'Eton Mess' Inspired Dessert

Traditionally made with cream, I opted to use vanilla yogurt in my version of an Eton Mess instead

I had some leftover meringues from the recipe I posted the other day (you can see that over here) so decided to make an ‘Eton Mess’ inspired dessert with them.

Eton Mess is an English dessert which has been known by this name since the 19th century, and which is traditionally served at Eton College’s annual cricket game against students of Winchester College. (For those who may not know of it, Eton College is a well known British boy’s school founded in 1440 by King Henry VI.)

The traditional ‘Eton Mess’ is made with (sweetened) strawberries, cream and meringue pieces but I used vanilla yogurt in place of the cream in mine -:

Eton Mess Inspired Dessert

2 – 3 Vanilla Meringues, broken into pieces
150 ml tub Vanilla Yogurt (you could also use flavoured yogurt – or cream)
Handful of strawberries, washed & chopped

Place half of the broken meringues into the bottom of a wine glass. Top with a couple of spoons of the yogurt, then add some strawberries. Repeat the layers until the glass is full. Serve quite soon, as if you leave the meringues to stand like this for too long, they do begin to break down and ‘melt’ a little.

Milk Tart (Melk Tert) Recipe - For My Dear Friend, Di !

The Milk Tart, still warm out of the oven .... although I think it tastes best served slightly chilled.

I have a very dear friend from my childhood called Di. We’ve been friends for so many years now that I’ve lost count …. we were out of touch for a few years and then just picked up again right where we’d left off (isn’t that the great thing about true friends ?!) Di, who is originally from South Africa, now lives in Australia with her husband and 2 kids and is probably the ‘coolest’ Mum I know …. she’s travelled around the world (Borneo and Vietnam were recent visits of hers) & does things like swim with ‘wild’ dolphins (they live near the beach) and is game for anything, with an incredible sense of humour and outlook on life !

Di and I are in regular contact … at least every other week, and she has read and supported this blog from the very beginning. I only wish that we lived closer, ‘cause I know that we would have so much fun together if we could see each other regularly.

A delicious slice of Milk Tart, just waiting to be eaten. (I think a similar tart is known as a 'Custard Tart' in other parts of the world ?)

Anyway, this recipe (which several people have asked me to put on the blog) for the traditional South African dish ‘Milk Tart’ is for Di … to remind her of her South African roots and our childhood. My only wish is that she lived close enough to enjoy a slice (or two !) of it in person with me ! (Or failing that – that her next international flight destination is TANZANIA !!)

Milk Tart Crust (both the Crust and the Filling recipe come from the book ‘Cook and Enjoy It’ by S.J.A. de Villiers)

15 ml (1 tbsp) Butter or Margarine
125 ml (1/2 cup) self-raising Flour
15 ml (1 tbsp) Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 large Egg

Run the butter into the self-raising flour and add the sugar and salt. Add the beaten egg & mix to form a stiff dough. Using a knife, cover the bottom and sides of a pie dish (this mixture covers a 21 cm/8 ½ inch dish) with a thin layer of the dough. Set aside in a cool place whilst you prepare the filling -:


Milk Tart Filling

500 ml’s (2 cups) Milk
1 piece stick Cinnamon (or grated yellow rind of 1 orange)
60 ml (1/4 cup) Sugar
45 ml (3 tbsp) Cake Flour
15 ml (1 tbsp) Cornflour (Cornstarch)
1 ml (1/4 tsp) Salt
30 ml (2 tbsp) Butter
3 Eggs
Cinnamon Sugar

Boil the milk with the cinnamon stick. Combine the sugar, cake flour, cornflour and salt. Gradually add the hot milk, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thick and cooked through. Remove from heat, remove the cinnamon stick and add the butter. Cool slightly. Beat the eggs and add. Pour the mixture into the pastry lined pie dish and bake for 10 minutes at 220’C/425’F/Gas Mark 7 before reducing the heat to 200’C/400’F/Gas Mark 6 and baking it for a further 10 minutes. Cool slightly and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. (I just use cinnamon on it’s own.) Can be served hot or cold (I think cold is best !)

A Strawberry Topping For Cheesecake

This festive ruby coloured Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake went down well on Christmas day (sorry about the poor picture quality on this one - it was snapped in a great hurry, in poor light !)

On Christmas day, one of the dishes I made to take to our neighbours farm for lunch was Strawberry Cheesecake. (You can read that blog post over here). I actually made 2 (as there were a crowd of us – and also because the neighbours kids – who were home from boarding school - love cheesecake so I left one for them to enjoy after Christmas !)

I used one of my favourite recipes – which has featured on the blog before – for ‘Lemon Fridge Cheesecake’. (You can see the post/recipe for that over here.)

