Three cheese and tomato muffins and Mexican cheese muffins

Its not that often that I make a recipe so soon after finding it but this one was printed in the You magazine last week.  These are not cheap muffins to make unless you habitually buy the cheeses because most supermarkets sell them in double the quantity you need.  You should try to use these cheeses though because they have a taste that doesn't overpower the muffin like a strong cheddar might.  I did substitute parmesan for the pecorino originally specified in the recipe because I only needed 50g and it was only available in 175g portions and I knew it would go to waste.  The original recipe also said to use muffin cases but I have found that a lot of muffin can stick to the case whereas if you just generously butter the tin they will pop straight out with lovely smooth edges.  I did wonder however if the muffin cases would have prevented the melted cheese I found all over the top of my tin (see picture).  Scraping it off was delicious though.  These are best served warm or newly cooled but will keep for several days in an airtight container and can be reheated.

THREE CHEESE AND TOMATO MUFFINS

 

• 250g/9oz plain flour
• 50g/2ox ground almonds
• 50g/2oz grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 225ml/8 fl oz milk
• 5 tbsp. olive oil
• 8 sun dried tomato halves in olive oil, chopped
• 100g/3.5oz emmenthal cheese cut into 1cm dice
• 100g/3.5 oz gruyere cheese diced
• 2 tbsp. pesto

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7 and butter a twelve hole deep muffin tin
In a large bowl combine the flour, almonds, baking powder, salt and parmesan
In another bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and olive oil
Pour the wet into the dry and mix to a lumpy texture
Fold in the tomatoes
Combine the cheeses; reserve twelve cubes and fold the rest into the mixture
Dot with the pesto and fold over a couple of times to streak the mixture
Divide the mixture between the muffin tins and place a cube of cheese on top of each one
Bake for 10 minutes then turn the heat down to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and bake for another 15 minutes

 

Check out that cheesy mess, yum!

 

 

MEXICAN CHEESE MUFFINS

 

 

So now you're left with some cheese you probably don't usually buy and wonder if you should make some more.  I have discovered that Tesco has a new range of cheeses for entertaining and one of these is Mexican Style Cheese Filler, a combination of Monterey Jack cheese and chillies.  Trust me, its good.  What I did next was to omit the parmesan cheese and use a 125g pack of this cheese filler and the rest of my left over cheeses.  I replaced the pesto with sun dried tomato puree and left out the cube on the top.  This gave me a more even top and a slightly denser muffin.  There was some cheese overflow but nowhere near as much.  Tesco also do a large bag of grated Chilli Cheese that would work too.  Try not to chop the tomato too small as it can get lost.

 

 



Ukrainian cheesecake

I have no idea why this is called a Ukrainian Cheesecake, that was the name I wrote when I recorded this recipe over twenty five years ago.  Did they have a lot of pineapples in the Ukraine then?  Imported from Cuba maybe?  Whatever, this is another lovely refreshing dessert for this hot weather we're enjoying and I made this over the weekend for a lunch party along with the S'mores Ice Cream Cake.  It is very refreshing with a light mousse like texture but it can be a devil to get off the base of the tin.  I have a glass bottomed tin that I use for this type of dessert.  The addition of cinnamon to the biscuit base makes a nice change, I imagine it would also work well if you did it with ginger biscuits instead of digestives. 

UKRAINIAN CHEESECAKE

 

• 4oz biscuit crumb, digestive or similar
• 2oz melted butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• a can of crushed pineapple, drained
• 4oz sugar
• pinch of salt
• 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 3 sheets of gelatine
• 250g pot of mascarpone
• 200g Philadelphia or similar
• 3 egg whites, whipped till stiff
• 1 tsp lemon rind, grated
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 pint of whipping cream, whipped

Mix the crumbs with the butter, cinnamon and tbsp. of sugar in a pan and use to line a spring form tin.  I used a 7.5" one, you can use larger for a lower cake but you may want to increase your base ingredients accordingly.
In a glass bowl over a pan of hot water ( or a double boiler ) mix the rest of the sugar, salt, 5 fl oz of the pineapple juice and the egg yolks.  Cook stirring constantly till smooth and thickened
Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water for five minutes then remove and ring out.  add them to the hot mixture and stir well to dissolve. 
Chill the mixture till it begins to set around the edge.
In a large bowl whip together the cheeses till smooth and combined.  Add the pineapple and lemon.
Fold in the egg whites and cream.  At this stage it will taste bland and uninteresting.
Transform it by adding the gelatine and sugar mix and folding in well.
Pour into the tin and smooth the top then chill for 10-12 hours.

 

S'mores ice cream cake

With this hot weather promising to last for the rest of the month you may be looking for cold desserts to follow all that effort you put into the barbecue, especially desserts that you can prepare in advance and just produce with a flourish when the burgers are done and the coals are cooling.  For those who don't know S'mores are a sandwich of Graham Crackers and marshmallow covered in chocolate, so called because everyone wants more.  Graham Crackers are an American biscuit like a slightly less sweet digestive so our biscuits are always a good alternative in American recipes.  Except this one of course because it has the damned things around the outside and they're rectangular!  You can buy them on Amazon for about eight quid including postage but my lovely wife came up with the idea of using Cadbury Chocolate Fingers; the second best biscuit in the world, which is about the right texture and even better, covered in chocolate.  I don't know what set me off on this path, I think I saw a recipe for a S'mores cake on Google + and went looking at recipes.  I found one I liked and translated it into English for all of you.  I have doubles the amount of chocolate sauce for this recipe as I thought it was lacking in the one I made.  The original recipe also called for chocolate ice cream but I tried Tesco Chocolate and Vanilla.  You may also want to use more marshmallows on top for a better look.  You could also keep your chocolate fingers longer so that they come up to the top of the marshmallows .  You can find light corn syrup in the Ethnic aisle at the supermarket or on line.  Alternatively you can buy a light syrup for use in cocktails from the spirits aisle which comes in several flavours.

S'MORES ICE CREAM CAKE

 

 

• 8oz/200g plain chocolate, chopped
• 300ml pot of double cream
• 4 fl oz light corn syrup
• 4 oz/100g digestive biscuits, reduced to crumbs 
• 2 oz/50g butter, melted
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• jar of Marshmallow Fluff (usually in the jam aisle)
• 2-3 litres of good chocolate ice cream
• 2-3 packets of marshmallows
• 2 packets of Cadbury Chocolate Fingers

 

For the fudge layer

 

Combine the chocolate, cream and syrup in a small pan and stir over a very gentle heat until melted and smooth, allow to cool

 

For the crust

 

Adjust your oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 325F/170C/Gas 3

Butter a 9" spring form tin and line it with baking paper

 

 

Combine the biscuit crumbs, butter and sugar until it looks like wet sand.  Spread in the bottom of the pan in an even layer and bake for about 10 minutes till golden and fragrant. Allow to cool completely.

 

Pour the cooled chocolate sauce over the base and put it into the freezer for about 30 minutes to set
Spread the marshmallow over the chocolate ( you'll be glad you set it!) and return this to the freezer for another 15 minutes
Get the ice cream out to soften
Spread the ice cream over the marshmallow, cover with cling film and freeze for about four hours till very hard.
Preheat an overhead grill
Get it out and top with the marshmallows, then place it under the grill to toast them.  It only takes a few minutes and it does work. You can also do this with a chef's blowtorch if you have one.
Pop it back in the freezer till you're ready to serve.  Take it out of the tin and remove the baking paper and set it on a serving plate.  Cut your chocolate fingers to the length you want and press them onto the sides.  Serve.  It won't be there long.