Yoghurt cheesecake with blueberries and a country cookie base

This recipe popped up in my mind  the moment I saw the biscuits cakes they were baking in last weeks Heel Holland Bakt- episode (this is the Dutch version of the Great British Bake Off). But... just before the new broadcast tonight, it is finished: a gluten-free yoghurt cheesecake with blueberries and a country cookie base.

My kids (and I am too) are crazy about country cookies based on (gluten-free cultivated and processed) oatmeal. It seemed to me an ideal crust for a zingy cheesecake. And blueberries and cheesecake .. they just belong together? Right? So that cheesecake had to be made before it drove me crazy.

Ingredients:

For the bottom and some cookies for decoration

• 300 grams of oatmeal (gluten-free cultivated and processed)
• 3 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• a pinch of salt
• 100 grams of ground coconut
• 4 small eggs
• 10 tablespoons honey
• 125 grams of butter (melted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cheesecake filling

• 500 grams of Greek yogurt
• 300 grams of cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 4 small eggs or 3 large ones
• 150 grams of fine caster sugar
• 50 grams of rice flour (gluten-free)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of  lemon zest

For the blueberry topping

• 100 ml of pear juice
• 150 grams of blueberries
• 3 leaves of gelatin

NB. Make sure you have some extra blueberries to put on the bottom of the cheesecake

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius (325 Fahrenheit).
2. Cover a spring tin of 20 cm diameter with baking paper and grease it.
3. First make the dough for the bottom and the biscuits. Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a mixer until you have a cohesive mixture (it will not be a firm dough, but all oatmeal and coconut must be sticky with the other ingredients). Fill the tin with 2/3 of the dough and make sure you coat the edges.
4. From the remaining dough, make small biscuits, that you bake on a baking tray covered with baking parchment for 10-12 minutes at 200 degrees Celcius.  This can be done while your cheesecake is in the oven (or if you only have 1 oven: after baking the cheesecake, as this must cool down for 3 hours in the fridge).
5. Now make the cheesecake mixture. I put everything in the bowl of my kitchen machine and that beat it until well combined. To prevent lumps (that's what happens with the Monchou cream cheese if you have just taken it out of the fridge like I did) I used my blender to whip it into an airy mixture (and the lumps will also have disappeared ;-) ).
6. Sprinkle blueberries over the dough and pour the cheesecake mixture over it.
7. Put the cheesecake in the oven and cook it for about 60-80 minutes. The top is then light brown and the middle can no longer wobble. If the cheesecake is slightly cracked in the middle and it doesn't wobble it is usually cooked. First let it cool down and then refrigerate the cake to completely cool in 3 hours.
8. When the cheesecake is in the oven, make the blueberry jelly. Cook the pear juice with the blueberries  and let it boil for 5 minutes or so. Take it off the heat. Soak the leaves of gelatin in cold water and add to the warm blueberry mixture, puree it with a blender to get a smooth jelly. Allow to cool and pour over the cheesecake when it is cooling down in the oven (in my case the jelly was too set already so it is slightly less smooth than I intended).
9. Decorate with some cookies and serve your guests (or eat it yourself ;-))

Bon Appetit !!

Pumpkin Pie with Cream Cheese Frosting

I've had many conversations about my sons gluten free diet the last few days. My son was invited to a birthday party of a classmate and so I had to discuss his diet with her mom in order to make sure he was catered for. His classmate had told her mother already that Thijmen has a diet, so her mom was sort of prepared. Until she heard what it all meant. A bit overwhelmed she said: "Oh my, that must be so difficult to live with...." and I answered her: "No, it's ok... when you are used to it..." and in my mind I was already concocting a new recipe. I also told her: "I'll e-mail you where you can get what you need so you won't have too much work and he'll eat safely & has fun." 

