Oreo Cheesecake

I was browsing around and i saw this lovely cheesecake recipe and i thought to myself i should really give it a try for it has been a while that i wanna bake my very first cheesecake but didn't come across any recipe that i fancy until now..i couldn't help but be so drawn to the combination of oreo and cheese! If you love both of the main ingredients, you would definitely love this!

Ingredients

Base

* 160g digestive biscuits

* 160g oreo biscuits

* 1/4 cup melted butter

Method:

1) Crush both the digestive and oreo biscuits together.

2) Melt the butter and pour over the crushed biscuits and press it neatly onto the baking pan. Set aside.

3) Wrap the baking pan in a double layer of aluminium foil.

Note:

Springform or loose base pan is recommended for easy handling.

If you like , you can replace the digestive with pure oreo base.

Make sure you really compress the base when you pressed the crushed oreos/digestive into the baking pan to create a nice base after baking.

Filling

* 910g cream cheese, softened

* 11/3 cups sugar

* 1/2 tsp salt

* 2 tsp vanila

* 11/3 cup sour cream

* 4 eggs

* 11/2 cups crushed oreos

Method:

1) Beat the softened cream cheese..

2) With the mixture still running, add sugar, salt and vanilla and continue mixing.
3) Once its all nicely mixed, pour in the sour cream and mix it thoroughly.

4) Put in the eggs.

5) Pour in the crushed oreos and stir thoroughly and pour it into the pan.

6) Sprinkle some more crushed oreos on the top if desired.

7) Find a roasting pan that you can fit your baking pan in and fill up the roastin pan with boiling water halfway up the baking pan.

8) Bake in a preheated over at 165 degree C for 1hr and 30mins in a 9inch springform/loose base pan.

9) After baking, allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath.

10) Remove from the oven and let it cool before popping it into the fridge. Refrigerate for bout 4 hours, preferably overnight before serving.

Note:

Since i dont have a 9in springform , i used a 8in loose base baking pan.

I've also added 15mins to the baking time, my cheesecake turn out great but for the next round, i'm might just gonna bake the cake for 1hr 30mins in a 8in loose base pan.

The measurement for the cheese cream mixture above is enough to make two 8in size cheesecake, but of course you'll need to double the measurement for the base. The base was slighty thicker than the usual ones. If you like a thinner base then you can split the measurement of the base into to.

I've also reduced the crushed oreos in the filling to perhaps about 1/2 cup or slightly more

EDIT:

I've tried another batch of oreo cheesecake , this time around i added some coffee to the base and i baked for 1hr 35mins in a 8in loose base pan. The hint of coffee in the base perfected the combination

Adobo Chicken with Ginger

I recently came across the word, Adobo and i thought to myself , what's this adobo? I did some reading and i was really pleased with what i found out! For those that understands Spanish , adobo means marinade or season. As for the Filipino, this word represents a type of cuisine and often refer to as a common and popular cooking process.

According to some of my friends who have tasted this dish , they claimed it to be really really good, so i thought why not give it a try and see if i like it as much as the 3 cups chicken i tried previously.

INGREDIENTS

* 1.3kg chicken (bite size)

* 1/2 cup light soy sauce

* 3/4 cup vinegar

* 1 bulb garlic

* 2 tbsp thinly sliced ginger

* 2 bay leaves

* 1/2 tbsp crushed black peppercorns

Method:

1) Marinate the chicken with some salt and pepper. Pan fry the chicken pieces, remove and place it on a kitchen towel.

2) Peel and pound the garlic slightly. Stir fry garlic and sliced ginger until fragrant.

3) Add in soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves and peppercorns and let it simmer before adding in the pan-fried chicken.

4) Let it simmer further on a low heat until the sauce has thicken and reduced to half.

5) Dish it out and its ready to be served.

Note:

The method written has been modified. The original cooking style is to dump everythin in the Dutch oven and let it stew under low fire. Since i dont have the required kitchen tool, i decided to do it my way

It tasted good for me , but for those that would want a less tartness, you can adjust the ratio of soy sauce and vinegar to suit your liking. You can add a lil sugar to it as well.

Meat Patties with Side Dishes

Today i'm in the mood to see a lot of colours on my plate therefore i came up with this dish which i've no special name for it therefore i'm naming it as what the title suggest until i've further inspiration on naming it :). I've limited ingredients sitting around the fridge and i didn't feel like heading out to get new ingredients so i gotta depend on my creativity to whip up a one plate meal for myself.