The addition of lemon juice to this recipe gives this cheesecake a nice cheesecake-y ‘tang’ so I kept it in and made a strawberry topping for it – so perhaps I should have called it a ‘Lemon Strawberry Cheesecake’ ?

You know when you order cheesecake in a nice restaurant or coffee bar type place and it comes with a jellied sort of fruity topping ? Well, that’s what I was after. I decided to use strawberries as their colour is quite festive and because we can get them here easily. (Sorry the photo above is not great – it was snapped in a hurry as we were about to load the car !)

I found several cheesecake topping recipes both online and in my recipe books, and I combined different things to come up with the recipe & method below. This was the first time I’d ever tried making a cheesecake topping (& I should just mention that because most of the recipes on this blog are one’s I’ve made hundreds of times before & are ‘tried and trusted’) but I reckon that this recipe is a ‘keeper’ -:


Strawberry Topping For Cheesecake

1 cup white Sugar
3 tbsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
1 ½ cups cold Water
1 ½ tbsp Gelatine powder & 2 tbsp boiling water
2 x 420gm (150gm drained weight) tinned Strawberries – drained (reserve juice)
A few drops of Red food colouring

Mix the sugar & cornflour together in pot. Add the water to this, & mix to blend well. Place on a low heat and cook (stirring continuously) until the mixture becomes thick & clear. Dissolve the gelatine powder in the boiling water, and add to the mix, stirring to blend before removing from the heat. Stir in the tinned strawberries & 1 tin of the reserved juice. Add a few drops of red food colouring. Stir again. Pour over the top of the cheesecake. (I’d made mine the day before to ensure that it had set before adding the topping).

Note - Next time I will use fresh strawberries instead of tinned ones, as I think that fresh strawberries have a better colour and are firmer for slicing/nicer display on top of the cheesecake.

Mariet's Banana & Caramel Pudding

Great if you don't have an oven & are catering for a crowd - this Banana & Caramel Pudding is always a hit !

Many years before I’d even met my husband, I lived & worked in the charming Magaliesburg area of South Africa. I lived in a quaint thatched, white washed cottage on a Strawberry farm owned by a delightful old man by the name of Con.

I have very many happy memories of that time, not least of all because this is where I met my husband, but also because this is where I became friends with a wonderful lady by the name of Mariet, who also happened to be a work colleague of mine at the time.

Mariet made this ‘Banana & Caramel Pudding’ for us when we went to her house for a ‘braai’ (barbecue) one evening & I enjoyed it so much that she gave me her recipe for it (it is similar to the well known 'Banoffee Pie'). It was the perfect recipe for me to make at the time, as the cottage which I lived in didn’t have an oven – but it did have a fridge, and this recipe requires no baking. It’s also as easy as 1,2,3 to throw together, is always a crowd pleaser & brings back fond memories of my time spent in the Magaliesburg when I eat it. Try it – I know you’ll enjoy it !


Mariet’s Banana & Caramel Pudding

1 x 360 gm (13 oz) tin of Caramel (or you can boil your own condensed milk)
2 x 200 gm (7 oz) pkts of Tennis Biscuits* (these are like coconut tea biscuits/cookies)
4 large Bananas, sliced into rings
2 x 90 gm (3 oz) pkts of Instant Banana flavour (or Vanilla, or Caramel) Pudding – made up according to package instructions to make around 1 litre of pudding
1 cup of Fresh Cream, whipped
Flake Bar, crumbled (or grated chocolate)

Place a layer of the tennis biscuits at the bottom of a large (30 cm x 20 cm) rectangular glass dish. Spread half of the made up pudding mixture over them, then place 2 of the sliced bananas on top of the pudding (spread the banana pieces out evenly in a single layer). Now spread half the caramel over the bananas (you might like to beat the caramel first, so that it has a smoother consistency which is easier to spread). Now repeat the process – top the caramel with another layer of biscuits, then the rest of the pudding, then 2 more sliced bananas, then the rest of the caramel. Now spread the whipped cream over the top and sprinkle with the crumbled (or grated) chocolate. Place in the fridge to set for a couple of hours before serving.

*The recipe calls for 2 packets of biscuits, but I find that 1 ½ packets are usually enough

Lemon Meringue Pie

The crushed biscuit base is a shortcut to making a pastry shell ....

The homemade lemon filling is tangy and tasty ....

The meringue topping - even before baking - looks good enough to eat !

The finished product - just begging to be eaten !

There’s something timeless about Lemon Meringue Pie, don’t you think ? It’s also one of those desserts (or tea time treats !) which everyone seems to enjoy.

