Gluten Free Ricotta Cake

Why are Fridays always that good?! I get up easily, go to work with a light feeling knowing that after it I am free like a butterfly: can stay awake longer without any need of getting up early the next day, can go meet my friends and not hurry up home to cook/bake/make my homework for the German classes, can just sit the whole evening reading doing NOTHING ;) Those are the moments worth to wait for from Monday through Thursday. And although my work is a lot of fun, I sometimes really need a rest. Just some time for myself, with no rush and time pressure. And for all this I love weekends. And moreover I adore days off for having more time to bake/cook something really special. Just like the recipe today. 

This is a gluten free cake with ricotta and polenta. Worth to try, I promise! A bit moist inside, yet nutty and redolent with a slight sourness.

Ingredients:
yields 18-20 cm cake

2 middle ripe bananas
50 g butter
160 g corn flour (polenta)
100 g honey or rice syrup
3 tbsp lemon zest
4 eggs
100 g almond flour
250 g ricotta
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 18 cm round ovenproof form with baking paper. It may be also a 20 cm form.

As you know from my other posts you may reach additional pleasant sweetness in the pie by replacing sugar with banana. And this is exactly the case. In a food processor blend bananas, add butter, 50 g honey, lemon zest, vanilla. Then pour the egg yolks and mix well. Now it is turn of the main ingredients. Fold the batter adding almond meal, polenta and ricotta. 

Meanwhile beat the egg whites for about 1 minute. Portion by portion add honey and do not stop whisking until shiny glossy meringue. Honey may be replaced by rice syrup if you prefer. I did not have it this time.

Pour the batter into your form and bake for about 40-50 minutes  or until golden, cooked through and as inserted skewer comes out clean. Let it cool a little. My decoration was pretty simple - sugar dust and pecan nuts.

Enjoy your weekend and save some time for yourself ;)

Strawberry Cheesecake: made with LOVE

Tomorrow is Valentine's day and you are probably willing to make this day sweet. Almond cake was my last year's creation. I clearly remember a nice nutty flavor spreading around. Perfect rasprerries were like little hearts all around the cake. And it seemed that love was in the air... everywhere I looked around! So why not to make this Valentine's day even better?!

 I decided to review my posts I find for each wish a separate one. For the ones who prefer classical recipes with minimum preparation time and complexity level, I would highly recommend chocolate souffle. You will have two in one - healthy and romantic dessert. Maybe some of you want to make a perfect cake for this occassion and here it is. Just a pinch of patience ;) 

Of course, you can make the sweet treat really simple and clever. Like chocolate hearts with marzipan. I think everything with a heart shape is acceptable on St.Valentine's Day. Having no heart forms does not mean you are not able to do anything. Just check this one. All you need is a kitchen blender and your hands. What I decided was a perfect strawberry cheesecake. The basic recipe you will find here. I decided to make it LOVE-ly adding strawberries on top.

Ingredients:

for 28 cm round baking form

100 g wholewheat cookies

40 g butter

3 tbsp cold water

1 kg low fat cottage-cheese

200 g creme fraiche

2 bananas

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped

5 eggs

zest from 1 lemon

1 pack of vanilla pudding powder

250 g fresh strawberries

1 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch of salt

2 tbsp strawberry jelly (for glazing)

Preheat the oven to 180° C.

For the crust blend the cookies into dust and mix with butter and water. The powder should get sticky enough to form a nice bottom for our cheesecake. As soon as it is well mixed put a sheet of baking paper into the form and using your hands or a spoon make a nice thin layer on the bottom of the form. Bake it for 10 minutes. If it raises a bit do not worry. The filling will press it back down.

And here is the filling. 

Separate egg whites from yolks in different bowls. Put the egg whites into fridge. Meanwhile mix yolks with 2 tbsp of sugar and mashed bananas. Add vanilla seeds, mix well. As for cottage cheese I usually take low-fat cheese. If you prefer 20% or even 40%, go for it. Put cheese of your choice, pudding powder and lemon zest into yolk-banana-sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Now leave it all aside and get the egg whites out of the fridge.

