No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake

K made this lovely blueberry cheesecake.  It looked good.  It tasted good.  Never mind if it was not exactly the healthiest... anyway, K browsed through various sites and then combined two recipes keeping in mind the ingredients that were available to her.

Ingredients:
( Crust and filling - Joy of Baking )

Crust:

Graham cracker crumbs or digestive biscuits (crushed) - 1 1/2 cups (150 grams)

White sugar granulated- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) 

Unsalted butter, melted - 6 tablespoons (85 grams) 

Filling :

Cream cheese, at room temperature - One 8-ounce (227 grams)

Granulated white sugar - 1/4 cup (50 grams) 

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Heavy whipping cream - 1 cup (240 ml) 

Topping :

Recipe - UK tv 

Cornflour - 1 tsp

Lemon - 1/2 - juiced

Caster sugar - 40 gms

Blueberries - 200 gms

Preparation - 

Crust - 

In a large bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter.

Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a well greased 8-9 inch (20-23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom. A spring form pan can also be used.

Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom and about one inch (2.5 cm) up the sides of the pan.)

Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for an hour while you make the filling.

Filling -

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. 
Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the vanilla extract. 

In a clean bowl, beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. 

Gradually fold or beat the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. 

Pour the filling over the chilled graham cracker crust and smooth the top. 

Cover and place in the refrigerator for about an hour 

Topping -

Take cornflour in a small saucepan

Stir in lemon juice and make it a smooth mixute

Add 2 tbsp of water, sugar and blueberries

Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes

Stir till blueberries are softened and sauce thickened to a rich colour

Leave to cool, cover and chill

Once cooled spread the blueberries topping over the crust+filling and return to the refrigerator to chill for several hours, or even overnight.

Remove the base and carefully slice and serve.  Keep any leftover ( if any ) in the refrigerator.

Blueberry Muffin with Streusel topping

Little N loves blueberries. And no one wants to deprive her of them.  But recently A got more than she could possibly consume and I got into action .  The last time I made blueberry muffins was with chocolate chips. I was looking for something different and after looking at various recipes settled down to making muffins again. Muffins with a streusel topping.  This site -Whisk Affair has amazing pictures and the product looked very good.  I was not particularly taken in by what I read about the streusel topping;  It just seemed like sugar and fat and what would it do to the muffin ?  I was all wrong.  It does make a whole lot of difference... bake it and see for yourself.  Btw - streusel I am told in german means something scattered or sprinkled - very apt.

As usual the pics are a bit of a let down.  But don't go by them.  They were delicious.

Recipe for 12 muffins

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
Unsalted butter - 58 gms
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 1
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Blueberries - 1 cup

Streusel topping :

Sugar - 2 tbsp
All purpose flour - 1 tbsp
Olive oil or butter - 1 tsp

Get the Streusel ready - mix all the ingredients and keep aside.

Preheat oven to 180C
Line muffin tin with liners
Mix flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a bowl
In another bowl, add sugar and bowl and whisk till light and fluffy
Add the egg and mix again followed by the yogurt and vanilla

Now add the flour and whisk till just combined.  Fold in the berries
Pour batter in the prepared muffin try upto 1/3 the level
Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly on the muffins
Bake for 20-25 mins till tooth pick comes out clean
Remove from oven.  Cool a further 5 mins in the pan and then remove and cool thoroughly

Blueberry Scones

You always read of tea with scones. Served with butter, cream and jam. S got some blueberries, not the sweetest, but fortunately they were not tart either, and I found a blueberry scone recipe at Joy of Baking.  Just before that I had watched a TV show where they made these fresh scones, and the lady said that these were the simplest dish that could be made when you have guests coming in without notice. And these are the kind of recipes I like !

All Purpose Flour - 2 cups ( 260 gms)
Granulated sugar - 1/3 cup (65 grams)
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/8 tsp
Butter 85 gms ( roughly 6 tbsp) chilled and unsalted - cut into pieces
Fresh blueberries - 150 gms
Egg - 1 large - beat lightly
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Milk or cream - 1/2 cup
( As usual, I used milk, you can use cream for a richer scone)

Brushing the scone.
An egg wash - ( yolk beaten with a little water ) or use milk and cream to brush top of scone before baking