I used to always make the pastry shell for my Lemon Meringue Pie by hand – but recently came up with a ‘shortcut’ by just using crushed biscuits (cookies) mixed with melted butter instead. (Just as delicious, and half the work !) You can, of course, still use a pastry base if you prefer.

I think that the ‘Lemon Curd’ you buy in jars in the supermarket is mostly quite awful tasting, and I prefer to make the lemon filling for this myself. It’s worth the effort – I promise !

This pie is best served cold, with great dollops of freshly whipped cream …. Mmmmm ……


Lemon Meringue Pie (adapted from the book “Anyone Can Bake” published by ‘Standard Brands Incorporated’ - 1929)

Base:
200 gm pkt of Rich Tea Biscuits (African cooks can use Marie or Tennis Biscuits)
4 heaped tbsp Butter
(You can use a pastry base instead of this biscuit base, if you prefer)

Filling:
2 cups boiling Water
4 tbsp Cornflour (Cornstarch)
2 tbsp Flour
1 cup white Sugar
½ cup cold Water
3 Egg yolks, beaten
8 - 10 tbsp Lemon Juice
½ tsp Salt

Topping:
5 Egg whites
3 tbsp white Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder

Crush the biscuits by placing them in a resealable plastic bag and pounding them with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a small pot and stir in the crushed biscuits. Press into the base of a 26 cm (10 inch) round pie dish and place in the fridge to set for an hour or so.

Bring the 2 cups of water to the boil in a pot. In a separate bowl mix the cornflour, flour, sugar and cold water together until smooth. Stir in the beaten egg yolks. Pour this mixture into the pot of boiling water, turn the heat down and stir continuously for 5 minutes until thick and lump free. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice (taste for tanginess/flavour and add more or less accordingly) and salt & pour over the prepared biscuit base.

Beat the egg whites until stiff, adding the sugar and baking powder slowly and beating well after each addition. Spread the meringue on top of the pie filling and bake at 160’C/325’F/Gas Mark 3 for around 10 – 15 minutes until the meringue is light brown in colour.

Mum's Zimbabwean Fridge Cake

Although the ingredients for this Fridge Cake recipe are quite simple, I guarantee you that the flavour is quite the opposite !

A close up of the Fridge Cake in all it's rich, chocolatey deliciousness ... mmmmmm !

My Mum used to make this for my sister and I as children growing up in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). I also remember her making this for us when we were older and lived in the small village of Kwambonambi in South Africa. I guess as it originated in Zimbabwe, it was given the ‘Zimbabwe’ name and it just stuck.

The ingredients for this are so simple and usually found in everyone’s kitchen at any given time – in that regard, this recipe is easy to throw together if you need to make something in a hurry. It sets quite quickly, too and is great if you don’t have an oven, as it is made on the stovetop and sets in the fridge.

This would be great to serve at a child’s birthday party (or an adult's, for that matter !) and also goes well served with ice cream as a dessert. It’s very sweet and very rich and very high in calories – but hey, who’s counting ?!


Mum’s Zimbabwean Fridge Cake

1 x 200gm packet crushed Marie Biscuits (or Tea Biscuits)
125 gm Butter
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Syrup
2 tbsp Chocolate Drinking Powder (i.e. the sweetened type)
1 tbsp powdered Milk

Melt the butter, sugar, syrup, chocolate drinking powder and powdered milk together in a small saucepan. Blend well. Remove from the heat and stir in the crushed biscuits. Press into a lightly greased rectangular (26 cm x 16 cm) glass dish & refrigerate until set/hardened. Cut into small squares before serving.

Baked Apricot Cheesecake

You can top the cheesecake with whipped cream if you like - I prefer to keep it a little healthier (!!) & serve the cream on the side

This is a tasty Cheesecake recipe which isn’t too rich and is perfect served cold with some whipped cream on the side. I served this a couple of weekend’s ago after lunch when we had friends around for the day, and it was enjoyed by everyone - although I made fruit jelly for all the kids as in my experience young kids aren’t too fond of a baked cheesecake taste !

You’ll see the suggestion at the end of the recipe – you can substitute the apricots for berries or grapes. I think this would look and taste wonderful if glazed with a little melted berry jam and then topped with either strawberries or raspberries – or both !

If you prefer to work in cups & spoons rather than grams, remember that 250 gm is +- 1 cup, 125 ml is ½ cup, a tablespoon is 15 ml and a teaspoon is 5 ml.


