What happened when the big 5’Os meet 6’Os? Well, either you run because you wanted to belong to the so young group (below fifty) or join the club and be one of the beauty beyond fifties rocking :-)hahaha I bet you’re smiling huh! just kidding!
One of my beautybeyondfiftiy ladies invited us for her husband 6…and counting bday get together. Of course, I readily looked at my fridge and think what flavour I should bake? I found Pomegranate, heaven! I like this fruit including the seeds 🙂
Pomegranate – one of my favourite fruits
I cut three pieces, hence I don’t have a juicer, I just boiled it with 3 tablespoon water and 1/4 cup sugar. And de-seeds it with a strainer then add 1 tsp of cornstarch. The puree is enough for one mini cheesecake only.
pomegranate pureeenough only for a mini cheesecake
I used Mascarpone (Italian cheese) so its fluffy and soft.
Flavour # 35 Pomegranate Mini Cheesecake
Some serving suggestion before the real b-day party 🙂
i made different sizes, I usually set aside..cup cake size for tastingi use fresh pomegranate for toppingheaven combination with a cup of espressoYummy sweet fluffy and soft cheesecakePhoto credit: Govs Villanueva
Thank you ladies and gentlemen for the wonderful evening. God bless!
One thing I look for on Eid holiday is sweet…chocolates,cakes,candies etc 😉 and one of them is halawa bil jibneh ( halawa means sweet, and jibneh means cheese).My friend said, its ” cheesecake” hmmm interesting! I consulted my friend ” google” :-0 and mostly of the recipes I got has no English translation. Anyhow, I figure out the way of cooking is just boiling the water, sugar and semolina (durum wheat) with akawi cheese added. Akawi ( akkawi, ackawi,akawieh) is a white brine cheese which has salty taste. I also use akawi cheese when I eat watermelon,a delicious combination! try it!
My challenge is how to baked it, hence my cheesecake are all home-baked, so I decided to use it as a crust instead of using biscuits, good idea? well, not so, because once I baked it, it’s kind of hard to chew, though I can still differentiate its arabic sweetness from my earlier cheesecake flavours. I used orange blossom and flower water instead of vanilla, which gives the traditional taste I am looking for arabic sweets. Oh yes, don’t forget the nuts! of course, Pistachio!
sweet orange blossom and flower water
So , here we go ladies, Flavour # 34 Arabic Twist Cheesecake with Semolina crust
Flavour # 34 Arabic Twist Cheesecake with Semolina crust
Ingredients:
Crust:
3/4 cup of semolina
3 tbsp unsalted butter ( or sweet butter)
3/4 cup water (or milk)
3/4 cup sugar
150 g akawi cheese
Filling:
1 pk (300g) Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp orange blossom water
1 tsp flower water (rose-water)
1/8 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whipping cream
3 tbsp shifted cake flour
Toppings:
cherry
sweet corn syrup
pistachio nuts
Directions:
Mix water and sugar, bring it to boil add semolina and mix thoroughly in medium heat, add akawi cheese until it melts.Pour it into a pan with corn syrup. Spread it flat and allow to cool.Use the bottom of springform pan as a moulder to cut the mixture. Set aside.
spread with corn syrup
mold,cut and press
Pre heat oven to Mark gas #3
Mix cream cheese with sugar,beat at medium speed, add sour cream, egg (one egg at a time), orange blossom water,flower water,flour,lemon juice. Mix thoroughly.Add whipping cream and continue beating until all ingredients are well combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Baked at 45 minutes. Let it cool for another 30 minutes and chill for 4 hours or more before topping.
Serving Suggestions:
Ladies, the taste of the semolina with cheese is authentic but the texture was a bit hard for me, having tasted the best’ halawa bin jibneh” in jeddah, my recipe for the crust was not of standard. Maybe you can share yours? I’ll be happy to try it too!
Here’s another batch of my official taster 🙂 I really do have good friends who can spend a day just having tea and Cheesecake. We spent 8 hours of good conversation, drowning ourselves with home-made tea concoction over an experimental home-baked cheesecake flavour #33, Yay!
Flavour # 33 Mango-pineapple Coconut Cheesecake
Flavour#33 Pineapple Mango Coconut Cheesecake
I did two variations, one with toasted coconut
and one with a sweetened coconut and fresh mango bits on top
and I also did, a no bake Cheesecake and matcha green tea roll cheesecake, so it’s really a treat for everyone, or should I say..
