Category Archives: Dessert

Chocolate Truffle Salted Caramel Pie

Melt in your mouth, salty, caramel chocolate heaven

If you’re looking for an impressive dessert that has a wonderful balance of sweet and salty, then this is your recipe. Each component is relatively easy and it’s also a perfect recipe for assembling ahead of time.

Serves: 8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: ca. 20-30 minutes
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INGREDIENTS:

Crust;
• 1 C. whole oats, ground to flour
• 10 medium dates, stone removed
• 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
Dark Caramel;
• 4 tbsp butter, or vegan butter
• 1/4 cup regular cream or coconut cream
• 1 cup packed coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Truffle Fudge filling
• 7 oz. / 200 gr. chopped dark chocolate
• 1 C. regular cream or coconut cream
• 1/2 C. Agave syrup (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Extra
• Flaky sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

For the crust, place the oats in a food processor and grind to flour then add in the dates, cocoa and coconut oil. Pulse until you have a finely ground sticky mass.
Line a 8″/ 20 cm tart tin with a removable bottom, with parchment paper.
Press the crust filling into the tart tin, pressing firmly to get a solid crust. Place in the freezer while you prepare the rest.
For the caramel, In a sauce pan with a thick bottom, melt the butter and let it cook until it browns slightly and starts to smell like hazelnuts. Carefully add the cream, sugar and vanilla and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Remove from the heat.
Let the dark caramel cool for 15 minutes before spreading out over the crust. Return to the freezer.
For the Chocolate Truffle filling, Place chocolate in a glass bowl. In a saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the agave syrup. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk until completely smooth. Taste for sweetness, add more agave syrup if you like it sweeter.
Pour the chocolate over the caramel and freeze for a final 30 minutes, until just chilled and set. OR refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve. Before serving, sprinkle the top with Fleur De Sel or other flaky sea salt.

Enjoy!
Myra XO

Oreo Cheesecake

8 Replies

This cheesecake is such a show stopper! Creamy like you’ve never tasted before. Filled with Oreo cookies on an Oreo cookie base and the wonderful thing about this recipe is that it’s quite straight forward, for the crust you just crush the Oreo cookies with filling and all, add a little melted butter and done.
The filling is really simple too, so creamy and hands down my favourite cheesecake recipe. Unless you don’t want to bake in which case you’d probably be better off with something like this no-bake white chocolate cheesecake with Raspberry swirl , or if you just need a small cheesecake fix you can make these Berry Cheesecake crumble bars instead.
Either way, this cheesecake is thick, rich and dangerously decadent and a must try!

Prep time : 20 min

Baking time : 45-50 min

INGREDIENTS:

• 250 grs / 9 oz / about 22 cookies for crust
• 8 cookies for filling, quartered or roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp. melted butter
• 850 gr. / 3 ¾ cups cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 3 large eggs plus 1 yolk at room temperature

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350 F / 180 C. Place the cookies for the crust in a resealable plastic bag. Flatten bag to remove excess air, then seal bag. Finely crush cookies by rolling a rolling pin across the bag. Alternatively crush cookies in a food processor by pulsing until completely crumbled. Place in a bowl and add the melted butter, mix well. Press firmly onto bottom of 8 inch/ 20 cm. non-stick spring form pan. Place in the freezer while you make your filling.
2. Beat cream cheese, flour, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Quarter the remaining 8 cookies. Gently stir into cream cheese batter. Pour over prepared crust.
3. Place on a rack in the middle of the oven and bake at 350 F/180 C for the first 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 320 F / 160 C. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until center is almost set. Turn off the oven and open the door just a tiny bit (I put a large wooden spoon in the opening or a folded tea towel), leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. This will prevent the cheesecake from cracking*. Cool at room temperature until no longer warm to the touch. Then refrigerate for at least four hours but preferably overnight.
4. When ready to serve, decorate with whipped cream and tiny Oreo cookies if desired. I like to remove the cheesecake one hour before consuming so the cheesecake isn’t too cold.

*the trick to a perfect cheesecake is to NOT remove it from the oven straight after baking, and don’t open the oven door during baking either. This will make it crack. If that does happen any way, it’s not the end of the world, just sprinkle with crushed cookies, or decorate with fruit, Gananche or whipped cream.