Baked Apricot Cheesecake (from “More Food With Flair” by Lynn Bedford Hall)

12 crushed Tennis biscuits (you could use Marie, Digestive or Rich Tea Biscuits)
50 ml melted Butter
250 gm smooth Cottage Cheese (you could use Cream Cheese instead)
125 ml brown Sugar
25 ml Cornflour (Cornstarch)
2 Eggs, separated (beat the egg whites stiffly, keep the yolks in a separate bowl)
125 ml sour Cream (I just add extra Cottage/Cream Cheese instead)
5 drops Vanilla Essence (you could use Almond Essence instead)
2 x 400 gm tins Apricot halves (drained really well on kitchen paper)
Optional – Apricot jam, whipped cream & halved toasted almonds for decorating

Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter & press into a loose bottomed 20 cm (8 inch)diameter spring form tin to form the crust/base for the cheesecake. Set aside.

Beat the cottage cheese, sugar & cornflour together until smooth and then add the egg yolks one at a time, continuing to beat. Next add the sour cream & vanilla essence. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour this mixture into the tin over your biscuit crust/base & bake at 140’C/275’F/Gas Mark 1 for 1 hour. After the hour is up, turn off the oven & open the oven door slightly & leave the cheesecake standing in the oven for another hour.

Once cool, arrange the well drained apricot halves on the top of the cheesecake. If you wish, you can glaze them with apricot jam, sprinkle some halved, toasted almonds over the top & decorate with whipped cream. Store in the fridge, and serve cold.

You could use fresh berries or grapes to decorate the cheesecake in place of the apricot halves.

Mousse Mocha Tia

Gooey, Chocolatey and very moreish - this Mousse Mocha Tia is a real treat to eat !

This is a delicious, light mousse made without the usual cream or eggs (as a result it has more of a jelly like consistency than a mousse like consistency once set - but is still lovely). Most of the recipes on my blog are tried and tested favourites which I’ve been making for years, but this was the first time I’d ever tried this one.

The name “Mousse Mocha Tia” comes from the suggested Mocha Tia Liqueur which you add to it, as directed in the original recipe. As the recipe is from a book dating back to the ‘70’s I’m not sure if this liqueur is still available (a quick Google search yielded no results) so I have taken that out and simply added “Coffee Liquer” in place of this. If you prefer a booze free alternative (as in my case, so that it’s child friendly too) you can add coffee instead. Oops hold on, is coffee child friendly for under 5’s with set bedtimes ? Maybe not. But then I suppose you could always go the decaf. route !


Mousse Mocha Tia (from “More Food With Flair” by Lynn Bedford Hall)

125 gm slab quality Chocolate, broken up
24 diced white Marshmallows (around 150 gm)
50 ml Milk
50 ml Coffee Liqueur (or strong filter coffee)
1 tin Evaporated Milk (450 ml), chilled overnight & stiffly beaten
10 ml Lemon Juice*
2 ml Vanilla Essence

Place the chocolate, marshmallows and milk into the top of a double boiler, & stir until melted & well blended. Remove from heat & pour into a bowl. Add the liqueur (or filter coffee) and allow to cool. In a separate bowl, pour in the stiffly beaten evaporated milk, lemon juice & vanilla essence & beat again to blend. Now fold this into the chocolate mixture.

Pour into individual glass pudding bowls (fill to the brim as they will sink a little on setting) & chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. (Alternatively, this mousse would look lovely served in small espresso cups). Decorate with whipped cream & grated chocolate/ chocolate shavings if desired. (I chose to top mine – as pictured above - with sliced marshmallows & grated chocolate.)

*To me, the lemon juice added an odd taste to the Chocolate-Coffee combination & did not really seem to do the dessert any justice (unless to help thicken the evaporated milk ?) Next time I would leave it out, adding an extra 5 ml of Vanilla Essence instead

Chocolate Profiteroles

This (above) is what the mixture should look like once removed from the pot and before you add the eggs

Once the eggs have been added, the mixture should be glossy and a little softer to work with (above)

Pipe or drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased baking tray (above) - you can make them larger than I have if you prefer, you can also create longer shapes

The finished product (above) - topped with melted chocolate. Delicious !

Profiteroles are actually a lot easier to make than they look !

This is a recipe which I learnt (& have been making) since I was at school over 20 years ago, and took “Home Economics” as a subject. (I loved my Home Economics class and to be honest, I learnt more in those classes – things that I still actually use in my everyday life over 20 years later - than I EVER learnt in classes like Geography, Biology etc).

You can serve these profiteroles with either sweetened whipped cream or thick custard as a filling, and you can top them with melted chocolate or even chocolate flavoured glace icing (frosting). They’re great as a dessert (which is how I usually serve them) or with tea.

