Honey Vanilla Oatcakes – oh lord it's so hard to be humble...

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Oh lord, it's so hard to be humble...

Himself is but a man of simple tastes. Not for him the lure of double chocolate, chocolate chip anything. His ice cream of choice is vanilla; his cheese, mousetrap (aka Cheddar); his biscuits, humble (“plain, cheap, unsophisticated” biscuits such as rich tea, digestives etc).

Unfortunately for him, humble isn’t a word that exists in my kitchen vocabulary. The only time anything resembling a humble biscuit appears is when it’s going to be mixed with half a pound of melted butter and smothered in 3 inches of cheesecake.   

Reluctantly I agreed to a request for homemade humble biscuits and they started off pretty well… oatmeal… wholemeal flour… salt… all pretty humble ingredients. But then I *accidentally* shovelled in a load of butter and honey and a hint of vanilla. Good with a cuppa, these are excellent slathered with fresh goats cheese or Philly.

For about 20 oatcakes you will need…

… to preheat the oven to 180˚C

180g oat flakes
120g plain flour
60g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
200g butter
100g runny honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1.             In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oat flakes, plain and wholemeal flours, baking powder and salt.

2.             Place the butter, honey and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan over a low heat until melted together.

3.             Let the butter mixture cool before adding it to the other ingredients. Stir until the mixture comes together in a ball. Chill in the fridge for about half an hour – this makes the dough easier to handle.

4.             Roll out on a lightly floured surface (or between two sheets of cling film) to a thickness of about 3mm and cut into rounds (or flowers as I have done) with a cookie cutter. Re-roll any offcuts.

5.             Carefully transfer the oatcakes to a baking sheet leaving a few centimetres between each so that they bake evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack. When completely cold, store in an airtight container. 

 

Note: these make a delicious crumb base for my smoothie cheesecake (see I told you I couldn’t do humble!)

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Mini Mango and Ginger Cheesecakes – the best things come in small packages, cupcake!

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Perhaps because I am snack-sized myself, I have a weakness for mini-food of all types. If there are canapés on offer, I’m there. Too often, by the time I’ve polished off a proper dinner, I have barely enough room left to read the dessert menu, never mind actually tackle the average confectionery... unless of course it’s a cupcake.

When this winter rolls over into January 2011, trendy foodies will be saying “Cupcakes are so last year!”  Tsk! What a shame, because many people – me included – love the endless variation of form and flavour (and mini-ness) that cupcakes represent.

What lies beneath?  

What is going to replace the cupcake in my affections?

I know! The mini cheesecake! It is petite perfection, with about half the calories of a regular old-fashioned slice (unless you devour two). Just like the cup cake, the mini cheesecake can take on endless form and flavour. 

Say "Cheese!"



For approximately 15 mini Mango and Ginger cheesecakes you will need:

Ginger biscuit base

150g Ginger Nut biscuits, crushed

75g butter, melted

1.   First, line a muffin pan with paper muffin liners. Mix together the crushed biscuits and melted butter and divide between the muffin cups, packing the mixture down lightly with the back of a spoon.

Mango cheesecake mix

1 x 568ml (1 pint) packet orange jelly (Jell-O) – I use the 135g Chivers brand

125mls boiling water

350g full-fat soft cheese (low-cal won’t set properly)

110g caster sugar

125mls double cream

1 x 397g tin sliced mango in light syrup

25mls fresh lemon/lime juice or 25mls Maguary Passion Fruit concentrate if you can get it

2.   In a measuring jug, dissolve the orange jelly in the boiling water. A few zaps of the microwave can speed this up a little.

3.   In a food processor, purée the sliced mango with enough of its syrup to make a thick liquid and add enough of this to bring the melted jelly mixture to bring it up to 275mls on the measuring jug (you’ll have plenty left over – I drizzle this over the finished cakes). Stir in the lemon/lime juice or Passion Fruit concentrate. Leave to cool, checking every five minutes or so for the gelling process to start – this is where it begins to thicken ever so slightly.

4.   Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

5.   When the jelly mixture has reached the gelling stage, add it to the cheese mixture and beat until smooth. Finally, add the double cream and beat until just combined.

6.   Divide the mixture between the muffin cups – careful to leave about  ½cm at the top. Refrigerate for about 3 hours or until set. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

To decorate as shown:

Spoon a little of the mango purée over the surface of the set cakes. This gives them the beautiful sunny yellow in the picture.  Draw shapes on baking parchment and fill them in with melted dark chocolate, or drizzle random shapes, remembering to count one for each cheesecake and a few extra for the cook. Leave for about 5 – 10 minutes in a cool room then peel away the paper and decorate the cheesecakes with the chocolate shapes.

Variations:

Choose another flavour of in place of the orange jelly and add a complementary puréed fruit in place of the mango.

Add a little chopped crystallised ginger to spice up the base, or choose another biscuit entirely – try Oreos, Digestive, Choc Chip...  So many mini cheesecakes, so little time...

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