The Brunette Diaries

It’s December and Christmas is not very far away. This is time to look for delicious festive recipes to make the celebrations a tad special. So we have come up with a yummy and creamy spiced cheesecake recipe that will add warmth to your celebrations. Check out this easy recipe and try your hand at it.

Get The Ingredients Ready:

200gm of digestive, broken to crumbs

300gm cream cheese

3 beaten eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon nutmeg powder

25gm plain flour

350ml crème fraiche

Zest of 1 orange

Juice of ½ an orange

¼ cup icing sugar

½ teaspoon mixed spice

3 tablespoon toasted flaked almonds

175gm golden caster sugar

50gm unsalted melted butter

250gm strawberries, sliced

Also Read: Incredibly Easy Shahi Tukda Inspired Dessert Recipe

Let’s Start Baking:

Preheat your oven to a 150C. Get a round, 20cm tin container with baking paper and set it aside. Make sure the container has a removable base. Blitz the digestive biscuits into fine crumbs. Then add melted butter and blitz again to bind them together. Now place the crumbs into the baking tin and spread it out evenly to form a nice bottom surface for the cheesecake. Place the tin in the fridge while you prepare the creamy filling.

Also Read: Diabetic-Friendly Dessert Recipe – Date Squares

Take a large bowl and mix cream cheese, caster sugar, flour and the spices. Now slowly stir in the crème fraiche, vanilla extract, eggs and zest of an orange until the mixture is beautifully blend together. Next, carefully pour this mixture into the baking tin and place in on the lower shelf of your preheated oven.

Also Read: 5 Quick And Easy Pasta Recipes

After baking the cake for about 50-55 minutes, turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake to cool. The cake should be slightly wobbly in the center and firm around the edges. Once the cake has cooled, place it in the fridge for 3 hours or more to chill.

Also Read: 3 Super Easy Super Tasty Recipes Using Jam

Mix together sliced strawberries, icing sugar, orange juice and a little brandy if you like, and set aside. Take out the chilled and set cheesecake from the fridge, open the tin and place it on a large serving plate. Now top the cheesecake with the syruped strawberries and sprinkle flakes of toasted almonds. You may now devour this pillowy and creamy spiced cheesecake.

Also Read: 4 Simple Recipes For All You Chaat Lovers

This can be the perfect Christmas dessert surprise for your family. It is easy to make and tastes out of the world. Follow this spiced cheesecake recipe and impress your guests this festive season.

I think I speak for all when I say Gingerbreads are synonymous with “holidays are approaching”. Can you think of a scent so warm, comforting and ah!, so delicious that your mouth start watering. Gingerbread was first baked in Europe around the 11th century when Crusaders brought ginger as well as other new and exotic spices back from the Middle East. At first, gingerbread was mainly baked by Catholic monks and used in religious ceremonies, but over time it became more and more popular throughout the continent.

The Germans started the tradition of baking a house out of gingerbread around the holidays in the 16th century, but the practice didn’t become as popular as it is now until the publication of a certain fairy tale a few centuries later. German immigrants to America brought the gingerbread house tradition across the ocean with them, and now we see it everywhere, from home kitchens to department store holiday window displays.

People in Europe had been eating gingerbread for centuries, but we can thank the Brothers Grimm for the popularity of gingerbread houses. They published Hansel and Gretel in the 19th century—remember that one? It’s the fairy tale where a witch lures a brother and sister duo into captivity with her house made out of gingerbread and candy, and then tries to fatten them up to eat them. The story became immensely popular in Germany, and people started baking gingerbread houses at the holidays as a result.

So, let’s celebrate this day with baking loads of Gingerbreads with the help of this traditional Gingerbread recipe:

Ingredients:

150g Unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup (125ml) golden syrup
1/2 cup (110g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 cups (450g) plain flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, lightly whisked
Writing fudge, to decorate
Rainbow choc chips, to decorate

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 large oven trays with baking paper.

Place butter, golden syrup and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Add bicarbonate of soda and stir to combine. Transfer to a large heatproof bowl. Set aside to cool.

Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and baking powder over butter mixture. Add the egg and stir until combined. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until smooth. Divide dough into two portions. Shape each portion into a disc and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 45 minutes or until firm.

Roll one portion between 2 sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Using a 6-7cm Christmas pastry cutters, cut shapes from dough, re-rolling scraps. Place on the lined trays, 3cm apart to allow for spreading. Repeat with remaining gingerbread portion.

Bake in the preheated oven, 1 tray at a time, for 8 minutes or until just firm to touch. Remove from oven and set aside on trays for 5 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate gingerbread using writing fudge and rainbow choc chips, if desired.

Now, you can use these Gingerbreads to make your own cute little or big house and celebrate this day with your family and friends.

Happy National Gingerbread House Day to all <3