I'm always e-mailing people, calling restaurants, bowling alleys, theme parks or zoo's to check if my kid can eat there gluten free. And I stress how important it is to be strict in this diet, because it will make him very sick otherwise. It's part of being the mom of kids on a gluten free diet. But when people ask me if it is hard and difficult, I will always tell them it's not that bad. When you are used to it. And that is the truth, although it might looks like i'm contradicting myself. This diet is strict and there are so many freaking things you need to remember of which cross contamination is the hardest one. It's so hard for others to understand that one measly crum of bread, pasta, cookie, cake or candy can make you sick. But once you've learned all the tricks, know which products are safe (but keep checking ingredient declarations at all times), have turned your life style around it (washing your hands a gazillion times per day for instance), once the diet is in your system, it's really is no that bad. It's still a serious business, but it is not the end of the world. You just get used to all the organizing, baking, cooking and explaining. 

Now if only all the above was the same for doctors. I also talked to two friends this week who have loved ones with tummy issues and it amazed me how easy doctors say: Go eat gluten free for a while to see if it helps you. I keep educating people around me about getting a bloodtest first that will show signs of gluten intolerance if you are a celiac. If you start the diet first and then take the test, these levels drop fast and there is nothing left to see. So when you would quit the diet, because the test shows nothing, you could only make yourself sicker. Or ... what if they tell you that if it works, you need to go back to 6 weeks of gluten hell again, just so they can make a diagnosis they could've made way sooner if they did not advise, but had acted first? And besides, do they actually tell you that there is more to this diet than just eating gluten free? That is also means that you have to be fully gluten free and that you can't cheat and that you need to keep all gluten products away from the gluten free stuff for fear of contamination? 

That is why I keep repeating myself and maybe I'm the gluten free pest in your Twitter & Facebook timelines, telling people to take this all seriously, but I do that because it just needs to be said, for my kids sake, for other celiacs' sake and for all those people out there who do not know where their tummy troubles come from. And I'll always add after all the seriousness: "Once you get the hang of it, it's not that bad. And I'm here to help." 

I'll step off my soapbox now and share this recipe with you that shows that eating gluten free ain't so bad. ;-)

I decorated it with chocolate pumpkins for that Halloween vibe

Ingredients:

For the shortbread base

• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of soft butter
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of finely granulated sugar
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of rice flour
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of corn flour
• 1 tablespoon of xanthan gum

For the pumpkin filling

• 750 grams (1lb 10oz ) of pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
• 140g (5 oz) of caster sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp fresh nutmeg, grated
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 25 grams (1 oz) of butter, melted
• 175 ml (6 fl oz) of milk

For the cream cheese frosting

• 200 grams of softened cream cheese
• 115 grams (4 oz) of butter
• 250 grams (9 oz) of icing sugar 
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (400 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Put the butter and sugar for the shortbread in a bowl and whisk till it is all fluffy.
3. Pour in the flour and xanthan gum and mix well. The dough will be light and crumbly. 
4. Butter & line a spring tin with baking parchment and toss in the crumbly dough. Press it and make sure it is evenly spread out in the tray. 
5. Bake in a warm oven for about 10-15 minutes until golden. Take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit.
6. Place the pumpkin in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15 mins or until tender. Drain pumpkin; let cool
7. Push the cooled pumpkin through a sieve into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, salt, nutmeg and the cinnamon. Mix in the beaten eggs, melted butter and milk, then add to the pumpkin purée and stir to combine. Pour into the tart shell and cook for 10 mins, then reduce the temperature to 180C (350 degrees fahrenheit). Continue to bake for 35-40 mins until the filling has just set.
8. Leave to cool.
9. Make the cream cheese frosting as follows. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.
10. Serve chilled.

Mini Custard Pies with an almond, coconut & oatmeal base & a fresh strawberry

I was making rumpledoodles (see recipe on my blog here) a few weeks back and as I was making the dough for these cookies full of fibers and lots of flavour I realized it would make a great base for pies too. I figured I had to alter the recipe somewhat to make for a pie crust, so that needed some thinking. I let that idea slip from the back of my mind for a while, until last week when it hit me. It would make a wonderful combination with custard. Home made, gluten free custard. And that's when the baking itch always hits me. When the idea has come to me, I just have to bake. 

