose Salted Caramel Macarons, but I fully expect that I will buy the other kits at some point. It reminds me of the Bake It Boxes that I used to love so much in that it has everything you need in it, except for the eggs.

We also picked up what was being advertised as the best pate in Melbourne. We had had this brand of pate before, so this time we picked up a terrine as well.

The other new thing for me this week was going to a very popular  cheesecake shop called  Lulu & Me. This is a place where they only sell several different varieties of cheesecake each day, and you can either buy a whole one, or by weight. So if you only want a small slice, say 100g, you can just buy that amount. I bought home some of the basque cheesecake and some of the Passionfruit and Hazelnut cheesecake which was delicious. I would be more likely to buy some of the flavoured cheesecakes because I know that I can make basque cheesecake at any time. It's a pretty easy recipe!

New Recipes

We have tried a few new recipes in the last month. 

Indian Coconut Prawn Curry (Nagi Maehashi)

Honey Pepper Chicken (Nagi Maehashi)

Japanese Chicken Curry with Vegetables, Udon Noodles (Atlas)

Chicken Nanban with Stir Fried Asian Greens and Roast Potatoes

Japanese Beef and Rice Bowl (Atlas)

Weekend Cooking posts over the last month

Widow Cliquot (movie review)

Sift: The Elements of Great Baking by Nicola Lamb

A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas

Cook the Books: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Weekly meals

Saturday - Nothing
Sunday -  Leftovers
Monday - Chicken kebab wraps
Tuesday - Japanese chicken curry with noodles (Atlas)
Wednesday - Chicken
Thursday - Beef
Friday - Pork spare ribs, potato salad and ciabatta

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: A Tale of Two Cheesecakes

Cheesecake is one of my favourite things to eat and I have shared lots of cheesecakes over the years, but is that going to stop me from talking about two recent cheesecakes I have made? Well, of course not.

But first lets take a look at just some of the cheesecakes I have shared on the blog over the last 14 years! Some of them are straight cheesecake, others incorporate cheesecake elements.



Creamy Ginger Nut Cheesecake (recipe)

Burnt Basque Cheesecake (recipe)

Cheesecake Brownies

Japanese Jiggle Cheesecake

Jelly Slice (recipe) 

Salted Caramel and Vanilla Cheesecake (recipe)

Classic Baked Cheesecake (recipe)

White Chocolate Cheesecake (recipe)

And now I am going to talk about two very different cheesecakes that I have made over the last month or so.

The first was an Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake from Theo Randall's magnificent cookbook, The Italian Pantry. I have previously posted about how much I enjoyed this book and we continue to enjoy cooking from it, especially the meatball recipe.

I was keen to try this cheesecake recipe as it is different from any cheesecake recipe I have ever tried before. Firstly, the base is made from cantuccini biscuits, which are a type of almond biscotti. The second thing that is different is that it uses a combination of ricotta and mascarpone instead of cream cheese. I was also not able to get Amalfi lemons, so I just used normal lemons. Having talked about the differences, I would like to stress how easy this was to make.

I took this to friends house for a very pleasant Sunday afternoon tea, and it was a hit!

Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake

200g (7oz) cantuccini biscuits
75g (2¾oz) unsalted butter
50g (2oz) light brown sugar
500g (1lb 2oz) ricotta, drained
100g (3½oz) mascarpone
zest and juice of 2 Amalfi lemons, plus extra zest to serve
125g (4½oz) icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted
Method

Tip the cantuccini into a food processor and blitz them to a fine crumb. Alternatively, place them in a Ziplock bag and bash them with a rolling pin or saucepan. Set aside.


Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a low heat, then add the blitzed cantuccini biscuits and the sugar. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute, then take the pan off the heat.


Tip the mixture into a 22cm (8½in) non-stick springform cake tin, pressing the buttery crumbled biscuits over the base to create a biscuit base. Transfer the tin to the fridge while you make the ricotta filling.


