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!!!!!