Instead of making meatballs from the left-over minced meat i have in the fridge, i decided i should turn it into meat patties with some side dishes as my main course. As the main dish, i made meat patties, and as for the side dishes, i've got some cherry tomatoes, blanched brocolli, carrots and baked sweet potato wedges


INGREDIENTS

Meat Patties
*egg ( lightly beaten )
*breadcrumbs
*finely chopped garlic
*chopped onions
*coarse black pepper
*salt
*parsley
*grated parmesan cheese
*cayenne pepper powder
*minced meat (pork)

Method:
1) Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix well.
2) Use egg ring ( equipment to make egg banjo) to shape the mixture into patties.
3) Heat up a non stick with some olive oil and pan-fry it.

4) Let it sit on the kitchen towel to drain any excessive oil.

5) Ready to be served with the side dishes.

Note:
If the meat mixture is too wet, add in more breadcrumbs until you get the consistency you're looking for.

Refrigeration will help the patties to hold together during pan-frying.

The egg ring is to ensure patties are in equal size and thickness.

Vegan Bread Pudding

Personally I don't think i ever tasted bread pudding, well perhaps i did when i was much younger at some buffet dinner but i really can't recall the taste or even the texture. Therefore when i made this vegan bread pudding, i brought some over to my dearest friend so that i can get some feedback , if this is the right texture or even taste.

From what my mom told me, the non vegan version has eggs, butter and milk as part of the ingredients and also some served it with some syrup , perhaps maple or some sweet syrup or even cream, which i'm not too sure of. I read that some baked it in a water bath, but my version is just like how you would normally bake anything.

INGREDIENTS
* 3 cups soy milk
* 3/4 cups brown sugar
* 1 tbsp vanilla extract
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1 cup golden raisins
* 4 cups day old bread (cubed)
* 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Method:
1) Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except the bread and stir well.
2) Arrange the cubed bread in the pan and pour the soy mixture on it.
3) Let the bread and soy milk mixture sit for bout 20-30mins, so that the bread will be even soaked.
4) Bake in a preheated oven of 180 degree C for bout 30mins.

Note:
Instead of mixing the raisins together in the soy milk mixture, i scattered it around the cubed bread before pouring the soy mixture over it. If you like raisins all over , u can even layer your bread and raisins alternatively, which i did. I also omitted the nuts for i don't have any at that time.

I baked it for 30mins like what the recipe suggested but it turn out too soggy and wet for me , therefore i further bake for bout 25-30mins. I let the pudding sit for almost 2-3 hours before i tasted it. The texture turns out great after a few hours of sitting and not when its freshly out from the oven. For those who likes a thicker pudding, add more layers. Mine was only 2 layers of thick cubed bread compressed into a pretty decent thickness after a few hours of sitting at room temp.

Non-Dairy Eggless Brownies

For those who has been following my blog, I'm really sorry that i took so long to update. I've been pretty busy and due to that i've hardly had any spare time to experiment. But i'm definitely sure that this will be a good post for those chocolate lovers out there!

My dear friend, Denny, taught me a lot about food, especially those with special diets. With all that knowledge, i'm definitely putting it on good use and i'm slowly learning on how to cater for those who doesn't consume certain food/raw materials. My uncle for instance, he's lactose intolerant therefore there's quite a bit of food/desserts that he has to forgo, which is a pity cuz i totally know and understand how it feels to not be able to eat what your heart desires!

So for those lactose intolerant/egg-free lifetstyle people out there, this is definitely a treat you can whip up at home!

INGREDIENTS
* 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 vegan margarine
* 2/3 cup cocoa powder
* 2 cups brown sugar
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 1/1 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Method:
1) Combine 1/3 cup of flour with 1 cup water and cook on medium heat until thick. Set aside to cool.
2) In a new saucepan, melt the margarine and stir in the cocoa powder.
3) Sift together the remaining flour along with baking powder.
4) Beat sugar, salt & vanilla into the flour mixture. Then add the melt margarine/ cocoa mixture into the flour mixture.
5) Add the above mixture to the sifted flour, baking powder mixture.
6) Bake for about 25mins in a preheated oven of 18o degree C.

Note:

For those who wants a more chocolatey bite, prepare just enough chocolate ganache and pour over the brownies when it has cooled down and voila! your perfect piece of chocolatey dessert!

I've replaced the cocoa powder with chocolate powder for a more chocolatey touch to it. Chocolate powder is a little bit more expensive as compared to cocoa powder but its definitely my preferred ingredient in anything chocolate!