Using a hand-held electric whisk or a wooden spoon, beat together the ricotta, mascarpone, lemon zest and juice and icing (confectioner’s) sugar in a large mixing bowl for 4 minutes, until the mixture is creamy and light.


Spoon the ricotta mixture into the springform tin and spread it out into an even layer over the base.


Refrigerate to set for a minimum of 3 hours, but preferably overnight, before releasing the cheesecake from the tin. Transfer it to a serving plate and top with extra lemon zest before slicing

The second cheesecake that I tried was a Lemon Cheesecake recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook One. The idea of the book is that you only use one pan to cook the meal, or in this case the cheesecake.

The idea of this one is that you cook this in a frying pan, starting from the biscuit base, through to the cheesecake mixture. To be honest, I am really not sure how this saves anything because you would still be using just one cooking implement if you did in the normal cake tin that I used. You would have gotten a better base in the cake tin as well.

Another reason to not use the frying pan. It really, really hurts when you forget to use the oven mitt when you go to put the frying pan back in the fridge. Trust me on this!

One thing I did like about this recipe was the idea of using a food processor to do the biscuit base and then just doing the cream cheese part in the same food processor without worrying about washing the bowl out. Normally I would use the food processor to do the tin and then the stand mixer to do the cream cheese part. I will definitely do that in future.

The title of the recipe is a bit misleading as I do feel as though the raspberries should at least get a shout at.

Lemon Cheesecake 

100 g unsalted butter
250 g Lotus Biscoff or ginger nut biscuits
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
100 g icing sugar , plus extra for dusting
680 g cream cheese
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Melt the butter in a 28cm ovenproof frying pan over a low heat, while you blitz the biscuits until fine in a food processor. Turn the heat off, tip the biscuit crumbs into the pan and mix well, then spread and pat out in an even layer, going slightly up the sides. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove. Crack the eggs into the processor (there’s no need to clean it), with the vanilla and most of the icing sugar and blitz for 2 minutes, until pale. Blitz in the cream cheese and lemon juice, then pour evenly over the biscuit base. Mash half the raspberries and the remaining icing sugar with a fork, swirl through the top, then bake for 15 minutes.

Pull out the pan and scatter over the rest of the raspberries, dust with a little extra icing sugar, then pop back in for another 10 minutes. At this point, switch from the oven to the grill on full whack, until the top is beautifully golden and just starting to catch. Remove and leave to cool, then chill in the fridge for 2 hours before serving. The texture won’t be completely smooth but boy will it be delicious.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Chilli, rice and broccoli

Sunday -  Leftover chilli

Monday - pork chops, mash and broccolie

Tuesday - steak, mushroom and broccoline

Wednesday - takeaway

Thursday - chicken katsu curry, rice, broccoli

Friday -

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked (In My Kitchen) in June

The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I made in the previous month. I say all the things, but I haven't been baking as much as I had been, but I do have a couple of things to share.  I also share any other things that might have been happening in my kitchen!

The first thing to share is a Burnt Basque Cheesecake which I served up as a dessert at a family dinner. Because it has been cold here, we had a soup and dessert night. The soups that we served were Pea and Ham Soup and also Bacon, Vegetable and Risoni soup (recipe here) which my husband likes to pimp up a bit by adding little pork meatballs. Make two big pots, put out lots of bread rolls, and dinner is soup!

Then for dessert, I made Burnt Basque Cheesecake (recipe here) and served it with roasted raspberries. Everyone loved it and I had a couple of requests for the recipe. It is super easy to make and tastes oh so good!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a passage from A Wedding in Tuscany by Sandy Barker which talked about the traditional Tuscan celebration cake called Millefoglie. It's only right that I should try to make it right?

I will confess that I cheated and used store bought puff pastry. I also should have made the creme diplomat a bit thicker. I would also have liked to have piped that in rather than just splodging it, but all my baking stuff is in the shed somewhere in anticipation of moving. Again, this wasn't too difficult. It is a case of making the creme diplomat and baking the puff pastry and then assembling and decorating. 