Line a tin with parchment paper that has been lightly greased and keep ready
Take a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
Cut butter into small cubes.
Blend into the flour mixture - there are 3 ways you can do this
Use a pastry blender
Hold two knives crosswise and criss-crossing movement to blend the butter into the flour
or Simply use your hand - it helps if you do not have warm hands - to lightly blend the butter into the flour without melting it
The mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs.
Gently fold in the blueberries. 
In a small container combine cream/milk, beaten egg and vanilla.
Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir lightly till the dough comes together 
(You may have some milk left over like I did , which I used to brush the scones )
Be careful not to over mix the dough or the scones will be tough

At this stage pre-heat the oven 200C

Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface
Knead the dough gently 4-5 times
Pat the dough into a circle about 7" round, 1 1/2 " thick.
Cut into half and then each half into four triangular pieces.
Place scones on the prepared baking tray
Make sure there is enough space between the scones
Brush the tops of the scones with little cream, milk or egg wash

Bake for about 18-22 minutes till nicely browned and toothpick inserted in centre comes out cleanly.
Cool slightly on a wire rack
Have if possible the same day - though it still tastes good the next day or the next !!

Ideally had with cream or butter and jam.

Blueberry and White Chocolate Muffins

The muffins were picture perfect... but I learnt a few lessons in baking  One - never use blueberries that are still tart for baking.  Two - never try to improvise on a recipe.  I thought I could cut down the white chocolate chips.  Result - great looking muffins but not sweet enough for my liking !!  So, stick to the recipe and if you are on a diet - do not bake !

Ingredients: Makes 6 nos
Flour - 150 gms
Sugar - Golden Castor - 50 gms
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Egg - 1 beaten
Butter - 50 gms - melted and cooled
Milk - 100 ml
Blueberries - 75 gms
White chocolate chunks - 75 gms

Pre-heat oven to 200C
Line a muffin tin with paper cases
Put the dry ingredients together - flour, sugar, baking powder and salt - in a bowl
Mix beaten egg, melted butter and milk into the dry ingredients
Add the blueberries and chocolate chunks
Do not over mix.  It should be slightly lumpy.
Put into the paper cases and bake for 25 minutes or till the muffins rise and the tops are golden

Recipe Source: BBC Good Food

Blueberry soured cream cake with cheesecake frosting

Baked by Sa.
Recipe sourced from - BBC Good Food

Ingredients

Soft butter - 175 gms 

Golden caster sugar - 175 gms

Eggs - large - 3
Self-raising flour 225 gms
Baking powder - 1tsp
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Soured cream - 140 ml
Blueberries - 375 gms

CHEESECAKE FROSTING
Philadelphia cheese - 200 gms
Icing sugar - 100 gms

Preheat the oven to 180C

Line the base of  round cake tin with non-stick baking paper

Place butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla in a bowl
Beat with a wooden spoon or with a hand electric beater till lligher in colour ( generally 2-3 minutes depending on what you are using)
Beat in 4 tbsp soured cream, then stir in half the blueberries with a large spoon.

Tip the mixture into the tin and level it.
Bake for 50 minutes until it is risen, feels firm to the touch and springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool for 10 minutes, take out of the tin
Leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Frosting:

Beat soft cheese with icing sugar and remaining soured cream in bowl till smooth and creamy.

Spread over top of cooled cake ( if the cake is warm the frosting will melt!!)

Scatter the remaining blueberries.

 

 

 

The cake will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. Bring it to room temperature for about an hour before serving.

Enjoy!

Sa - you will have to make it for us!

Banana Blueberry Muffins

Guest Post from Mpls I -
Courtesy my brother and sister-in-law

Ingredients:
Shortening (we use vegetable shortening)1/2 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Eggs 2
Sour milk (add two teaspoons lemon juice to milk to make sour)- ¼ cup
Baking soda 1 tsp
Vanilla 1 tsp
Salt pinch
Ripe bananas -2 large mashed ( the bananas should be over ripe and soft, ideal way to use those fruits that you cannot eat!! Do not use firm bananas)
Flour -2 cups
1 cup blueberries or 1/2 cup walnuts (fold in later)

Mix in order given -
Beat ingredients until all are completely mixed.










Fold the blueberries or walnuts in (drop gently into batter and slowly using a spatula mix it into the batter


Grease a muffin container with butter or spray mix.




Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and then bake

(for approximately 18 minutes if blueberries are frozen - if fresh or using walnuts, check muffins after 15 minutes by poking a toothpick in and seeing if it comes out clean)
If done, remove immediately from muffin tin. Leaving them sit in there even outside the oven will make them dry.

If using a bread pan, bake for at least 25-30 minutes at a minimum. With frozen blueberries, it may even need baking up to 40 minutes.

Delicious banana-blueberry muffins are ready!