The little black specks in the custard are the vanille seeds as I used a proper vanilla pod in the custard.

So I made these cute little pies as a Sunday treat & the amount of dough also allowed me to make a stack of cookies too. This recipe will make about 12 mini custard pies and about 10 oatmeal, coconut, almond cookies. When I wanted to photograph the cookies, I found out i only had three left. So that goes to show how lovely those were. 

They're gone before you know it!

And the mini custard pies? They didn't last very long either! 

Ingredients:
Pie base & cookies

• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of rolled oat
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of gluten free almond flour
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of grated coconut
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of raisins, 50 grams (1.75 oz) of dates, 50 grams (1.75 oz) of dried apricots
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons molasses (maple syrup works really well too!)
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of soft unsalted butter (if you are lactose intolerant as well, you can substitute it for soy butter or something similar)
• 2 tablespoons boiling water
• 1 egg
• a tiny bit of basic gluten free flour to dust the work top with and to help roll out the dough.

Custard

• 250 ml (9 fl oz) of milk
• 1 vanilla pod
• 16 grams (0.5 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 20 grams (0.75 oz) of corn starch
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of granulated sugar

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade or 350 degrees fahrenheit.
• Line a muffin or cupcake tray with paper cupcake cups.

First you make the custard as follows:

1. Mix all the sugar with the cornstarch & whisk it with a bit of cold mix till all the cornstarch and sugar are combined and you have no lumps.
2. Scrape the vanilla pod seeds from the vanilla pod and put them in a pan with the pod. Pour in the remainder of the milk & heat the milk in the pan on the stove. 
3. Beat the egg yolks with the cornstarch & sugar mixture till it is is frothy.
4. Pour a bit of the hot milk on the frothy egg, cornstarch, sugar mixture while whisking and then pour this back into the pan with the milk. 
5. Bring this to a boil and keep whisking, as soon as the custard starts bubbling, turn down the heat, leave it to boil for about a minute & don't stop stirring.
6. Then pour the custard on a cold plate or in a cold bowl, remove the vanilla pod and cover it with cling film. Leave it to cool for half an hour and then let it cool further in the fridge.

Then you make the pie crust & cookie dough:

1. Put the rolled oats, the apricots, dates & raisins in a blender and blitz till everything is in small chunks and the oats look like flour.
2. Put it in a bowl and add all the other ingredients. 
3. Mix it all well until you have a firm but slightly sticky dough. 
4. Dust a spotlessly clean worktop with a bit of basic gluten free flour (I always use a bit of baking parchment to place on the work top and dust that with the flour to make sure no stray gluten can bite my gluten free dough in the butt, just to be sure) & put the dough on there. Dust it with gluten free flour again & roll out the dough till desired thickness & punch out circles for the cookies & the pie crust. Place the circles (roll them out a bit if necessary) in the lined muffin or cupcake tray and form the pie crusts. Put the cookies on baking parchment & on a tray. 
5. Bake them both in the oven for about 20-25 minutes till golden.
6. Take them out of the oven & let them cool on a wire rack before you fill a piping bag with the cooled down custard and pipe the custard onto the pie crust. Decorate with a fresh strawberry. 

Enjoy!!

Strawberry and Almond Pie

When we were in Switzerland on our summer vacation I ate the most zingy, wonderful, yummy pie ever: Walliser Apricot Pie. Seriously, that was one of the best pies i've ever tasted in my life, so sweet, yet zingy and fresh.  Sweet because the filling is made with grated almonds and the apricots made it fresh and zingy. And my kids were looking at my plate with sad little faces. Because of course this was a 'gluten-pie'. So I promised them to make something similar when we got home. Time flew by and now apricots are out of season. Bummer. But the supermarket is stocked with peaches and nectarines instead. And my kids loathe peaches and nectarines. Yeah, really.... 