Beat egg whites as explained in a tip here. Fold the carefully into cheese mixture and get your baking form with a crust inside. Pour the ready cheesecake mixture into the form. Cover the bottom of the form with foil and place it in a bath. In other words, take a bigger form and pour 1-2 glasses of water into it. That would be a bath for our form with cheesecake. If you have no bigger form you can use just any heat resistant folder with water as a bath. Put it then on the bottom of your oven. This trick will insure you a velvety structure of the cake. And believe me, that is something worth to reach.

Baking time - 20 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 140° C and bake 20-30 minutes more. It depends on the height of the cake. The higher - the longer baking time.

After that let it cool down until room temperature. Meanwhile wash the strawberries and melt strawberry jelly. Then mix it with the berries in order to reach glossy skin. Then decorate the top of cheesecake with strawberries and put it into the frigde for about 2 hours.

Here it is: a nice glossy strawberry cheesecake, tender, smooth and sooo tasty!!!

Have a SWEET Valentine's Day! Love and be loved! Catch every moment and enjoy it as much as you can!

Made with LOVE! By #GourmetBalance

Super easy mini cheesecakes

It happens from time to time with all of us: a strong wish to eat something sweet and not a single candy nearby... I have always a solution for that. Either a fantastic chocolate souffle or this time - tiny mini tasty cheesecakes. Little portion of heaven taste. Takes minimum of your time and brings maximum of protein and benefits.

Ingredients:

500 g low fat cottage cheese

2 tbsp raisins

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas

vanilla extract or 1 tbsp of vanilla sugar (if you like it sweeter;)

The recipe takes 2 easy steps:
Mix ----> Bake

Just preheat your oven  to 180°C. Mix the cheese, mashed bananas, cinnamon, vanilla sugar or extract. Beat in 2 eggs, raisins (previously soaked for 15 minutes in hot water and well drained) and mix thoroughly. Pour into muffin forms. I use silicone and find them especially perfect for this recipe as there is no need to fat them before and the little cakes are easily taken out of the forms.

Last step - bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 150 °C and bake another 25 minutes.
Let the cakes cool down and then only take them out from the forms. Otherwise you will probably ruin the whole form of the cakes. But the taste does not disappear... if you are in a rush for something sweet :)

Almond cake with raspberry

In my everyday life I keep up to my healthy nutrition plan. But there are those days when my heart and stomach demand something "forbidden". There're called "cheating days" and I even recommend to include them once a week into your life and let yourself relax. Today is a Valentine's Day. Even though I'm not a big fan of having one day of LOVE in the whole year, I prepared a special recipe for you today. Mainly to remind you that we're all special and our efforts are worth to do when afterwards we get a enormous portion of satisfaction.

Ingredients:

225 g flour
100 g ground almond
150 g butter
70 g brown sugar
2 tbsp raspberry jam
3 eggs
1/2 cup ice cold water
200 g raspberry
1 tbsp sugar powder
salt

First step is to prepare a dough. This type of dough is to be prepared very quickly and the trick is - all ingredients should be cold. Using a kitchen blender mix flour, 90 g of cold butter, 1 egg yolk, 40 g of sugar, sprinkle of salt and 2-4 tbsp of ice cold water. If you don't have a blender, you can use a knife to mix it all quickly together. Then put the mixture on a working surface and form a ball. Cover it with a food film and place into fridge for half an hour.

Meanwhile let's prepare a filling: mix rest of butter (melted already) with sugar. Add ground almond, rest of eggs. Mix thoroughly.

Tip!
The filling we use in this cake is a good choice for little tarts as well. So keep it in mind and even though it is well combined with raspberry, you can stay creative and try also other combinations - apples, pears, etc.

Preheat the oven to 180° C. Once the dough is cool enough, pat it into the mold with removable bottom and form a cake's bottom and sides using your fingers and palm.
Spread raspberry jam on the dough and form a thin raspberry layer. Pour the filling onto the raspberry layer and put into the oven for 25-30 minutes.