” Sweet overload” 🙂
Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 cup crushed digestive biscuits
1/2 cup roasted coconut flakes (desiccated)
3 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup butter
Filling:
3 pkgs (300 g each ) Philadelphia cream cheese
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla powder
4 eggs
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp lemon
a pinch of salt
Toppings:
roasted coconuts
sweetened coconuts
fresh mango puree and cut bits
pineapple chunks
Directions:
Pre-heat oven Gas mark #3
Mix biscuits,coconuts,sugar and butter. Press onto the springform pan (i used different sizes). Set aside
Cream the cheese at room temperature, add sugar slowly while beating at medium speed. Add one egg at a time.Combine mixture of whipping cream,sour cream and vanilla powder,add it to the cream cheese mixture, add a pinch of salt and continue mixing until smooth and well combined. Pour onto the prepared pan. Bake at 1 hr, let it cool for another 30 minutes, leaving the oven door slightly ajar. (sudden change of temperature will result to cracking in the middle). Remove and let it cool for another one hour and chill for another 4 hrs or overnight before topping and serving.
hmm yummy but so sweet
Ladies, even though there’s a lot of sweet indulgence ( tummy rumbling) we manage to give a sweet smile!
Here’s another suggestion from my Chef Kevin – why not use flour instead of digestive biscuits as your crust? Alright, that’s a good challenge, let me try… Flour,butter,sugar and egg 🙂
home -made crust
look at the crust!
Flavour # 32 – Raspberry Cheesecake, this time , I made a lot of variation to give it to my dear friends. Besides, opening a can of Raspberries preserved is too much for a mini cake! It is not always easy to find the real one, so I just used a ready-made raspberry filing.
Flavour#32 -Raspberry Cheesecake
Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
Filling:
3 pkg (300 g each) Philadelphia cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla powder
1 cup sugar
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt
3 tbsp flour
1 can raspberry filling
Pre heat oven to Mark Gas # 3
Mix flour ,butter and sugar, add egg yolk, continue mixing into uniform consistency. Press onto the pan and bake for 10 min. Set aside
Beat cream cheese, add sugar, vanilla mix thoroughly. Add one egg at a time, continue beating at medium speed until smooth.Add whipping cream,sour cream,salt and lemon juice. Pour into the prepared pan. Baked for 1 hr and cool inside the oven for another 30 minutes. Remove and let it cool for another 1 hr. Cover with foil and chill for another 4 hrs or overnight before topping.
i used different sizes of springform pan
Variations:
a layer of mixed raspberry and cheesecream cheese frostingswirl raspberry on topraspberry cupcakewith cheese and raspberry filling
Ladies, this cup cake is so yummy, I only used egg whites and light Philadelphia Cream Cheese. If you want to cut some calories, try it!
Walnut and honey Cheesecake – suggested by my Chef Kevin. I think I ate a lot of walnuts while making this cheesecake. I just tweaked my basic recipe of cheesecake, added honey, walnuts and presto! Flavour #31 was born 🙂
Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 cup of crushed honey graham crackers
1/2 cup of almond meal
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp crushed walnuts
Filling:
3 pkg (200 g) of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup yogurt (any kind)
1/8 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla powder
Toppings:
honey
walnuts
Whipping cream or cheese frosting (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven Gas mark #3
Mix biscuits,almond meal,walnuts and butter together. Pressed the mixture into the springform pan, placed in the oven for 10 min, set aside.
Beat the cream cheese, add sugar, vanilla and honey alternately, until the mixture is smooth. Add egg one at a time until well blended.Combine yogurt and lemon juice with salt, add it to the mixed batter. Pour into the prepared crust. Baked for 1 hr in water bath, put off the oven, leave the door slightly open for another 30 min. Remove and leave it cool for one hour and chill for another 4 hours in the fridge.
I am so happy to savour the taste of Ramadan Iftar with my youngest son, Chef Kevin. He was here for short holiday before he goes to work as trainee at J.W Marquis Marriott Hotel in Dubai, UAE. Imagine how my tummy jumped with glee and my brain twisted for more calories and my heart was pumping with joy,suddenly…sadness comes when I can not zipped in my trouser 🙂 anymore! hahaha anyway, here’s some photos I took via iPhone 4 ! yes! say that again! still in iPhone 4? ! 🙂
1st stop – where else! of course at tito nabil’s house. He is a good lebanese cook! We ate with gusto every time! Hummos fattah, wara enab, yogurt hmmm so yummy!
palabok
wara enab, sambusak
2nd stop – Cheesecake Factory, it seems every table has its own service staff, the service and the food are both fantastic.