So when I woke up with the urge to bake, I suffer from acute Obsessive Compulsive Baking Disorder (OCBD) sometimes, I decided to try and make this wonderful pie with strawberries, because my kids adore strawberries.  

It looks a bit messy, but trust me, it tastes wonderful!

A tip before you start: 
This pie is made with a standard recipe for pie dough, but with gluten free ingredients  And usually (when you make this with normal flour) you would make the dough and store it in the fridge for a while and then roll it out. With gluten free dough that will become one huge disaster, because the dough will break and crumble underneath your hands. And you don't want that. So i made the dough for the pie base and just pressed it into the pie baking tray with my hands, making sure it is even everywhere. That way you have no frustration, but end up with a yummy pie dough. I then put it in the fridge. 

Ingredients:
For the pie base

• 150 grams (5.5 oz)  of soft butter
• 220 grams (8 oz) of gluten free rice flour
• 5 tablespoons of finely granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum

For the filling

• 180 grams (6 oz) of melted butter
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of powdered sugar
• 80 grams (2.75 oz) of gluten free almond flour
• 200 grams (7 oz) of finely chopped almonds
• 3 eggs (and the egg white that is left over from the egg yolks that you used for the pie base)
• 6 tablespoons of sugar
• about 250-300 grams (9 - 10.25 oz) of strawberries

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees centigrade/350 degrees fahrenheit.
• Butter a pie baking tray or a spring tin
• Mix the butter, rice flour, the granulated sugar, the egg yolks and xanthan gum in a bowl. 
• take out the dough and divide it over de base of the pie baking tray making sure it is even and the dough covers the side of the pie baking tray as well. 
• Put the pie base in the fridge for about 20 minutes while you make the filling,
• Mix the melted butter with the powdered sugar till it's all creamy and fluffy. Then add the almond flour, the chopped almonds, the eggs and the left over egg white and mix it to a fluffy, frothy substance. 
• Take the pie base out of the fridge and spoon the filling on top of it. It will look like this.

• Slice the strawberries in half and place them on top of the pie. Your pie will look like this.

• Put the pie in the oven for half an hour.
• Take the pie out of the oven, sprinkle sugar over the top and turn the heat down to about 170 degrees centigrade/ 325 degrees fahrenheit and bake for another 45 - 50 minutes. 
• If the centre isn't wobbly anymore and the pie is soft but firm take it out of the oven and let it cool before you slice it up to serve it with some whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Pie that was supposed to look totally different

This blog entry is not about the challenges of gluten-free baking, but how a recipe can turn out totally different from what you see in the cookbook. I wonder if any of my readers have that when they recreate one of my recipes. Do they look completely different from the pictures I post with the recipes? And how the hell does that happen?

I was making a grocery list this morning and I had one of my many Jamie Oliver books open. You all know I love and adore him, right? Like, borderline worship... Anyway...my oldest son leafed through it and asked me if we could make this pie today. 

Jamie Olivers Toffee-Apple Pie

I told my son: "Sure" and we wrote down all that we needed for this recipe. But while I was reading it I thought: I'm not going to boil the 2 cans of  of condensed milk for three bleeding hours. What does he think? That I have all day? I'm going to make caramel my way. I guess that is where the whole thing went south. Well, sort of... because when my pie came out of the oven, it looked nothing like the picture above, but like this....

Errmmm... a bit different, but very lovely none the less. 

So here's the recipe to my gluten-free version of Jamie Olivers Toffee-Apple Pie, that I call Caramel Apple Pie. Because it sure isn't anything like Jamie's gorgeous pie, but lovely (and gluten-free) none the less. If you want to make Jamie's version and boil 2 cans of condensed milk for 3 hours, check Jamie's Dinners. 