I was very excited this month as my husband bought me a KitchenAid mixer for my birthday! The first year we were together he bought me an el cheapo stand mixer, which has done the job for the last five years, but now I have the real deal. I think he was future prooffing gift ideas to make his own life a bit easier too, as now he can buy me the accompanying accessories for the next few birthdays and Christmas gifts.

I know it's an obvious name but I am calling her Ruby!

It's looking like our house will be ready soon so it won't be too long before these posts are all about what I have cooked from this kitchen! When it is finished that is.

I am sharing this post at Sherry's Pickings as part of her In My Kitchen monthly event.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Prawn Nasi Goreng

Sunday - French Onion Casserole

Monday - Fried Chicken

Tuesday - Enchiladas

Wednesday - Pressure cooker spaghetti bolognaise

Thursday - 

Friday - Out for dinner

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in September

It's the last Saturday of the month and that means it is time to share what I have baked during the month of September.

It's been another busy baking month, helped no doubt by the fact that I had plenty of time thanks to taking a week off work

Chocolate Babka - I started the month by attempting to make a chocolate babka. I say attempted because while I think the braiding to form the patterns is not bad, I am not sure that the dough proved enough. It tasted good though so I might try making it again at some point.

Hummingbird Cake - I really wanted something with cream cheese frosting, and this cake definitely fitted the brief. It also tied in nicely with Cook the Books this month.

Cheesecake brownie - I have been meaning to try making cheesecake brownies for the longest time. Will definitley be making this one again.

Coffee Meringue Shards - When BethFishReads and I did a joint review of Nadiya Hussain's Nadiya Bakes recently, she shared the recipe for Coffee Meringue Shards. I hadn't really noticed this recipe in the book, but I am glad that I made these.

I used these a couple of ways. The first way was with whipped cream, as a sort of coffee eton mess. Simple but delicious.

The second way I used them was by making the coffee cream cake that I originally made a couple of months ago and used these as the decoration.

Today I am making a flamingo cake for my son's 23rd birthday. Yes, that's what he chose, except he wanted a green flamingo! That's something to look forward to seeing in my October post!

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Potato, Pea and Spinach curry

Sunday -  Bunny Chow

Monday - Salmon Teriyaki Noodle Stir Fry

Tuesday - Spanish Tuna Bake

Wednesday - Beef Pepper Pie

Thursday - Chicken kebabs, baked potato and coleslaw

Friday - Take away

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in August

It's the last Saturday of the month and that means it is time to share what I have baked during the month of August.

It has actually been a busy baking month this month, and I have a very long list of things I want to try making so it might well be in September too. It's not like I dont have the time given that we have been in lockdown for a few weeks now, and I think it is unlikely that those restrictions  will be lifted this week either.

Mini Jam Tarts  - I made these specifically to be able to include a photo in my post about the book The Jam Queens which I shared a few weeks ago. I have shared the recipe for these previously here.

Lemon Angel Food Cake - When watching the Great Canadian Baking Show, one of the bakes that caught my eye was an Orange Chiffon Cake. I went and bought the specific tin and everything but then I realised I have a profusion of lemons on my tree at the moment so instead I made Lemon Angel Food Cake. It was oh my goodness level of delicious. I did make a bit of a mistake though, if that is the right word. When I decided to make the cake I decided that I was going to send some of it around to my sister's house, which I was more than happy to do, as they had been ordered to isolate due to a positive case at my nephew's school. One bite of the cake though, we realised that it ws so light, so fluffy and so delicious that we should have kept it for ourselves! Oh well, I have the tin so I can make it again at some point. Luckily, they enjoyed it too!

Lemon Mousse - In the recipe for the cake it suggests you can buy lemon curd, but I decided to make my own which I then used as part of the topping for the cake. I did, however, have quite a bit leftover, so I decided to make individual pots of lemon mousse! So good.

Filo Cream Parcels - I have watched Nadiya Hussain's Netflix series Nadiya Bakes a couple of times now. One of the first things I decided to make out of the book when I read it was the Filo Cream Parcels. I shared the recipe for this last week as part of the joint review I did with BethFish Reads.