I made trays and trays of them a couple of years ago for a friend’s 40th birthday party (they’re great if you’re cooking for a crowd, and can be eaten with just your fingers if necessary – no plates or cutlery required ! ), and most recently I served them for dessert at a company lunch function which we hosted out at our farm -:


Chocolate Profiteroles

½ cup Margarine
1 ½ cups Water
1 ½ cups Flour
4 Eggs, beaten
For Filling & Topping : cold, thick Custard (about 2 cups); bar of milk chocolate, melted

Melt the margarine in the water in a small pot. When mixture comes to the boil, add the flour. Stir quickly, until the mixture leaves the sides of the pot and forms a ball. Leave to stand until cool, then add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Pipe, or place spoonfuls, onto a greased baking tray. Bake at 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4 until golden brown. Remove from oven & place on a wire rack to cool slightly – then slice them open so that the steam can escape. Once cool, remove the soft dough inside, so that you are just left with the crispy profiterole “shell”.

Fill with the cold custard & drizzle the melted chocolate over each one before serving.

Note : You can also serve these with sweetened whipped cream inside instead of the custard & I have also substituted the melted chocolate topping for a thick chocolate glace icing on occasion.

Cashew Nut Tart

This sweet, rich Cashew Nut Tart is a new twist on an old favourite ....

This tart is deliciously decadent, extremely rich & sweet (small slices recommended !) and delicious served either with tea or as a cold dessert with some whipped cream on the side.

I’ve combined several recipes to come up with this one, as I wanted to use locally available ingredients & also to ‘model’ it on a Pecan Caramel Tart - but by using the Cashew nuts in place of the pecans, give it a slightly African twist - especially since Cashew nuts are grown here in Tanzania.

I’m sure you’ll agree, that it’s a really tasty version of an old favourite -:


Cashew Nut Tart

Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups Flour
2 tbsp Sugar
½ tsp Baking Powder
pinch of Salt
½ cup Margarine (or Butter)
¼ cup boiling Water

Sift the flour, sugar & baking powder together. Rub the margarine in until well mixed but not too fine. Add enough boiling water to make a stiff paste. Roll the pastry out thinly on a floured surface until you have a round big enough to fit a 25 cm pie dish. Carefully place into your lightly greased pie dish and press so that it fits evenly, trim any uneven edges around the rim with a knife. Prick the base all over with a fork, & bake at Gas Mark 4/180’C/350’F for around 30 minutes until golden brown.

Cashew Nut Filling:
1 ½ cups brown Sugar
½ cup Water
¾ cup Cream (I use tinned)
1 cup Condensed Milk (+- 390gm tin)*
2 cups lightly salted Cashew nuts, crushed slightly
100 gm bar of dairy milk Chocolate (optional)

Place the sugar & the water into a heavy bottomed saucepan & slowly bring to the boil whilst stirring (so that all the sugar dissolves). Boil gently for around 5 minutes, until the mixture looks thick & golden. Remove from the heat, allow to cool a little & then whisk in the cream and condensed milk. Return to the stove, bring to the boil slowly and simmer for around 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Lightly crush the cashew nuts (place in a thick plastic bag & gently roll a rolling pin over them a few times) and then stir them into the sugar/cream mixture. Pour into the pre-baked pastry shell and allow to set overnight in the fridge.

If you like, the next day/just before serving, melt the chocolate in a double boiler & drizzle over the top of the tart in a zig zag pattern. Cut into thin slices, and enjoy with a nice cuppa tea !

* All the recipes on my blog are favourites I've been making for years - they really are tried and tested ! However, this is a newer recipe & I must be honest that I would prefer a firmer filling so have made a note next time, to substitute the condensed milk for caramel (boiled condensed milk) instead.

Fruit Kebabs with a Chocolate Drizzle

Fruit Kebabs with a Chocolate Drizzle - a nice, healthy treat for the New Year !

I really feel like I’ve eaten quite a lot over the festive season – especially over New Year. Phew ! I’m sure that many people out there feel the same … why is it that we always seem to eat more, drink more and indulge in more rich, creamy foods over the festive season, most often justifying it all with “Well, I’ll start a healthy eating regime in the new year” ?!

Anyway, I thought that I'd post a simple and relatively healthy recipe today as we ease into the new year – fruit kebabs with a chocolate drizzle. I made these for my daughter’s birthday party in December, and the kids loved them.

Fruit Kebabs with a Chocolate Drizzle

Any type of fruit you happen to have on hand, cut into cubes – fruits that work well are apples, bananas (pour lemon juice over both to prevent them from going brown), strawberries, pineapple & watermelon
½ slab of milk Chocolate
Kebab skewers

Skewer the fruit onto the kebab sticks and lie them all side by side on a flat surface covered with kitchen paper/wax paper (makes for easier clean-up). Melt the chocolate in a double boiler until runny, and then simply take a spoon, dip it into the chocolate and from a height of about 15 cm above the tray, quickly move the spoon back & forth to form the ‘drizzle’ over the kebabs. Remove the kebabs from the kitchen paper & place on a serving tray. The kebabs can also be refrigerated for a couple of hours before serving, if preferred.