3rd stop – Texas Road house, well again and again, this is my favourite!
4th stop – Mugg and Bean, not so impressive but the conversation was superb!
5th stop – Romero – one of the best! If you love Mediterranean cuisine and a romantic place, this fine restaurant is highly recommended. From the starter to the main dish, we enjoyed it all!
6th stop – al ashami – Shawerma overload 😉
7th stop – of course, I also prepared some dish for my youngest chef!
8th stop – Pizza huh! a disaster, service is not good and the food is not even half italian in taste 😦
at the end before his flight to Dubai, we went to marble slab creamery, had a fresh mixed ice cream and a little show of catching the scooped ice cream, enjoy!
Working at night till early morning, makes me drink a lot of tea and coffee. While drinking my cup of coffee, an idea puff up! why not try coffee cheesecake? and what goes with the coffee? lady fingers biscuits! aha! a sort of like tiramisu? Well, not really. 🙂
Flavour # 30 – Coffee Chocolate Cheesecake
Coffee alone might turn my cheesecake bitter , so I added a cocoa flavour on top and I also use honey instead of sugar.
I mixed 3 tablespoon of instant espresso powder to half cup of hot water and one by one I soaked the biscuits into the mixture and arranged it into the bottom and sides of the pan.
mini coffee chocolate cheesecake
My chef Kevin commented, why don’t you just use ordinary biscuits and baked it for 10 minutes so it would be crunchy instead of looking like burnt cookies?
burnt? nope ! just like espresso coffee 🙂
and so I tried one more time, I added the biscuits on the side after I chilled my cheesecake and was ready to serve.
looks better?
Another comment, its doesn’t taste like cheesecake it’s more of like more of fat! oh my kevs! I think the honey is not a good idea, I should have used half sugar and half honey. 😦
Ladies, I am not sharing the recipe because this one is a failed attempt but I included it as #30 anyway. I think I should stick to fruit flavour ? or maybe savoury ? Any ideas?
It’s Ramadan once again, a time of fasting with a festive atmosphere. I choose one of the popular sweets usually found on the table after Iftar, theBaklawa sweets.
Baklawa or Baklava
I google and found that it is possible to make Baklawa cheesecake. Actually, it is Baklava , a mediterranean sweets made of stacks of phyllo, honey and nuts.
I am guessing that Baklawa (fillo) is an arabic version as opposed to Baklava (phyllo) maybe!
Anyway, here’s my trial recipe, which actually turns out good ( at least to my taste) but you can always alter it according to your taste 🙂
Flavour # 29 Baklawa Cheesecake
Ingredients:
Crust
12 layers of baklawa (Fillo) i used butter spray instead of brushing it with clarified butter
Filling:
2 (300 g) Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
250 oz thick cream
assorted nuts (crushed) anything that you like to add, I added 2 tbsp cinnamon and 3 tbsp brown sugar
Syrup:
1 cup honey
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
Topping:
12 phyllo sheets, stacked in 3 layers
assorted nuts with cinnamon and brown sugar according to your taste, I added about 2 tbsp.
Defrost the Phyllo for 4 hours without removing it from the package. Prepare cheese mixture before opening and spreading the phyllo in wax paper and cover it with wet towel to prevent dryness and tearing it.
Pre heat oven to Gas mark # 3
Mix cream cheese with honey, alternately adding one egg at a time. add vanilla, continue beating at medium speed and add thick cream.Mix thoroughly.Divide into two part.
Mix crushed nuts with cinnamon and brown sugar
Place one Phyllo sheet on the springform pan, spray with butter add another one and spray again until 12 sheets. Pour the cheese mixture, spread assorted nuts and pour the remaining cream cheese part, top again with mixture of assorted nuts.
Bake for one hour. cool for another 2 hours and refrigerate for another 4 hours.
Meanwhile, cut 24 Phyllo sheets according to your pan shape. Stack 12 layers (each layer spray with butter) add mixture of assorted nuts and another 12 layers, cut into any shape you like and bake for 30 minutes.
Bring to boil honey,lemon and water, reduced the heat and continue mixing for about 5 minutes.
without the fillo toppings
The thing that I missed here…I should have drizzle the Phyllo sheets with mixed honey while it was still hot and leave it for another 20 minutes to stick together before putting it on top of the cheesecake.
drizzle honey while hothmmm i love nuts!without honeywith lemon honeyanother way of fillo decor
Oh well, there’s another chance ladies,till next baking time 😉
Dr. Myriam- The Dental Aesthetic Clinic 
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