When the cake is ready, let it cool down for a while, remove the mold sides and decorate it with fresh raspberries and sugar powder.

Now you are ready for a special day. Spend it with someone special.

Lovely Valentine's Day!

Bon Appétit :)

Crêpes, Crêpes, Crêpes

Breakfast... On week days oat porridge, at the week end something very special. That is what I remember good from my childhood. Those days when you sleep till late morning and wake up from the most pleasant smell... The smell of hot tasty pancakes.. Blinis in Russia, pancakes in the USA, crêpes in France... "Mlynci" in my Ukraine. No matter how you are used to name those, people love them. Sweet with jam or Nutella, salty with spinach and salmon, or mushrooms. They may fit perfectly into your nutrition plan. Even if you are on a diet (!). Though I'm not a big fan of that word. But that is absolutely another story...

Special thanks to Kristina Ivanova for a nice kitchen towel with Portuguese pattern!!!! Looks great together! 

Basic recipe I'm sharing with you is all-purpose. And it is moreover healthy containing whole wheat flour. Your best friends for the next 20 minutes - a big bowl, whisk or mixer and a non-stick pan. 

Ingredients:

500 ml milk

3/4 cup white flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3 eggs

2 tbsp oil (*I used grape seed, choose any type)

2-3 tbsp brown sugar

sprinkle salt

1 tsp butter

1 tsp vanilla essence (*optional)

In a bowl mix three eggs with 200-300 ml of milk. I used whisk to mix it all together. If you're in a hurry mixer will definitely help you. Add vanilla essence, sugar and salt if you want sweet crêpes. Otherwise add only salt and 2-3 tablespoons of sugar. Add spoon by spoon flour and mix thoroughly. Afterwards pour in the rest of milk. Stir in oil. Butter should be between liquid and thick, rather more liquid. 

In a hot pan let the butter melt and scoop the batter into the pan. For one crêpe approximately 2-3 tbsp of batter are used. Rotate the pan so that the batter is spread as thinly as possible. About 20 seconds on medium-high heat from each side until golden-brown. Serve hot with jam, bananas, peanut butter...Up to you. Enjoy your perfect breakfast. I hope you have a good company for that.

Bon Appétit!

Cheesecake with apple almond topping

"If happiness were a cake"... An article with that title couldn't stay without attention. Because I'm pretty sure a tasty cake is our happiness. Especially a cake that will follow in this post. I have to admit that free magazines are sometimes even more useful than you think. One of those, as you already understood, enclosed a precious recipe of my favorite C-H-E-E-S-E-C-A-K-E ;)

As a naughty girl I can't cook strictly following the recipe. So I grabbed all I needed and was ready to bake my own interpretation. A good thing is that you can always add what you like or reduce the quantity of harmful ingredients and meanwhile create a new recipe. That means being creative. And it keeps you always full of ideas.

Ingredients:

1 kg low fat cottage-cheese

200 g creme fraiche
2 bananas
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
5 eggs
zest from 1 lemon
1 pack of vanilla pudding powder
2 middle-sized apples
2 tbsp almond leaves
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180° C.

Separate egg whites from yolks in different bowls. Put the egg whites into fridge. Meanwhile mix yolks with 2 tbsp of sugar and mashed bananas. Add vanilla seeds, mix well. Now its turn of cheese. I usually take low-fat cheese. If you prefer any other, go ahead. We're here to make baking interesting and personal. Put cheese of your choice, pudding powder and lemon zest into yolk-banana-sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Now leave it all aside and get the egg whites out of the fringe.

Tip!
A perfection of majority desserts is achieved through the structure. It is main advantage of using egg whites. Light, melting in your mouth, a piece of heaven... Yes. All you need is to beat the whites until stiff peaks. For that important task use better a copper, stainless-steel, or glass bowl. Make sure there are no traces of yolk, water or fat. They might be the reason of a bad result. Add a pinch of salt. Start beating at small speed and then increase it. Beat whites until you have stiff peaks. You can easily check the right condition if you title the bowl. The mixture should not slide around. When adding beaten egg whites to another mixture, immediately fold them gently into it. That way a volume will not be destroyed.