Japanese Jiggle Cheesecake - I first heard of this recipe on Great British Bake Off and have had it on my list to make ever since then.  Again, light, fluffy and jiggly. I think now I need to have a cheesecake month where I can decide whether I like this, the Basque Cheesecake I made a few months ago or a New York style baked cheesecake. 

Weekly Meals

Saturday - 

Sunday - Bangers and Mash Pie

Monday - Chicken Burrito Bowls

Tuesday - Beef Stroganoff

Wednesday - Green Curry Chicken Pie

Thursday - Steak, Baked Potato and Vegetables

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in June

 

It's the last Saturday of the month and that means it is time to share what I have baked during the month of June.

Jelly Slice -My brother in law's mother makes the best version of this. For many years it was always part of our Christmas treats but this is the first time I have actually tried to make it. One of her tips is to make it in the container that you want to serve it in, rather than make it in another tray and then have to move it around. When I make it again I will put more of the filling and the jelly to get the proportions better as my container was a little bigger than the recipe suggested. I have previously shared a similar recipe here.

Orange and cardamon cookies - This was a recipe from our local store magazine and I would definitely make them again as they were very tasty.

I did have an interesting conversation with my husband this month. We bought some portuguese tarts from Costco which were very tasty and Robert, my husband,  said to me "you should make some of these", and he was genuinely shocked when I said that I had made them at least twice. This led to a process of going through some blog posts and saying do you remember me making this or that and the answer to a lot of those was no, which is either good news for me or not. It does mean that I can remake a lot of things and present it as new but that would also mean not trying anything new!

Weekly Meals

Saturday

Sunday - Easy Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Monday - Mac and Cheese

Tuesday - Spiced Chicken and Naan

Wednesday - Indian Spiced Lamb Keema

Thursday - Pork Vindaloo Curry

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

Weekend Cooking: Burnt Basque Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of my favourite things to eat. My favourite one to make is a White Chocolate Cheesecake which I have been making for years. It is also the one that my friends request the most, and I do get in trouble if I turn up with a different cheesecake. They'll eat it and enjoy it, but they will still be disappointed.

The thing is though, I also like trying new combinations and new flavours, so I am happy to try new recipes. In a recent store magazine there was a recipe for Burnt Basque Cheesecake as well as lemon and chocolate variations and they looked so good that I decided to try one! I started with the traditionally flavoured recipe, but I think I will try the other two variations in due course.

I really enjoyed this recipe because it was so simple and tasted so good. Unlike a normal baked cheesecake, there is no base, so you literally mix it all and then cook it! Simple! 

It puffs up in the baking but collapses down when you take it out of the oven, and you want it to be on the brown side, and there are meant to be cracks in it, so it is difficult to make mistakes.

Here is the video of the recipe

Burnt Basque Cheesecake

1kg cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar
6 free range eggs
600ml thickened cream
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/3 cup (50g) plain flour

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 22cm (base measurement) springform pan. Place a 30cm x 40cm sheet of baking paper on a clean work surface. Top with another sheet of baking paper, turning 90 degrees to create a cross. Line the prepared pan with the paper cross, pleating and folding sides to fit. Place on a rimmed baking tray.

2. Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is very smooth.



3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and silky. With the motor running, gradually add the cream in a thin, steady stream. Continue beating until smooth. Add the salt and vanilla and beat to combine.



4. Sift the flour over the cream cheese mixture and beat on low until smooth and just combined. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake for 1 hour or until the cheesecake is golden brown and puffed. Set aside to cool completely. Place in the fridge for 2 hours to chill.



5. Serve chilled or bring to room temperature for a softer texture. Cut into wedges to serve.

Weekly Menu

Saturday: Steak, broccoli with mushroom sauce
Sunday: Birthday Dinner
Monday: Steak and Pepper pie

Tuesday: Tuna Pasta Bake
Wednesday: Mexican Chicken and rice

Thursday: Pork Chops with mash potato and vegies
Friday: Takeaway burgers

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.