MANGO-LEMON VEGAN NO-BAKE CHEESECAKE

Lets start the week with some cake!

The other day I was a guest at a radio show where we talked about the usual things that I tend to visit various shows for, but also had some chit chat on different things, one of them being food.
But I can't really asnwer the question of weather I cook or not correctly. Perhaps a boring  'sometimes' is the right answer. Most of the time I just make what I can get away with quickly (and, as you may recall, due to how I work I most often buy something fast that I have in my car...sniff). But sometimes I do cook properly, and mainly tend to bake things. And I have a habit of not really following recipes, but rather get inspired by them, and often coming up with things myself.

So - here is a semi-raw, no-bake, vegan and  gluten free cheesecake without white sugar that I put together for Easter.

Ok, I know the above categories will make some go "blah" but for me the thing with making these "free of"-cakes is that they should be as yummy and sweet-tooth soothing as any so called conventional cake, and not a substitute. Plus, if it's breakfast worthy it's a bonus because, reaaaally, who would not want to have cake for breakfast?
(Ok, I actually know several weirdos who would answer with a 'not me' to that one but in my universe cake for breakfast equals awesomeness, mmmkay?)

The crust on this one is made with less nuts than usual for some variation, by using roasted buckwheat instead. I am normally not too fond of the taste of buckwheat, but when roasted it has pleasant taste and makes the crust more piquant.
The cake has a lemond curd-y layer in the middle, and a fruity cheese layer on top made with fabulous oat-based PåMackan cream cheese. (It's a great product; tastes just like the real thing!) If nuts are an issue you could try leave them out and use only sunflower seeds for the crust instead (in which case you might have to leave out the mid layer which is made mainly from cashews, or then make a lemon paste of something else). If this does not have to be vegan you can of course make the cheese out of regular Philadelpia or similar.  If the mango is very sweet itself you might not need any extra sweetener, depending on your preferences. I used some agave syrup. Coconut oil is used to firm the cheese filling, but sometimes I have made fillings using cocoa butter instead (but that is way more expensive and not something I have at home regularly).
The cake mold I use is 22cm, alas, if you want a higher creation then use a smaller mold.

Alright! As this is no-bake you'll manage without an oven. Apart from a kitchen mixer, here's what you will need:

For the crust -
1,5 dl  raw buckwheat
2,5 dl walnuts
1,5 dl sunflower seeds
175g dates (approx.), soaked for a while if dried and pressed
lemon zest
1 tbs oil

For the faux lemon curd paste-
4dl cashews
juice of 2 lemons
vanilla
sweetener of your choice

For the cheese filling -
1 mango
1 pack (150g) of På Mackan vegan cream cheese
a little lemon zest
sweetener of your choice
a dash of vanilla
2 tbs melted coconut oil

Dry-roast the buckwheat in a pan on mid-to high heat. Be careful not to burn them; move them around.

Put the buckwheat (I keep writing buckwhat. Like buck-WHAT? Haha) in the kitchen mixer and mix, adding first walnuts about a dl at a time and then the seeds, until you have a semi smooth texture. It's okay to leave a bit of crunch.

Add the dates (squeeze out excess water if you had them soaked) and mix, then the lemon zest and the oil. Press into a cake mold and put in the fridge while doing the rest.

Next step! Mix the cashews smooth, add the lemon juice, the vanilla, and a bit of sweetener. You will get a rather firm paste. Spread/press it out on the crust and put back into the fridge.

Time for the cheese filling! Mash the mango and mix it smooth with the cream cheese. Add the rest.
(At this point of the preparation I thought that my mind had fucked this up, because the luke warm mango-cheese mix did not taste good right our of the mixer. But fear not! It will be nice once it has cooled down!)

Pour the filling on the cake and put in the fridge for an hour or two (or freezer, if you want it quicker. Also, some decoration would porpably be nice, but I never got that far. Berries would be a good suggestion!). Then serve and enjoy!

Store in a sealed box if you don't eat all at once.