Middle-step overview: choose any topping you prefer and leave some place for fantasy ;)

Beat egg whites as explained in a tip below. Fold the carefully into cheese mixture and get a big baking form of 28 cm in diameter. Pour the ready cheesecake mixture into the form. Cover the bottom of the form with foil and place it in a bath. In other words, take a bigger form and pour 1-2 glasses of water into it. That would be a bath for our form with cheesecake. If you have no bigger form you can use just any heat resistant folder with water as a bath. Put it then on the bottom of your oven. This trick will insure you a velvety structure of the cake. And believe me, that is something worth to reach.

 
Baking time - 20 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 140° C and bake 20-30 minutes more. It depends on the height of the cake. The higher - the longer baking time.

After that let it cool down until room temperature. I know this might be a challenge in some sense. But I have another task for you meanwhile - topping. It consists of 2 main parts. For the first one heat some butter in a pan and add 1 tsp of sugar. As the mixture is warm, put in apple slices and cinnamon. Caramelize from all sides until a bit softer. For second part heat the rest of sugar in a saucepan, add butter and almond leaves. For 2-3 minutes let them get golden color and sweet flavor. That's it.

Last and final step - decorate the cheese basis with apple slices and almond leaves.

Voilà - happy cheesecake is ready to surprise you with a range of flavors.

Just be careful not to get addicted ;)

Apple flower tart with cinnamon

When the holidays with a big variety of fatty food are left in the past and cold winter already there in the window, the only escape seems to be impossible. But we sometimes overreact a lot. A sweet-home-atmosphere is always a good escape. Especially when with light cinnamon flavor:) Apple tart means - minimum dough and maximum apples. Therefore it is a good choice of dessert at any time. Apples are available all year long and the recipe is absolutely easy. So let's start.

Ingredients:

3 middle apples

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp coconut oil (may be any other kind of healthy oil you have - walnut, flax seed etc.)

1/2 middle-sized mashed banana

1-2 tbsp cold water

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp brown sugar

1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

pinch of salt

Tip!

The traditional recipe of a crust is high in saturated fat from butter and sugar. Therefore I strongly advise to use substitutes instead and as a result reduce unhealthy empty calories. Banana is a good alternative to sugar, when mashed. Extra virgin oil and some water will replace butter and add healthy fats.

In a bowl mix both types of flour, salt and grated nutmeg. Add oil and mashed banana. Add one tablespoon of water so that the dough stays together when pressed. If it seems too dry add another tablespoon of cold water.

Mix well and form a ball. Wrap it with plastic foil and put into a fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180° C.

A tart pan 24 cm in diameter would be just perfect for this pie. As I'm only planning to buy one, I used a pizza form and made the pie flatter. Tasty, anyway!

In case you are lucky to have a fluted tart pan, make bigger amount of dough in order to decorate a pie with nice curly sides. In both sides, butter the pan well in advance.

Take dough out of the fridge and make a thin layer in the tart pan.

Wash the apples and peel them. Slice thinly. Put all over the dough layer in a nice flower-form manner beginning from the sides and moving to the centre.

Mix nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the apple flower.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the dough is golden brown and the apple layer begins to get softer and a bit darker.

Sweet date candy-balls

You are working hard and find no time for yourself, time is running crazy and you wish a day had at least 48 hours so that you could stop and enjoy for a while? Welcome to our world full of crazy rushing faces. And now think of one thing that will keep you aside and blow you away to an island of your dreams.... What could be better than a sweet treat?! It is a little tiny things ready to conquer your heart. And in moderation brings you no harm.

Food processor makes miracles from simple ingredients, so just grab it and get ready. The result - 20 sweet candy-balls - the best alternative to chocolate bars and sweets full of sugar and harmful saturated fats.