Lemon Fridge Cheesecake

You can serve this cheesecake with whipped cream if you like, & it can be garnished any way you fancy !

Okay, the holiday is over (well, for the time being at least as we have another 6 day trip away planned in a little over a month – but more about that later !) and regular blogging will now continue, with my posts publishing as usual at around 11 am Tanzanian time each morning ….

So, I thought I would start the week of with a delicious cheesecake recipe which I made just before we went away ….

Cheesecake is one of my favourite desserts (probably my most favourite !) although I prefer ‘fridge’ cheesecake to baked cheesecake anyday. My favourite cheesecake types are lemon, strawberry or cherry. (You can see some of my other recipes for Skinny Lemon Cheesecake over here, and for Strawberry Cheesecake Jellies over here).

This is a recipe which I have been making since I was at junior school in Zululand, South Africa. It actually appeared in one of our annual school cookbooks – you know the ones where each parent contributes his/her favourite recipes and then a cookbook is compiled & sold to raise funds for the school ?

The “Tennis Biscuits” used in this recipe are a South African biscuit (cookie) which is delicately flavoured with coconut. You could just as easily use a plain tea biscuit/Marie biscuit instead – or any other plain biscuit. I always use lemon jelly to make this cheesecake, but you could use any other flavour (peach works well with the lemon juice, as does strawberry).


Lemon Fridge Cheesecake

1 x 200 gm pkt Tennis biscuits
3 heaped tbsp Margarine, melted

1 x 80gm pkt Lemon Jelly
½ cup boiling Water
½ cup freshly squeezed Lemon Juice
1 x 397 gm tin Condensed Milk
500 gm x Cottage Cheese (Cream Cheese)
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Add to melted margarine & stir until well mixed. Press into the base of a 25 cm pie dish. Place in fridge to set.

Dissolve the jelly in the boiling water. Add the lemon juice, condensed milk, cottage cheese and vanilla essence and whisk until smooth & well blended. Pour into the biscuit ‘shell’ & allow to set overnight.

Skinny Lemon Cheesecake

This Skinny Lemon Cheesecake is a delicious treat whether you're watching your weight - or not !

This is a tasty recipe I came up with the other day when I had a large tub of Cottage Cheese that I needed to use up. (I also posted a recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake Jellies that day, which you can find over here). You can substitute the Cottage Cheese for Cream Cheese if you like.

I’ve called this a “skinny” cheesecake not only because it’s relatively low in fat/calories but also because once it has been baked and “sets” it is rather skinny in size ('height')– but still very tasty !

I garnished it with sliced Strawberries, but you could use any other fruit you happened to have on hand or you could just leave it plain if you preferred.


Skinny Lemon Cheesecake

375 gm Low Fat Cottage Cheese (or Cream Cheese)
70 gm Caster Sugar
1 tbsp Cornflour (Cornstarch)
2 Eggs
2 tbsp Lemon Juice

Whisk all ingredients together and pour into a 21 cm round cake tin which has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

Bake at 200‘C/400’F/Gas Mark 6 for 40 to 50 minutes until golden, then turn the oven off, open the door & leave the cheesecake in the oven until completely cool. (When you turn the oven off it will still be slightly wobbly to the touch but will set as it cools down.) Place in the fridge for around 2 hours to completely chill before serving.

Makes 8 slices.

Strawberry Cheesecake Jellies

These Strawberry Cheesecake Jellies are not only fun for kids to make but healthy, too !

I’m not really sure what to call these as they were something my daughter and I came up with the other day because I had some cottage cheese and strawberries in the fridge which both needed using up ! I love fridge cheesecake so this is how the idea for these ‘evolved’. (I also came up with a ‘diet friendly’ crustless baked cheesecake and I’ll post the recipe for that soon).

These were actually quite tasty, my husband devoured one at lunchtime & when I asked him if he’d like another one after supper that night he said yes, please they are lovely, what did you put in them & when I told him “cottage cheese”, he pulled a face and said that he wouldn’t have another one that night, after all, thanks !

Strawberries and raspberries are grown here in Tanzania in tunnels for export overseas. From what I can tell, the surplus and ‘rejects’ end up on our local shelves …. fruit which is an odd shape or too large or has blemished skin – but of course they still taste lovely ! Raspberries are available pretty much all year round, except for a couple of months over July/August when we can only get strawberries. I stock up and freeze a lot of them, and you will see many recipes containing strawberries coming up on the blog soon, as I tend to go a bit ‘strawberry mad’ at this time of the year !

Strawberries are my favourite fruit and for me, a winter fruit as in the 3 African countries I’ve lived, they have always been available in July. Which is also my birthday month – and I always associate them with winter, July, birthdays and Wimbledon.