PUMPKIN TREATS

You know I like it when something is more healthy than it may seem? These pumpkin treats would be something that fits that description. It is also something you can treat your gluten free friends with.

Totally cake-y with a yummy frosting, they still are kind of breakfast worthy as well.

You know, as the main ingredients are a vegetable (pumpkin) and eggs.
The original recipe is from here, but as usual I always alter things a little bit. I am keen on trying to come up with a vegan version of these. And perhaps to try make a round using sweet potato with / instead of pumpkin.

You will need
2,5 dl mashed pumpkin (or 2 dl + half a banana)
A handful of almonds
3 tbs peanut butter
1 dl honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
cardamom
vanilla
half a teaspoon of salt
3 eggs

Lightly roast the pumpkin in the oven on 175C so it turns soft and then mash it. (As a bonus you can take out and wash and dry the seeds of the pumpkin too, then when dry roast in a pan with a bit of salt. A great snack.)

Put the almonds in a mixer and mix until smooth (or, use ready made almond flour). Add the pumpkin and the possible banana bonus, peanut butter, sweetener and the spices and blend. You can of course do this by hand if you do not have a mixer. Then add the eggs and stir. You will get a quite loose batter.

(Extra hint: If you don't want to or can use nut butters try doing this with sunflower seeds instead, about 1,5 dl. )

Pour the batter in an oiled pan or a pan with baking paper (that's what I do) and bake in 175C for 30-40 minutes until the colour is a soft brown and the middle is firm. Take out and let cool, then do the topping.

For which you need;
1dl pecan nuts
1dl hazel nuts
2-3 tbs cocoa powder
2tbs coconut oil
about 1dl maple syrup
some salt, vanilla
water if needed

Mix the nuts smooth in a mixer, then add the dry ingredients and the oil. Add the maple syrup in a thin line, check the taste to see if the sweetness is of your preference, add more if needed. If the batter is too firm you can add a bit of water to loosen it up. Put the topping on the pumpkin bars, cut into square, serve and dig in!

Store the pastries in the fridge. These will last at least 5 days and, in my opinion, taste even better after a day or two.

HOLIDAYS

I recall myself stating, after last Christmas, that went by too fast, that I'd start the following Holidays in early November already; haning up Christmas lights and stars here and there, enjoying glögg (the warm spiced wine -or sometimes just juice- that resembles 'glühwein') and getting to enjoy Christmas for as long as possible. I probably say it every year but I do enjoy the holidays.

Well, this year we put our lights up in the evening of the 23rd and didn't even get a tree (it can't fit for the moment, as our Tapiola-flat is boxed up in our living room)...



Well, next year my home will be nice, organised and fancy again and I'll have all the time in the world to sit at home and be cosy with my cup of hot and spicy and my seasonal light for weeks ahead. Or, so we can say.

But, even though the rain was pouring outside (ironically, I did joke about it being all green on Christmas as we had half a meter of snow two days after Halloween...) we managed to get into an express Christmas mood once the light were up and we did some ginger bread baking with the boys!

I also made a batch of apple-ginger marmalade for Christmas gifting.

Half of the dough never makes it as far as to the oven of course.


I supervise with a cup of glögg, before the younger generation think they've baked enough.

(That's about after one tray.)

And you haven't really baked gingerbreads if you haven't burned one set of them.
(The rest did turn out fine and half of them are in my belly already).

And then I (almost) turned off social media for a couple of days and my work email for reals and enjoyed being at home (first time on months Eddi and I are at home during days off at the same time!) with the family.
Christmas <3 3="" br="">

CREAM CHEESE 15 MINUTE-PASTRIES WITH SUNDRIED TOMATOES AND HORSERADISH

Here's an easy-to-make salty pastry that I sometimes put together for when guests come over or to have as a quick dinner with a green salad.

You'll need ready made pastry dough (puff- or butterdough sheets), cream cheese, sundried tomates and horse radish.

