Vanillicious.com – Easy Desserts

Butterscotch Brownies

You already know what I think of brownies – everybody loves them so for me it’s the ultimate party dessert. Even I love the chocolate ones, and I’m not a milk or dark chocolate fan at all!

I received this recipe from a very good friend of mine and my baking guru, Elie. Yes, same Elie who’s responsible for the perfect Carrot Cake. This is another great classic of mix and bake cake, and it’s relatively quick to bake, too.

Before you start, here are a few tips:

• First rule of brownies: don’t over bake, brownies are supposed to be moist.
• Second rule: cute only after it cooled down. Unless, of course, you plan to serve it warm.
• You can add some white chocolate chips to the mixture before you spread it in the tin.  30-40g should be enough.
• Another interesting combination is butterscotch and coconut. once the mixture is already in the tin, you can spread 3-4 Tbsp of desiccated coconut on top of the mixture.
• The butterscotch brownies are best served with custard, vanilla cream or vanilla ice cream.

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Cheesecake with Crumble Topping

In Israel we have a holiday that is being traditionally celebrated by serving dairy foods. I call it the Cheesecake holiday,whereas the official name is Shavuot. I’m really not into religious at all, so I’ll spare you the story behind this holiday. If you really want to know what it’s about, you can always waste your time reading the wikipedia article. I’m more into the foods, and if there’s a cheesecake holiday, then hey, I’m in! Even if the explanation for it is too religious. Also, being able to say “In Israel we have a cheese cake holiday” sounds pretty cool for a middle eastern country.

I’ve been wanting to make this cake for a while now, but never really got to it. Now that Shavuot is approaching, I figured it’s time!  It literally takes a few minutes to prepare the base and crumbs (plus 15 minutes baking), and a couple more to assemble the filling ingredients and whip the cream. So don’t feel intimidated by the relatively lengthy looking instructions.

Some tips before you start:

• The most efficient way to line the dough in the tin: I suggest you line the tin in baking paper, plce the dough on top of it, cover with another baking paper and roll into the tin shape using a rolling pin
• Full fat cream cheese should have 20-30% fats; Low fat cream cheese should have up to 6% fats.
• Using icing sugar while whipping the cream will thicken the whipped cream even more. I would highly recommend not to substitute it with a normal sugar.
• Before spreading the filling, attach stripe(s) of baking paper to the rim of the tin, so the mixture won’t attach to the it. This might destroy the perfect edges of your cake, though I guarantee it will taste the same. The hight of the stripe(s) should be the hight of the tin rim, and in order to attach it to the rim, just wet your hand, move them over the inside of the rim. The the baking paper will then stick to the rim with the help of the water.
• The cake has to stabilize overnight in your fridge. You could also freeze it, but you will have to transfer it to the fridge 3-4 hours before serving. Alternatively, you could leave it on the kitchen counter for 2 hours if the weather allows. It is not recommended for summer days, though.
• Once the crumble has cooled completely, it is advised to keep it in an airtight container and scatter it right before serving. That way the crumble won’t become moisty from the fridge. However, having the leftovers in my fridge for 2 more night didn’t seem to have a negative effect on its freshness.

Happy Cheesecake Holiday!

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Best Muffin Recipe Ever

No, this is not just a catchy headline, these muffins really turned to be the best I’ve ever baked.

The credentials for this recipe and tips go to Natalie Levin, a pastry chef. As a big fan (well, and a muffin lover, too) I had to give this recipe a try and it turned even better than I expected!

Some muffins tips before you go and bake these little wonders:

• The following recipe will make 12 normal sized muffins and requires 5cm bottom diameter muffin paper cases.
• This can be a great basic muffin recipe, and blueberries can be replaced with almost any other berry or fruit of your choice (raspberries, apricots, nectarines etc. Try to avoid strawberries, they don’t bake too well).
• When stirring, use a wooden spoon and mix only until all ingredients blend together. Don’t over-mix, and this will give your muffins the right, dense texture.
• Bake the muffins immediately. The longer the mixture sits, it’ll contain less leavening power.
• Bake the muffins until a skewer inserted in to the centre comes out with moisty crumbs, not totally clean. That will keep them soft for few more days.
• If necessary, these muffins can be kept frozen for up to a month.

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Vanilla Raspberry Roulade

This is a cake my mom used to make during my childhood.  She always made two of them at the same time – one filled with vanilla cream and the other was chocolate. And they were pretty simple, there was the base and the cream, nothing else. Honestly, back then it was more than enough, especially since my mom never baked creamy cakes, so it felt like a special occasion when she decided to prepare the roulades!

When I started preparing the roulade myself (one at a time, since I have only 1 oven tin, while my mom used to have two!), I realized how simple it is to make. Much simpler than the cheesecake and sponge cake she was baking on (almost) a weekly basis. Yes, I really mean it. Actually, it’ll even take you longer to read through the recipe then prepare it.

Since I like berries so much, I added raspberries to the original vanilla filling. These can be replaced with any other berry of your choice. If you choose to fill with strawberries, you should slice or dice them first. You can even spread raspberry jam (or any other jam) or berries purée instead of the raspberries.