Ingredients:

200 g oat flakes

200-250 g pitted dates

1 tbsp molasses (or rice syrup)

1 tbsp bran

coconut, grounded nuts, sesame

Grind the oat flakes in a food processor, add pitted dates and go on grinding.

Tip!
I used molasses to provide the balls with some extra flavor and sweetness. If you can't find one, put the same quantity of organic honey of our choice.

You will get a sticky mixture ready to be rolled into mouth-sized balls. Go ahead and use your creativity. You can make any shape you like and roll it in coconut, grounded nuts or sesame... Whatever tasty you can find in the kitchen.

And now stop, sit, and enjoy! Because you've earned a little bit of relaxing. Leave bad energy and negative thoughts behind. Think positive and eat healthy. Because it is easy, tasty and always a good idea ;)

Pumpkin sugarfree three-layer-cheesecake

Of course autumn is about pumpkin. As a main symbol of Halloween it makes a definite mood and brings us good autumn memories. So I strongly believe that if we have a chance to buy a good pumpkin it's worth to do because I have a special recipe for you. A cheesecake. Not just a simple one but pumpkin cheesecake. According to statistics my first recipe had a big success. But sometimes you are fed up with the taste of the cheese and want something really special. Then just try!!! That makes a difference.

Even my strict critic scored this cheesecake as the best of all I've recently baked. Just imagine...Smooth, tender taste of cheese with added orange notes and a pleasant pumpkin layer...a perfect combination for cold autumn evenings with a big warm blanket;)

The amount of the ingredients is perfect for a round form 18-20 cm in diameter.

Ingredients :
80g old-fashioned oat flakes
80g pitted dates
4 eggs
350g low-fat creamy cottage cheese
350g pumpkin puree (baked)
2 tbsp vanilla pudding powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp orange zest
250 ml orange juice
2 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves...)

Tip!
To get a smooth creamy pumpkin puree wash a pumpkin, cut it into two halves, take out the seeds using a spoon and put the halves onto a baking sheet (cut edges faced down). Then bake the pumpkin in the oven for about 40 minutes at 180°C. A spoon will help you to get a ready-to-use puree out of the pumpkin's halves.

Heat the oven to 180°C.
For a crust blend oat flakes into dust, add pitted dates and one egg. Blend again. Put the mass into a form and using your fingertips mold the first layer. Put aside.

The middle layer will be cheesy with a bit of pumpkin smoothness and orange taste. Mix cream cheese, 2 eggs, 50g of pumpkin puree, cinnamon, vanilla pudding powder and 50 ml of orange juice. Make sure the texture is smooth. Pour it all into the form and make the middle layer. Put into the oven for 40 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the upper layer using the rest of the pumpkin (about 300g), 200 ml of orange juice, corn flour, 1 egg and pumpkin pie spices.

When your two-layer cheesecake is ready to be taken out of the oven pour the upper layer into the form and flatten it nicely. The next baking step including the upper layer will last another 20 minutes.

Tip!
Let the cheesecake cool down until it reaches room temperature. Only after that remove it out of the form to minimize damaging risks.

To add some extra flavor I served this tasty colorful beauty with orange zest and some chopped pistachios. Enjoy every piece ;)

Chocolate souffle

I've recently watched a lot of movies and series about restaurants and cooking. All those fresh cooked dishes with a delicious crisp, perfect presentation and satisfied tasters... All in all a powerful inspiration that strongly pushed me to a recipe I want to introduce today. The most favorite recipe of my husband. Chocolate souffle.

Tip! 
The secret I want to share is a rule of substitution. The original secret is rich in fat and sugar. If you use banana instead of butter you will get 2 in 1 result: firstly, high calories part of butter is excluded by mashed banana; secondly, the sweetness you would normally add in a form of sugar is already added by banana.

First of all - heat the over to 180°C. As a form I used a cooking ring. I put a sheet of baking paper under it. Of course, you can use a muffin form or any other you have. Make sure you fat it well with butter first.Then grab all the ingredients you need and lets start.