The quickest version is to use horseradish Cantadou cream cheese and chopped sun dried tomatoes to get this done in less than five, but in this version I chopped up the tomatoes myself and mixed cream cheese with a handful of grated horse radish that I had in the freezer from last summer.

Cut the dough plates in half into squares and place a small spoonfull of the filling on half of the square.

Fold over and press the edges together with a fork. Press some holes on top of the folded triangle with the fork, and  glaze them with  a beaten egg or some water on top. I sprinkled on some sesame seeds as well.

Bake for about 12 minutes at 225C (or at whatever temperature the dough packing suggests), let cool a bit and munch on!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Christmas! Christmas christmas christmas.

I really do love the season, even though we are having a very moist and green one this year.
Last year I was so busy everything was rather last-minute and then went by pretty fast. So I decided I'd start my Christmas preparations early this year to get to enjoy it longer.

Which obviously didn't happen, apart from some lights and starts hung up earlier in December.
I had pretty  much everything left for this week.

^That's me the last three days. EVERYBODY HAS TO GET IN THE CHRISTMAS MOOD NOW!

(picture from Fotolia)

So yesterday I had a turrrrbo-christmas preparation day and fixed soem gifts, sent out my cards and some gifts (YES I KNOW THEY WILL NOT MAKE IT but it's kind of nice receiving them during the so called middle days between Christmas and New Years' as well isn't it, when you can take it easy and eat chocolates and receive greeting that are still wishing you a good time, right?), decorated the tree and baked gingerbreads.

I am rather fine with being in a hurry and doing a lot a once thought, as I'm used to that, but I just miss getting to take it easy and enjoy the feeling.  Well doesn't everybody. But I will do it now and afterwards instead - my Christmas always goes on until at least Epiphany (old traditions here "throw" Christmas out after twenty days so there's still time). And we did have a nice although stuffed day yesterday -

Dag baked gingerbreads for the first time properly.

Classic hearts.

And gingerbread men that Dag and I decorated. (For some reason gingerbread med freak me out. Sometimes when I can't sleep I picture them coming up the stairs with knives in their hands. Merry Christmas!)


We did gingerbread trucks too, upon which Dag is happily munching here.

Last year I did a Moomin-inspired Christmas tree,  one like they do in the books. This year the kids got to decorate it so I just let it go for more is more.


I'm not much of a decorater otherwise; apart from lights I just prefer to add flowers of the season here and there.

Like amaryllis!

I love them as they are so big and bold, but they always grow too heavy and fall down and look drunk. So I placed them in the biggest jar I had, where they should be able to keep their alignment right.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to everybody out there celebrating something!

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW - MESSY, MAGAZINE AND MOROTSKAKA

Trying to figure out what to wear today.
Everything is a mess at home and it seems I have somehow managed to magically hide away all my autumn clothes. The agony of living at two addresses.

But there has been times that it was not messy at home. Proof of that in the latest issue of Glorian Koti for example, where there is a short feature on the farm house. The pictures were taken a year ago.

 Breakfast.

Includes this too.
Carrot-zuccini-date cake (=breakfast worthy.) Not sure if it's very good or just ok; the price you pay when you never measure and just randomly throw things in a pot and stir and bake. After a night in the fridge this could be quite chunky though.

SUNDAY BAKING: QUICK VEGAN BANANA CHOCOLATE CAKE

I run one of those households that often (or well, always) ends up with a banana or two turned so ripe they're too yucky to eat. But they can happily go in a cake!

So today we decided to bake one with Dag; a quick banana based chocolate cake that is - for being a cake, -not too unhealhty. Kids can easily participate here as things like getting to mash banana is fun and easy to do, and with a big enough bowl not necessarily even that messy.

It's a cake easily altered, for example, I add some more spices to this during the colder season.