Okay, enough strawberry ramblings … here is the recipe and this is a GREAT easy & fun one to make with your kids …. (infact, you could use any type of jelly flavour and add fruit to compliment it, so there’s no need to stick with strawberries)


Strawberry Cheesecake Jellies

1 x 23 gm pkt Strawberry Jelly Powder
1 cup of boiling Water
½ cup cold Milk
250 gm Cottage Cheese*, plain
6 Strawberries, sliced (reserve 1 for garnishing)

Dissolve jelly powder in the boiling water. Add the cold milk & then whisk in the cottage cheese until well blended & smooth. Place the strawberry slices into 5 individual ramekin dishes & pour the mixture over these. Place in fridge to set.

*Cottage Cheese can best be described as curd cheese. It is not an aged cheese and is quite soft. It is drained (but not pressed) so some whey remains behind. It mostly comes in lower fat varieties and is sold either plain or flavoured with savoury flavourings such as chives, garlic and onions. The “natural’ cottage cheese (like the one I used in this recipe) has a very mild taste. I’d love to know how it compares to Cream Cheese (which we don’t get here). I suspect it is similar to a lower fat version of Cream Cheese, and maybe a bit ‘wetter’ ? Does anyone know ?

Peppermint Crisp Caramel Fridge Tart - A South African Favourite !

The coolness of the peppermint compliments the rich creaminess of the caramel & makes this fridge tart into something unusually delicious, given the odd combination of ingredients !

(Welcome ! If you've arrived here via a Google or similar search, this is one of the most searched for recipes on my blog - there must be many ex South African's the world over looking for this recipe as people from all over the world visit this particular page ! I hope that you enjoy the recipe, & feel free to browse around my blog for more great African recipes and bits & pieces about my life here in East Africa !)

Here is a wonderful, traditional South African pudding known as a “Peppermint Crisp Caramel Tart” in English, and a “Peppermint Yskas Tert” in the South African language of Afrikaans – directly translated, that means a Peppermint Fridge Tart and this recipe is just that – a delicious tart that requires no cooking as it sets in the fridge.

Don’t be put off by the sound of the peppermint & caramel combination …. it is one of those odd combinations that just works, even though it might make you pull a face at first (like I did !). This pudding has been around as part of South African cuisine for as long as I can remember, and is especially delicious when served to round off a braai/barbecue as it is actually quite light and refreshing (albeit rich !)

As we cannot get many of the ingredients for this recipe in Tanzania, and as it was a pudding which I really wanted to put on the blog, I decided to make it in South Africa, (I made a quick visit to the local corner shop to get all the ingredients needed !) so that I could share it with you all. So, here it is for you to enjoy …. a great recipe which I got from my Mum ...


Peppermint Crisp Caramel Fridge Tart

625 ml Milk
1 x 360 gm tin Caramel (or boil a tin of Condensed Milk to make your own)
60 ml Custard Powder
1 x 200 gm pkt Tennis Biscuits (plain Tea/Coconut biscuits would also work well)
200 gm Peppermint Crisp Chocolate bars (or other peppermint chocolate)
250 ml Cream, whipped

Heat 500 ml of the milk together with the tin of caramel in a saucepan, stirring continuously. Mix the custard powder with the remaining 125 ml of the milk, to form a smooth paste. Add the heated milk/caramel mixture to the custard paste & return to the heat for a few minutes, stirring continuously.

Place a layer of Tennis biscuits (approximately half the packet) in a square dish and pour half of the custard/caramel mixture over these. Grate about a third of the Peppermint Crisp bar over this layer, then top with the other half of the Tennis biscuits, pour the remainder of the custard/caramel mixture over this and sprinkle another third of the Peppermint Crisp bar over, then top with whipped cream. Grate the remainder of the Peppermint Crisp bar over the top of the cream to garnish, and place in the fridge for a few hours to set.

Jam & Apple Tarts

I served these jam & apple tarts with thick cream, as a dessert .....

I find baking incredibly relaxing. Especially when it involves making pastry. My favourite time to bake is at night … just after I’ve put my daughter to bed …. when the air is cool (and good for pastry making !) and the crickets are chirping in the grass outside, and the bush babies are softly chattering in the trees above …. ahhh, nothing beats it !

These jam tarts are quick and easy to make and are great served with tea or even as a dessert with some thick cream dolloped over them -:


Jam & Apple Tarts

1 ½ cups Flour
½ cup Sugar
½ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
½ cup Margarine
¼ cup Boiling Water
Jam (Raspberry or Strawberry works well)
Apple Sauce (I use sweetened)

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Lightly rub the margarine in until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add enough of the boiling water to make a stiff paste. Roll out on to a floured surface and cut 12 circular shapes out of the pastry with a pastry/biscuit cutter (or the rim of a drinking glass).