Ingredients:
90g chocolate (the best choice is the one that contains more than 70% cocoa)
50g or about 1/2 mashed banana
2 eggs
1 tsp sugar
2-3 tbsp almond flour

If you want to make the original version of the dessert here are the ingredients you need:
90g chocolate
50g butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2-3 tbsp flour

In a little saucepan heat the chocolate bar until it melts. Take it off the heat and add mashed banana and sugar mixing it thoroughly. Now is eggs' turn. Mix them as well. After that add almond flour. You will need from 2 to 3 tbsp of it. Make sure the mixture is smooth and has no ingredients apart. Pour it into a form and put into the oven for 7 minutes. Check it after 7 minutes. The top of the souffle should be mat but it stays fluid inside.

I use to serve this lovely treat with some strawberries and a ball of vanilla ice-cream.
So as you can see a couple of minutes and some fantasy... and Voila! Chocolate souffle!

Bon Appetit! 

Whole wheat persimmon pie with caramel topping

"Fruit of the gods" from Latin. Japan's national fruit. It's all about persimmon. A cute orange fruit that is rich in vitamins A, B, C, a good source of fiber, antioxidants; contains such minerals as sodium, magnesium, calcium and iron. Are you still hesitating? No way. Because I'm introducing a healthy pie recipe. Especially good fro those who are fed up with usual apple pies and think they can't be surprised anymore... NO! I can surprise you. Believe me. Get ready to bake a miracle ;)

Tip!
To turn bitterness into sweetness put the persimmon into freezer for about an hour and then let it thaw out at room temperature. You will get a sweet ripe soft fruit.

And here is the recipe itself.
Ingredients:
2 persimmons
4 eggs
250 g whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
10 tbsp ice cold water
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp whisky
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
7 toffees
sprinkle of salt

The main part of the pie has to be put into the oven immediately after preparing. That will ensure that your pie will come up. Therefore you have to prepare everything in advance so that you don't find yourself stuck in the middle because you can't find a measure cup to measure flour ;) So preheat the oven to 180°C. Take your baking form and  its bottom with melted butter. Wash 2 nice autumn-colored persimmons and cut them into pieces. Make a persimmon layer at the bottom of the form and leave it aside.

Now we are ready to make a pie itself. It is an old recipe from my mother who got it from her mother and the good thing is that its unique. It can be baked with a wide range of fruits and berries as well as a salty type with cheese of vegetables or even meat. So let's learn the basics.

Separate egg whites from egg yolks. Mix 4 yolks with 2 tbsp of brown sugar. Use a mixer for the best result. While mixing pour one by one 10 tbsp of ice cold water. Don't stop mixing it. Add sifted flour mixed with baking powder portion by portion. The original recipe comes along with white flour but I prefer whole wheat. You can also use white and whole wheat flours in proportion 50:50. Put this bowl aside.

Take egg whites, add a sprinkle of salt and beat egg whites until stiff. It is best to begin at a slow speed and gradually move up to high when beating egg whites. The texture of egg whites is right if you can turn the bowl upside down without a disaster ;)

The next step is to add egg whites into your yolk-flour mixture. Add at first half of the whites, carefully mix it all but try to keep the light air texture. Then add the rest and mix it all. Pour the mixture over the persimmons into your baking form and put the form into the oven. Now don't come closer to the oven for 20 minutes. It is a rule. Your pie is rising and don't even dare to intervene.
This is a perfect time to prepare the caramel. In a little saucepan warm chopped toffees with milk at low heat stirring all the time. Pour 1 tbsp of whisky to add some extra flavor. Cook the caramel at low heat for about 10 minutes.

After 20 minutes of baking time have passed you can check the pie with a wooden stick. If it's comes out wet leave the pie for another 5-15 minutes. When it is ready open the oven-door and let the pie rest for a while so that it can keep the form. Carefully turn the form upside down so that the persimmon pieces are on top. Pour caramel topping over it and enjoy the flavors, tastes, textures and lovely autumn. Serve warm - tastes unbelievable.

And remember - everything is good in moderation ;)
Bon appetit!