You will need:
3 ripe banans
around 50g of dried dates + a hint of water
1dl coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1-1,5 dl cocoa
3 dl spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 dl oil  - I use coconut oil
(+ a dash of cinnamon)

Now, to make the easy things hard, or at least a bit more confusing for you: I have made this with four small bananas and with just two bananas and both versions work as well. The more banans the less dates you need, so when I had four banana-nanas I used just five dates. Also adjut the amount of cocoa powder to your own taste; 1,5 dl of cocoa makes the  rather dark and strong so you can go with less if that suits you better. I have also made this without the soda and it turned out fine. I you don't care about it being vegan or not you will get a nice cake by using butter instead of oil too (and you can of course toss in an egg for more fluffyness but then again that is already another cake). For more spices try some ginger and clover and perhaps a little cardamom.

First,  pre-heat the oven to 200c. Chop the dates and put them in a pan with a hint of water so it covers the dates, and heat up. Let it boil for a little while so you get a sticky paste. Add a little water if needed so the dates don't burn.

Mash the bananas with a fork or a masher. Add the sugar and cocoa, then the date-mass, then flour and finally the oil (in a runny state). Put in a greased cake mold (or fold it with baking paper).

I don't think the batter on this one is very good raw (which is a good thing, because that means more cake later) but Dag was eager to lick the bowl.

Bake for 35-50 minutes in 200C, depending on your oven and the size of your mold. Try it with a stick and take out to cool.

You can eat this warm, as it is or with ice cream. I prefer it after a day or two in the fridge.
Pimp it up with salted peanuts (no that's not crazy!), jam or with a bunch of cherries and some chocolate coconut cream  frosting!

RAW MANGO CHEESECAKE

Spring is here, Easter around the corner, pretty much all food featured anywhere is yellow.

So I am not going to be any worse - here's a yellow cake suitable for the season! (Or at any other time of the year, of course.)

You will need:


A couple of mangoes, cashews, pecan nuts and almonds, lemon juice, dried dates, dried pricots and cocoa butter.

This recipe makes for a rather small cake, 20-25cm in diameter.

Let the apricots and dates soak for about 10-15minutes in water so that they soften up.
I used six (small) apricots and 2 dates.

Make the crust first. Mix almonds and pecans in a mixer; I used 1,5dl of both. You can use just pecans too if you so like (and perhaps live somewhere where pecans are not ridiculously expensive). You don't need to mix them all smooth, leave a little crunch. Add the apricots and dates plus a pinch of salt and mix.


Press the crust out in a baking mold. Add a baking paper or plastic film if the mold does not have detachable edges. I usually put a bit of baking paper in the bottom anyway.

Put the crust the fridge while you make the filling.


First start by puttig the cocoa butter, 1-2 tbs, to melt in a cup or glass placed in a bowl with hot water.

Mix 200g cashews along with some squeezed lemon juice in the mixer (about half a lemon). You can add a few drops of lemon more after a while to make the mixing easier. Use a spatula to push down any cashew crumbs that rise along the edges of the mixing bowl. The mixture has to be very, very smooth. It has to be all smooth before you add anything else; you can not "go back a step with this one".  The mix will start forming a ball when it is ready.


Slice one mango and add it in pieces. Mix smooth.
If you want you can add in a spoon of honey or agave (or some sweetener of your choice), but it will be fine without.


When the cocoa butter has become liquid (add some more hot water to the bowl if it has not yet melted), pour it in a thin string while mixing. Mix for a while so the cocoa butter blends in well.
The cocoa butter is used for firming the filling. You could also do this with coconut oil.

Take a couple of slices of the other mango and put it in the mixer with the filling. Mix for a while so the mango gets a bit chopped up and mixed in, but it does not need to dissolve completely.
(Use the rest of the mango for decoration on the cake or just go ahead and eat it while you wait for the cake to be ready.)


Take out the crust and pour the fill on. Put in the fridge for a couple of hours or in the freezer for about half an hour before serving.

Then enjoy!



Next time I think I will take some bits of dried mango and grate in on top of the cake for some extra mango-ness!

The cake will stay fresh some 3-4 days when kept cool.