PASSIONFRUIT CHEESECAKE SHOTS

What perfect ways it would be to to impress your guests than these passionfruit lime and kiwi cheesecake shots. It's the most easiest and super delicious dessert which you can make in no time without a fuss.

When you have guests coming over all you need is something easy to make which looks exotic at the same time. Cheesecake shots makes it an ideal party dessert with perfect portion size for each individual when you have guests around as you always tend to keep more than two desserts on a dessert table.

The hint of lime zest adds that oomph of freshness and the passionfruit jelly on top with kiwi slices gives it a tropical touch to this classic french dessert. A must try dish dessert which will leave you all praises and you can take my word for that.

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PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOK TIME: 22 minutes

YIELDS: 25-30 cookies

PASSIVE TIME: 4-6 hours

SERVINGS: 12-14 shot glasses

REFRIGERATE TIME: 4-6 hours

INGREDIENTS

For Cheesecake

• 6 digestive biscuits

• 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar

• 60g butter, melted

• 150g cream cheese, room temperature

• 100g crème fraîche, room temperature

• 1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted

• 2 small lime, zested

• 1/2 cup heavy cream/ double cream, cold

• 4-5 kiwi fruit

For Passionfruit Jelly

• 1/2 cup passionfruit pulp

• 1/3 cup caster sugar

• 2 gelatine sheets/ 2 tsp powdered gelatin

For Garnishing

• 2 Kiwi, sliced and quartered

METHOD

1. To make crust, pulse digestive biscuits and 1 1/2 tbsp sugar together in blender until fine crumbs are formed. Transfer to a bowl, stir in melted butter and divide in 12 shot glasses and press gently. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

2. To make passionfruit jelly, soak gelatine sheets in cold water for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile combine passionfruit pulp and caster sugar, bring to boil; cook for 5-7 minutes on medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Squeeze out the gelatine sheets from the water and stir it in the passion fruit mix for just a minute or until melted and mixed together. Remove from fire and strain to remove all seeds and cool it completely.

3. In an electric mixer bowl, beat cream cheese, crème fraîche and icing sugar until combined. In a separate bowl whisk heavy cream until medium-stiff peaks are formed, fold it in the cream cheese mixture. Add lime zest and fold to mix. Pour the prepared cream cheese mix in a piping bag.

4. Peel the Kiwifruits and cut them into 5mm thick slices lengthwise and cut them in half again. Take dessert shots out of refrigerator, arrange kiwi slices inside the cups and touching the glass; cut the tip of piping bag and pour the prepared cream cheese mixture in the shots, leaving them at least 1 cm empty from the top. Tap gently on the surface to release all air pockets. Now pour passionfruit jelly on top, distributing equally in all shots. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours to set. Take the shot glasses out just before serving and garnish with kiwi quarters on top.

COOK'S NOTES

• Make sure your cream cheeses is at room temperature before you beat it with beater. The cold creamcheese will leave lumps in the cheese batter.

• Instead of gelatin sheets, you can also use gelatin powder. Soak in little cold water and leave until it swells. add to the passion fruit mixture once all the sugar is melted. Sit and cook for a minute until its completely dissolved.

BLUEBERRY AND LIME NO-CHURN ICE-CREAM

Who can say no to homemade ice cream? Certainly not me! The flavours are honestly totally different - they’re so much more prominent, natural, and truly tastier! So, here I’ve made a Blueberry and Lime Cheesecake ice cream, a perfect combo for a summer treat that can be enjoyed as a delicious dessert. It was so so quick to make because it is a no-churn ice cream! That means no ice cream maker, and no fuss!

So, as quickly as I did end up making this ice cream, I’ve got to be honest in admitting that I kept my family waiting for a week or so to dig into this super indulgent creamy fruitiness before it hit my camera lens to get captured. I know, I know... shame on me as I kept those eager eyes and hungry tummies waiting for that long.😝

To be fair for my reluctance of not letting them have the ice-cream was, actually I had envisioned in my head the particular style to capture my ice cream shots which was with the waffle cones you see in the pic, but I couldn’t find them anywhere especially because of the lockdown. I looked in every grocery store and gelato shops, I could possibly find, even online but it seemed like they had vanished entirely. Just when I thought I should just give up and take the picture without a cone, I finally found waffle cones at a small ice- cream shop that had just reopened, wasted no time and grabbed 2 dozens.

Finally, I took the picture the very next day, and I was super happy with the results. Sometimes you just have to wait for what you want, and not settle for less... and the taste of victory was so so sweet, and tasted a lot like blueberry and lime he he 😄.

Seriously though, the creamy ice cream with citrusy lime notes is a perfect match for the blueberry’s sweetness and subtle tartness, and the crumbly cheesecake crust. It’s best enjoyed curled up on the couch after a long day of zoom meetings and staring at the screen working all day, and perhaps the cool, summer equivalent of a warm hug!

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 10 minutes

FREEZE TIME: 7-10 hours or overnight.

INGREDIENTS

For Blueberry Layer:

• 2 cups blueberries

• 3 tbsp lime juice

• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
  

For Cream Cheese Layer:

• 12oz cream cheese, room temperature

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream

• 14oz/ 1 can/ 400g condensed milk

• 2 tsp vanilla essence

• 2 lime, zested

• 1 tbsp lime juice

For Crusty Layer:

• 6 digestive biscuits, crushed

• 40g salted butter, melted

METHOD

1. In a medium sized saucepan, add blueberries, sugar and lime juice. Bring to boil on medium high heat. Cook for 6-7 minutes until the berries are soft and the sauce thickens a little.

