Recipes for beginners
All the recipes listed here are perfect for those who would like to bake and don’t know where to start. A tip is to start of something simple which is why the recipes listed here are made simple and easy along with the ingredients that can be found easily in any grocery store
Brownies
Ingredients:
- 200g unsalted butter
- ▢200 g cups dark chocolate chips
- ▢1 cup (175g) brown sugar , loosely packed
- ▢3 eggs , lightly beaten
- ▢1 tsp vanilla extract
- ▢1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
- ▢1/4 cup (30g) cocoa powder
- ▢Pinch of salt
- ▢180g dark chocolate block/bar (optional)
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan forced).
- Spray a 20cm/8″ square tin with oil and line with baking/parchment paper with overhang (Note 2).
- Place butter and chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl, microwave in 30 second bursts (takes me 1m 30 sec) until melted. Stir until smooth.
- Add sugar and vanilla, mix, then add eggs and mix well until smooth and molten.
- Add flour, cocoa and salt and stir until smooth. Stir in chopped chocolate, pour into pan.
- Bake 24 minutes for really gooey in the centre, 28 minutes for fudgey but still very moist (my favourie, shown in video & photos), 32 minutes for moist fudge-cake-like. (See in post for toothpick testphotos).
- If you didn’t use the extra chocolate for stirring in, reduce cook time by 2 minutes.
- Rest for 10 minutes before lifting out of the pan. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting. Store in an airtight container for 4 days (bet they don’t last that long!) or freeze for 3 months.
Oreo cheesecake
Ingredients:
Cheesecake Base
- 300 g Oreos
- 100 g unsalted butter (melted)
Cheesecake Filling
- 750 g full fat cream cheese/mascarpone
- 125 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 300 ml double cream
- 150 g Oreos, crushed
Decoration (Optional)
- 150 ml double cream
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 12 Oreos + Oreo Crumb
Steps:
For the Base
- Blitz the Oreos in a food processor until they’re a fine crumb. I don’t remove the creme filling as I like it to bind the biscuits together!
- Mix the biscuits in with the melted butter and press down into the bottom of an 8″/20cm deep springform tin and refrigerate whilst you make the filling!
For the Cheesecake Filling
- Using an electric stand mixer cream together the cream cheese, icing sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add the double cream and whisk the two mixes together.
- I use my KitchenAid as it whisks the mixture to the perfect texture. It shouldn’t take too long to whisk, but I set mine to a medium/high setting and whisk it till it holds itself (like meringue does!)
- Be careful not to over whisk though – there is always a limit to a mix, it might curdle – so keep an eye on it, you will know when its ready (took my mix 2 minutes!)
- When whisked – fold through the finely crushed Oreos and spread on top of the biscuit base! Make sure to keep 12 of the Oreos whole for the decoration, and a spoonful or two of the crumbs.
- Set the cheesecake in the fridge for 5-6 hours, or preferably over night!
For the Decoration (Optional)
- Once set, remove the cheesecake from the tin. Whip together the double cream and icing sugar and pipe onto the cheesecake using a disposable piping bag, and a 2D closed star piping tip.
- Then, decorate with the whole Oreos, and some Oreo crumbs! Enjoy!