Ingredients:

For the pie base

• 1 vanilla pod
• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of butter
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of powdered sugar
• a pinch of bakers salt
• 250 grams (9 oz) of gluten-free flour (I used Schar C for cakes and cookies)
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• the zest of half a lemon
• 3 egg yolks (Jamie uses 2 but i used three to make sure the gluten-free base wouldn't crumble underneath your hands)
• 2 large spoons of chilled milk

For the filling:

• 2 cans (400 ml/ 14 fl oz each) of condensed milk
• 200 grams (7 oz) of butter
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of light caster sugar
• 2-3 large apples 
• some powdered sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top of the apples

Instructions:

1. First you make the pie dough, because that needs to be refrigerated for an hour (I was impatient (as always) and refrigerated it for 40 minutes and it turned out just fine). Put the seeds of the vanilla pod with the butter, powdered sugar, salt, the gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, lemon zest and egg yolks and mix it all together with your mixer until it looks a bit like breadcrumbs. Then add the milk and mix till the breadcrumbs have become a combined dough. Make a sort of a sausage from it, wrap it into cling film and refrigerate it as long as your patience allows you.
2. When your patience is up, line and butter a spring cake tin and slice the dough into slices (duhhhh) and cover the bottom and the sides, and press the slices together to make one base. Put it into the freezer for about an hour. (I didn't make it longer than 45 minutes again... I have no patience whatsoever)
3. Now peel the apples, slice into quarters, remove the core and slice them thin. Dust them with ground cinnamon. 
4. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (350 degrees fahrenheit).
5. Make the caramel as follows: put the butter, condensed milk and sugar into a pan with a thick base, put it on a low heat and let it all melt together. Then bring it to a boil, and do not stop stirring! Keep stirring for about 5 minutes as soon as the caramel starts bubbling and then take it off the heat. Take your pie base out of the freezer, pour on the caramel and then place the apple slices neatly on top. Dust with powdered sugar and pop it in the hot oven for about 40-45 minutes till the crust is all golden and your house smells divine. 
6. Leave it to cool completely (I even put in the fridge for 2 hours till the caramel was completely set.) Before you cut it and serve it to your guests. And as long as you do not show them Jamie's version, they will ooohh and aaahhh at your genius! 

Enjoy!

Shortbread, Chocolate Ganache and Caramel Pie

Disclaimer: This recipe will add about 5 pounds just by looking at it. You are warned. 

This recipe was born while I was drooling over the many foodblog posts on my Tumblr. I follow tons of foodblogs and I never ever look at them when I'm hungry. Because it is a constant feed of the most amazing food. Well, maybe foodporn is even a better word. As I was scrolling through my dashboard one day and drooling at the most amazing cakes & pies, the idea for this cake popped up in my head. I needed a good excuse to make it, because this pie is way too rich to make for no reason at all. And this weekend I had a good excuse. My birthday. And to the kitchen I went and this is what I created. 

Don't look too long, you may gain another pound! 

Ingredients:

Shortbread

• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of soft butter
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of finely granulated sugar
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of gluten free rice flour
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of gluten free corn flour

Chocolate ganache

• 325 ml (11 fl oz) double cream
• 2 tablespoons finely granulated sugar
• a tiny pinch of salt
• 125 (4.5 oz) grams of soft butter
• 450 grams (1 lb) of dark chocolate
• 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) of milk

Caramel

• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of soft butter
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of light caster sugar
• 400 ml (14 fl oz) of condensed milk