And if you prefer to keep it classic – base and cream, I say – go fo it!

I hope you’d enjoy it as much as we did!

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Chocolate Muffins

This recipe is courtesy of Marta A (yes, Marta without h), the most talented food photographer I know. These were baked in her kitchen one afternoon, and while baked, and enjoying the new set and accessories of that particular photography location and the lighting at her apartment, which is much better than in mine. So I was trying to make the most out of it.

As I already mentioned, muffins are one of the easiest and quickest desserts ever, and everybody just love ‘em! And please, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!

So how easy is the art of preparing the muffin batter? So easy, that I can put it together in one sentence: mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another, then pour the mixed wet ingredients in the mixed dry ones and mix until just incorporated.

The rest – spooning into the cases is just too much fun (especially the finger licking part) to be considered as part of the no too much time consuming process.

The pictured muffins are drizzled with some Irish cream frosting, and here’s how it’s done: Mix Irish cream and icing sugar in a 1:3 proportions (for example: 1 tbsp Irish cream, 3 tbsp icing sugar), and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes. Then mix again and pour over the muffins. that’s it.

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Lemon Berry Cake

Remember my berries obsession? I didn’t bake with berries for a while, and today I bought some frozen berries, which means I’m the proud owner of 1kg of frozen berries. Berries to bake with! And perhaps snack the blackcurrants while I bake, because they are such a great snack when they are frozen or semi-frozen (not when thawed, though..)

What makes this cake so special is the combined flavours of the lemon and berries. If there’s one thing I learned since I started baking (for the sake of argument, right?), it is that the flavours of berries and lemon go so well together. Even when I prepare a home made berries yogurt (with store-bought natural yogurt!), I add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice. It blend so well together and the lemon enriches and strengthens the berries flavour.

A few notes regarding the ingredients:

• I actually prefer to use limes (zest and juice) instead of lemon just because I think the cake looks more interesting with the tiny greenish hints in it. If you decide to replace the lemon, make sure you use two limes, because in baking, size (and measurements) matters!
• Frozen berries are perfectly fine for this cake. I think fresh berries should be used only when they suppose to keep their original shape and when they are not supposed to be baked. A good example is berry tarts or tartlets.
• In my opinion, the best berry-mix for this cake is raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants. Though once I had a mix that contained cherries as well, and I discovered they can go pretty well in this cake, too. If you prefer, you can omit the blackberries, which are (relatively) the sweetest (or less sour) berry in this mix.

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Lemon Meringue Roulade

Also in this article: how to beat egg whites

Do you also have too many egg whites in your fridge or freezer? A few days ago, when freezing another egg white I realized I had too many jars, full of them. I then decided I must do something about it. I figured a meringue roulade is a great solution. When I think of meringue, I have the crunchy type of meringue in mind, from the time I was a little girl, when a cute coloured meringue swirl was called “A kiss”. This roulade has a different texture, a very soft, spongy meringue that almost melts in the mouth. An absolute yum!

The filling: I chose to fill my meringue roulade with lemon cream. If you prefer, you can fill yours with any other cream of your choice: vanilla, chocolate, berries (add some smooth berry purée of your choice to the whipped cream) etc.

It is also gluten free, so suitable for those who are allergic (coeliac/celiac disease). I think of those things because of my mom, so whenever I find a recipe suitable for her, I immediately call her, expecting her to try it the next day, if not immediately (though it never works that way..)

But before you go on and try the recipe, here are some beating egg whites tips:

• For best results, bring the egg white to room temperature before beating them. This will ensure your foamed egg whites will get into the highest possible volume.
• It is recommended to beat egg whites for meringue with a mixer. If you don’t have one, a hand mixer can do the job as well. However, it might take 2-3 more minutes to get similar result.
• When you start beating the egg whites, start at a slow speed and gradually move into higher speed.
• You should beat your egg whites until they are well firmed and fluffed (stiff peaks). At that point, you should stop! The texture should be smooth and look glossy and shiny. Another way to know your foam reached it’s max volume is to tilt the bowl, and the beaten egg white will not flow. Even if you overturn the bowl in the air (carefully!), the foam will remain in the bowl in the same shape. I never dare to do that, but I think rolling the bowl to it’s side is good enough.
• If you overbeat the egg whites, the texture will look dry and granular and it will liquify again.
• Use the beaten egg whites immediately

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Lime Pie

How to describe this pie in one word: Sensational!

A simple American dessert, requires very few ingredients and little effort. Also known as Key Lime Pie, when using limes from the Florida keys. As of 2006, it is the Florida state pie.

The filling should be slightly yellowish, since the lime juice is more yellow rather than green, but also due to the egg yolks. Mine is slightly more greenish, due to the added lime zest, and it can be noticed. If you happen to find a greenish lime pie but no visible zest, it most probably contains food colouring. I would keep my distance from such pie.

An interesting fact: early lime pies weren’t baked at all, due to a chemical reaction between the condensed milk and the lime juice when combined, which causes the filling mixture to thicken without baking. These days, however, the consumption of raw eggs is not recommended. Therefore, the pie is being baked for a short time, just enough to cook them, but it also thickens the filling more than the chemical reaction alone.

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