2. Cool completely and refrigerate for an hour.

3. In a stand mixer bowl, pour the whipping cream whip to a stiff peak. Remove in a bowl and refrigerate.

4. Now using the same mixer bowl, add cream cheese and whisk for 2 minutes until smooth.

5. Add condensed milk, vanilla, lime juice and zest. Whisk together for 2 minutes until smooth and well combined.

6. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture with a spatula. Gently fold in the cold blueberry mixture. Do not over mix else you will not get streaks of berries.

7. Line the large loaf pan with the large plastic food saver bag. This is to protect from scratching the surface of the loaf pan while scooping out the ice cream. You can also use plastic tubs to freeze the ice cream.

8. Mix the crushed biscuits and butter together.

9. Pour 1/3 of ice cream in the lined loaf tin, sprinkle half the biscuit crust on top. Now pour 1/2 of the leftover cream cheese layer and sprinkle with rest of the biscuit crust.

10. Pour the remaining cream cheese layer on top. Cover and refrigerate for 7-8 hours or overnight.

COOK'S NOTES

• If you do not have a stand mixer bowl, you can do the same with the hand held mixer to whip and whisk the creams.

• If you have an old loaf tin and don’t mind getting scratched, then you don’t need to line it with plastic food preserving bag. Pour the ice cream straight in.

• If you don’t have the loaf tin to freeze the ice cream, you can always freeze it in the plastic tubs.

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LEMON BLUEBERRY CHIA SEED CAKE

Times are really tough and the raging pandemic in India has put us all in a questionable state in one way or the other. My husband started his travel back from India after completing his mum’s last rights to reach Muscat and spent 15 days in institutional quarantine in Turkey....undergoing yet another one in Muscat(Oman) for a week until he finally reaches home. Gone are those days when you could reach home (Muscat ) from India in just 3.5 hours. 😌

It seems far-fetched living up to a normal life after this catastrophe hit the world. Wishing everyone to be safe and praying this shall all pass quickly and we all live peacefully in a happy world again.

Baked a quick Lemon blueberry and chia seeds cake for my hubby the day he landed in Muscat to munch on while he is quarantined in his homeland away from home... Cake was baked in angel cake pan and I had to cut it into slices to pack it for hubby. Time felt short and had no time to capture the full image. Luckily few slices were left over after packing the whole big box and thought of capturing it for my audience. Guys I promise I’ll post that full styled image soon but until then enjoy these virtual slices of this delicious cake. Do give this recipe a try and I'm sure you will fall for it. Its just perfect as is and preserves better at room temperature in your air-conditioned kitchen for up to 4 days. You can also dress this cake with cream cheese frosting to make it an extra edge and making it a bit more special for an occasion.

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

BAKE TIME: 1 hour

SERVES: 20-25 slices

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 tbsp, divided

• 1 3/4 cup caster sugar

• 3 eggs, room temperature

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

• 2 large lemon zested and juiced (2 tbsp juice is used)

• 1 1/2 tbsp chia seeds

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

• 3/4 cup or 200g sour cream, room temperature

• 2 cups blueberries

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Thoroughly grease the 10 cup capacity angel cake pan or bundt pan. I lined the base of angel cake pan with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Keep aside until used.

3. In a stand mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest together until fluffy, creamy and pale in colour.

4. Add one egg at a time and blend on medium high speed until all eggs are added and well combined.

5. In a small bowl add sour cream and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Mix them together. Add it to the egg butter mix, blend for couple of minutes to combine.

6. Add the dry flour mix to the wet mixture in three batches until just combined, keeping the mixer on a medium-low speed. Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula, to ensure the batter is well combined. Give a quick blend again for few seconds.

7. Add chia seeds and gently fold into the batter with a spatula.

8. In a bowl, toss the blueberries with remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold them in the cake batter and drop it in the prepared pan and level it with spatula.

9. Placing it in the middle rack of the oven and bake it for 50-60 minutes turning it once halfway through baking.

10. Insert the tooth pick to check. Bake couple more minutes if the batter is still slightly sticky.

11. Leave to cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the outer and inner edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan to make sure its not stuck to the pan. Invert it gently on the cake plate. Remove parchment paper and let it cool slightly.

12. If you wish, brush the lemon syrup on the slightly warm cake if you want strong citrus flavour or tartiness in your cake. It’s not mandatory. To make lemon syrup check cook's notes.

13. You can serve the cake as is or can also ice it with cream cheese frosting to make it for a special occasion.

COOK'S NOTES

1. If you wish, brush the lemon syrup on the slightly warm cake if you want strong citrus flavour or tartiness in your cake. It’s not mandatory. Make sure your cake is still warm if you want to add lemon syrup else it will not penetrate inside the cake.

2. To make lemon syrup add 3 tbsp water with 3 tbsp lemon juice, bring to a gentle boil in amicrowave. Add 1/4 cup of sugar in it and mix until it’s completely dissolved. Brush it on the exterior edges of the cake until it’s all penetrated.