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (400 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Line a cake tin with baking parchment & grease it.
3. To make the shortbread: Put the butter and sugar in bowl and beat till it is light and airy. Whisk in the flours and pour it in the cake tin. Press it down with your fingers till you get a firm base. Put the tin in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes till it is lightly golden. take it out of the oven and let it cool. 
4. Now make the ganache. Bring the double cream, sugar and salt to a boil in a pan with a think base. As soon as it boils, take the pan off the fire and add chocolate & butter. Stir it until everything is combined. Let is cool for a few minutes, then add the cold milk bit by bit. Stir it in slowly until the mixture is smooth & shiny. Pour it onto the shortbread and put it in the fridge for 2 hours to let is set. 
5. When the ganache is firm and is winking at you from the fridge saying: eat me, eat me, eat me! ... start on the caramel: 
6. Get another pan with a thick base and put in the butter, sugar and condensed milk, and put is on a low fire to melt the butter and sugar into the condensed milk. The most important thing is to keep stirring while it all melts and combines. As soon as it's bubbling, keep on stirring and let it bubble away for 5 minutes while stirring... (no, don't even dare to walk away from the pan!!!). Take the pan off the heat, keep on stirring until the thick caramel has stopped bubbling. let it cool for about 5 to 10 minutes and then pour it on the ganache. This will start to melt again so be quick and put it into the fridge for at least another two hours. I let it set for an entire night. 
7. Before serving it I dusted the caramel top with powdered sugar and stuck on some store bought Chocolate Owls using a bit of sugar glaze. 

Enjoy and be sure to warn your guests not to eat much before they eat this pie!

Cheesecake that is no real cheesecake

As the baking addict that I am, I constantly try to find reasons to bake something. I therefor love birthdays because they are a legitimate reason to bake. But... in my case anything can be a reason to bake. Why? Because it stops my mind from spinning, i relax while I whisk eggs, measure sugar and flour and my creativity flows when i decorate and fumble with marzipan. But... someone has to eat all that I create and my family is not always inclined to do so, so I have to restrain myself and tell myself that the sun shining is NOT a reason to bake today. :-)   

This weekend I celebrated my birthday with friends and family, so that was reason for me to go all overboard! No restraints... time to bake!!! YAY! And my husband? He watches me in the kitchen and  shakes his head. He, for the love of all that is holy, does not understand why I want to try out new recipes for this celebration. In his mind, I whip up some cupcakes that i've already made a gazillion times and that everybody loves, and be done with it in a flash. Unfortunately, this glutenfreemomma doesn't work that way. Firstly, I like a challenge, life would be so boring without a challenge, wouldn't it? 

Secondly, I hate boring and predictable. I'm not boring and predictable (I hope). So what i serve mustn't be boring either. So, something new it is. 

This time I decided to bake a cheesecake. Well, in Holland we call this thing a cheesecake, but it really isn't one. This one is made with a fresh cream cheese called MonChou & whipped double cream and you refridgerate it. It's not difficult, but I had never made one glutenfree. All I knew before I started was that I wanted to use my shortbread cookie dough as a base. Now, here's the end result:

Doesn't that look delicious?

Ingredients for the filling

For the shortbread base, please look up the ingredients in the original recipe linked in this blog! 

- 80g (about 3 oz) caster sugar
- 100g (almost 4 0z) MonChou or another fresh Cream Cheese
- 250ml (8.5 fl oz) whipped double cream
- 1 sachet of whipping  cream stiffener (is that actually a word???)
- Two cans of cherries (use fresh ones when in season!!!)

 Instructions: 

1. Line a baking tray or pie dish with baking paper.
2. Make the shortbread dough
3. Spread the mixture over the bottom of a greased pie dish or baking tray.
4. Press it until it looks firm and even and refrigerate for half an hour. 

5. Preheat the oven and bake accordingly to the shortbread cookie recipe.

6. Take the base out of the oven when golden brown and  let it cool completely.

MonChou/cream cheese-filling
When the base is suffienctly cooled down, you can finish the cream cheese-filling and top it with cherries.

1. Mix the sugar with the cream cheese.
2. Whip the cream with the whipping cream stiffener (this sounds so weird to me, but Google tells me its correct and who am I to oppose Google, right?). Add the cream cheese-mixture to it and slowly fold it in.
3. Spread the filling on the shortbread base. 
4. Now garnish with the cherries.
5. Put the cheesecake into the fridge for a couple of hours for a firm double cream and fresh cream cheese filling. You can make this pie a day in advance and it will be perfect the day after as well!

Enjoy!!!!!