I don’t have an oven. Since I have moved to Berlin, where I am about to start studying, my kitchen contains no oven, nor the possibility to place one inside the new flat.

Until I move out, it will not be possible for me to bake sweets in my new home, so baked goods might be shown here less often (you might have already noticed). Nevertheless, I have prepared some things for you that should keep the blog going until my kitchen supplies have changed and I hope you like the result shown in the pictures as much as I do.

You know I love figs. Hells, I REALLY love them. When visiting my grandma in Bulgaria this year, I kind of occupied her oven to experiment. This is a result, isn’t it? Cinnamon cheesecake with a crunchy cookie crust, topped with sweet, soft and juicy figs and in between a caramel note due to the decorative parts.

So this is how things are going right now and I really hope to be able to show you more of this as soon as possible. But for now, we remain with this beauty here. And this is the recipe:

Fig Topped Cinnamon Cheesecake:

crust:

250 g (8 oz.) Hobbit cookies
125 g (1 stick) butter, melted

cheese layer:

600 g (20 oz.) cream cheese
200 g (7 oz.) sour cream
200 g (1 cup – 1 tbsp.) sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pckt. vanilla pudding powder (or 2 tbsp. flour)

fig topping:

400 g fresh figs
50 g (1/4 cup) sugar

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).

Crunch the cookies in a freezer bag. Mix the crumbles with the melted butter and spread in a round cake pan with 26 cm (10´´) diameter. Press down the cookie and butter mixture with a spoon.

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the cheese layer and beat with a mixer until the mass is smooth. Pour the mass over the cookie crust and bake for about 45 minutes (until the center stops jiggling).
Don’t turn off the oven yet.
Let the cheesecake cool and prepare the figs in the meantime.

Place the figs in a large pan. Spread the sugar on top and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until there is a jelly-like liquid at the bottom of your pan.

Place the figs on top of the cake and pour the jelly all over them.

You can decorate the cake with caramel ornaments, if you wish. (Heat about 75 g/ 1/3 cup of white sugar in a saucepan until it melts and spread the caramel on a sheet of parchment paper to harden.)

Tastes best with… nah, it tastes good enough the way it is. Enjoy!

I am so glad my bf got me a gorgeous ice cream maker for Christmas, because I adore ice cream.
I love frozen yoghurt.
I love sorbet.
I love soft ice cream.
Ice cream in a cone.
In a bowl.
A big melba.
Just every kind of ice cream (except mint).

It feels just right to make my own one with the machine and it is pretty easy, if you ask me.

You can just toss the ingredients together an freeze them or make a deluxe version with egg yolks (this is the kind that takes more time – but believe me that it is absolutely worth the stress).

This recipe is based on the basic ice cream recipe that I found in the gadget’s manual. It worked pretty good, I just added the molten chocolate toffee to the mass.

Chocolate Toffee Ice Cream

(makes about 750 ml/3 cups)

2 egg yolks
1 tbsp corn starch
100 g (1/2 cup – 1 tbsp) sugar

250 g (8 oz.) chocolate toffee

350 ml (1 2/3 cup) milk
150 ml (2/3 cup) heavy cream

Prepare your ice cream maker. I had to put my bowl in the freezer for 24 hours before I could get started. Be sue sou have this prepared.

Place the egg yolks, corn starch and sugar in a bowl. Whisk by hand or with a mixer until the mass thickens and turns pale (abour 90 seconds) .

Melt the unwrapped chocolate toffee in the microwave, heating it for no more than 30 seconds at a time. Stir before you place the bowl in the microwave for another 30 s. Set the dish aside.

Combine the milk and cream in a medium saucepan and heat until the liquid starts to boil. Remove from heat. Start stirring the egg yolk mass and gently incorporate the hot dairy mixture.
When you have poured in all the milk and cream, add the molten toffee and let it dissolve.

Now pour the mass back into the saucepan and heat one more time while stirring, until the mixture thickens a bit (it should not boil).

Let it cool on the counter and then place it in the fridge for at least 12 hours. (You may not put hot ingredients in the mixing bowl of the ice cream machine.)

Now turn on the mmachine and slowly pour in the prepared ice cream mixture. You should get a nice portion of chocolatey, creamy goodness.

It is also my brother’s birthday tomorrow – and he loves Snickers. So I made him some mini mini snickers.

In fact, these are really easy to make and do not take much time until they’re done. Maybe your Valentine will love some, too? Do not miss the chance to impress them with a homemade treat.

(makes about 30 truffles)

30 chocolate hollow spheres
3 heaped tbsp marshmallow fluff (fluff is usually so sticky that you can only use heaped tbsp)
3 tbsp creamy peanut butter
60 g (2 oz.) caramelized condensed milk
200 g (5 oz.) chocolate coating
1 cup peanuts (not salted)

Mix peanut butter and marshmallow fluff with a spoon. You will receive a chewy mass which can be formed by hand. Fill it in the hollow spheres until about 2/3 full. Use your fingers for this – you might rinse them with cold water every now and then.
Place 1 or two peanuts in the chocolate spheres. Fill in the caramellized condensed milk until full.
Freeze for about 2 hours.
Melt the chocolate coating in the microwave, not heating it for longer than 30 seconds at a time, or over a water bath. Dip the truffles in the chocolate and place them on a baking sheet until the coating has hardened. You can put half a peanut on top for decoration.

The basic mass here is the caramel toffee you can see in the images, which has a not too strong caramel flavoure and breaks down in your mouth, cracking slightly before meting on your tongue. After you have made the first bite, you taste the rich white chocolate which makes everything more creamy and sweet. Then you might bite into a soft marshmallow which is a huge contrast to the chunky toffee and the toasted coconut. The coconut tastes a bit more intense because it has been toasted in a dry pan until slightly browned.

I hadn’t made toffee for a long time since trying this recipe from Bake at 350 which turned our great the first time I tried, but turned out to be a complete failure on my second try. I supposed it was because I don’t have a candy thermometer and did not want to experience the fiasco again, but this time it turned out great. I will give you some advice how to succeed without measuring the temperature.

If you are a real lover of sweets – take a piece (or two or five) and give the rest to someone else to eat it – it is addicting. I gave it to a friend as a present and hope he enjoyed it.

White Chocolate Coconut Marshmallow Toffee

source

1 TBSP water
250 (2 sticks or 1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
60 ml (1/4) cup heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50 g white chocolate (I had white crisp on hand)
30 g ground coconut. toasted in a dry pan or in the oven until slightly browned
2 hands full of mini marshmallows (should be about 1 cup)

Prepare a baking sheet by placing it in a baking dish.
Chop the chocolate and set aside.
Place butter, sugar, cream, water, salt and vanilla in a saucepan. Combine the ingredients over medium heat. Stir with a silicone spatula. Bring the mixture to a boil and go on stirring, watching its colour carefully. You know the toffee is done when it turns a light amber brown and turns into a first gooey, then solid substance when you place a drop of it on a cold plate or the baking sheet. The recipe says the syrup is done when it has reached 150°C (300°F) which is very handy, if you use a candy thermometer.
Now wpread the mass onto the baking sheet and flaten with the spatula. Immediately spread the toppings all over – first the chocolate, then marshmallows and finally the coconut flakes. Let it cool, then break down into pieces with a knife.