Enjoy!
Myra XO

Berry Cheesecake Crumble Bars

18 Replies

These Berry cheesecake crumble bars are an amazing treat. They combine all the things I love in one. Cheesecake being number 1, crumble…because who doesn’t love crumble and obviously the cookie like bottom. And then the layer of juicy fruit. Which of course you can adapt to your favourite fruit.

They are super easy to make and a real crowd pleaser too.

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INGREDIENTS:

1 cup cashew nuts
3 cups oats
pinch of salt
1/2 cup natural oil or butter
1/2 cup plain sugar or coconut blossom sugar

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened and at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose or spelt flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg at room temperature

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2 cups frozen berries of choice
2 tbsp. corn starch dissolved in two tbsp. water
2 tbsp. sugar (or more to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F . Line an 8-inch baking tray with parchment paper.
In a food processor, combine the nuts, oats, and salt and process until you have a coarse flour. Leave it in the processor.
In a small pot, melt the oil or butter with the sugar over low heat, until the sugar has dissolved.
Pour the wet mixture on top of the oat mixture in the food processor and process until the mixture comes together.
Set aside 1 cup of the crumble mixture for the topping.
Place the remaining oat mixture over the base of the baking tray and push down with your (slightly wet) fingers. Press the dough down tightly.
Pre bake the crust for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile make the fruit layer by placing the berries in a saucepan and bring to a slow boil over medium heat. Add the corn starch slurry and sugar and cook until thickened. Don’t stir to vigorously , try to leave some berries whole.
Let cool slightly.
Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
Spread all the cream cheese mixture over the oat base
Spread the slightly cooled fruit in an even layer over the cream cheese.
Crumble the reserved cup of oat mixture evenly over the fruit.
Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes more, until the topping is lightly golden and firm. Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for at least an hour, then transfer the pan to the fridge until completely cool and firm (preferably over night). If you can’t wait, put the slightly cooled tray into the freezer for about 30 to 40 minutes. Lift out and slice into squares. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. They freeze well too.

Enjoy!

Myra XO

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

9 Replies

There’s a new cookie in town!
These chocolate chip cookies are perfectly soft, chewy, and just all around pretty darn delicious. You’ll never need another cookie recipe again! I’ve made them with Spelt flour and coconut sugar and without butter, does that make them healthy? Let’s say YES.
But really, no. It just doesn’t make them as super unhealthy as regular store-bought cookies. And seriously if you’re gonna be a little naughty, ya better do it right. RIGHT?
And although these do still have some sugar, it’s half of the usual amount. And boy, are they good! So what are you waiting for go make ’em TODAY!

TIPS & NOTES!
1. Coconut oil is super healthy!
2. Coconut sugar makes the cookies even chewier and there are also some health benefits in coconut sugar. Coconut sugar contains a fiber known as inulin which helps slow glucose absorption. Coconut sugar also contains small amounts of vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc and phytonutrients.
3. Chill the dough for one hour before baking to prevent the cookies from spreading too much.

Makes 20
INGREDIENTS:
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, soft-at room temperature
• 1/4 cup baking margarine, soft-at room temperature
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. coconut sugar, tightly packed
• 1 tsp. liquid stevia or more coconut sugar
• 1 large egg (room temperature )
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Combine coconut oil and margarine with the sugars in a large bowl. Stir very well.
2. Add egg and stir well.
3. Stir in vanilla extract. Set aside.
4. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients — stir well so that all the flour is absorbed.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Place dough in refrigerator and chill for 30-60 minutes.
8. Pre-heat oven to 177° C / 350° F and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
9. Scoop dough by rounded 1 1/2 Tablespoon onto prepared cookie sheets, placing at least 2″ apart.
10. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, cookies may still seem slightly soft in the centers, that is OK, they will cook completely on the cookie sheets. Don’t over-bake or your cookies will be too hard.
11. If desired, gently press additional chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies.
12. Allow to cool completely. I like to eat them cold from the fridge, they get extra chewy.
Enjoy!
Myra XO