Place the 12 pastry circles into a buttered patty pan tin and fill each alternative one with a teaspoon of either jam or apple sauce, taking care to leave enough space so that it doesn’t bubble over during baking.

Bake at Gas Mark 5/190’C/375’F for 20 to 30 minutes until done.

Frozen Yogurt & Berry Dessert Loaf

I love the dark purple colour of the grapes against the luscious deep red of the raspberries in this easy dessert recipe

You always hear people saying ”don’t freeze yogurt” and I suppose this is valid advice as, like most types of cheese, if you freeze it and defrost it, the texture changes and it is sometimes inedible as a result.

However, over the years I’ve found that freezing yogurt and eating it frozen is actually fine, not to mention a GREAT substitute for ice cream. Especially if you are watching your weight and freeze a fat free/low fat yogurt – close your eyes and imagine it’s full cream ice cream and you can (almost) fool yourself that it is !

Living so far away from the shops, this is also great as when I have yogurt that is close to it’s expiry date and I know we won’t get around to eating it by then, I usually freeze it, and this is one of my favourite quick and easy dessert ‘recipes’ -:

Frozen Yogurt & Berry Dessert Loaf

500 ml Flavoured Yogurt (I used a “Mixed Berry” for this recipe)
Handful of whole Raspberries, washed
Handful of black seedless Grapes, washed

Line a small loaf tin with plastic wrap. Mix all the ingredients together and carefully pour into the tin. Place in freezer overnight and just before serving, turn out of the tin, remove the plastic wrap and cut into slices. (You could serve a selection of fresh fruit alongside each slice, or you could even drizzle some of my almost fat free ‘Diet Friendy Chocolate Sauce’ over it.)

This is an adaption of a recipe in the book “The Hi Lo Cookbook” by Silvana Franco. The original recipe uses natural yogurt, includes sugar, honey & nuts and is as follows -:

Honey, Almond & Raspberry Yoghurt Ice

50 gm Icing Sugar
300 gm frozen Raspberries
4 tbsp clear Honey
500 gm Low Fat Natural Yoghurt
75 gm unblanched Almonds

Line a 900 gm loaf tin with freezer film. Sift the icing sugar over the frozen raspberries in a bowl, then drizzle over the honey. Stir well together, then mix in the yoghurt and almonds. Spoon into the lined tin, leveling off the surface. Cover the top with freezer film and freeze overnight. Turn out of the tin and, using a serrated or electric knife, cut into slices.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Who doesn't enjoy a delicious bowl of homemade ice cream ?!

Mmmmm, Ice Cream - I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t enjoy it ! It is so versatile and one of my “must have” freezer stock items.

When we lived very far away from the ‘Big City’ (a trip which could not be done there and back in a day as we do now, but required an overnight stop) I had no hope of buying ice cream and bringing it back to the farm with me. Even in a cooler box carefully packed with ice packs, it never made it home without turning into a slushy mess.

So, I had to find the perfect ice cream recipe that I could make at home without an ice cream maker. The other ‘problem’ I had to overcome was finding an ice cream recipe that did not contain eggs as there was NO way I was going to start eating raw eggs, especially those ‘produced’ here in 3rd world Africa !

So, once again I turned to my old favourite “Cook and Enjoy It” by S.J.A. de Villiers, where I found this recipe which I have been using ever since -:

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

1 tsp Gelatine, soaked in 1 tbsp cold water
¾ cup boiling Water
½ cup Sugar
1 tin (410 gm) Evaporated Milk (chilled overnight)
1 tsp Vanilla Essence (Vanilla Extract works best, if you have it)

Dissolve the soaked gelatine in the boiling water & then add the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved & cool. Shake the evaporated milk well, pour it into a bowl and beat until it thickens & resembles cream (I use an electric mixer for this).

Slowly add the Vanilla essence (or extract) & sugar mixture to the milk, beating constantly. Pour the mixture into a large plastic container and freeze for 45 minutes. (It will only be partially frozen.)

Return the mixture to the mixing bowl & beat again (to break all the ice crystals up). Then pour back in to the plastic container & put back in the freezer.

If you like, you can then make my 'Diet Friendly Chocolate Sauce' recipe (which you can find here) to pour over it.

Or, if you’d like chocolate instead of vanilla ice cream you can change the above recipe a bit -:

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream – Blend 4 tbsp Cocoa powder (or 2 squares of unsweetened good quality melted chocolate) with ¼ cup hot water & stir until smooth. Add this to the hot (sugar) mixture and still use the Vanilla essence/extract.