orange, cardamom & ginger chocolate cheesecake

i took the basic chocolate cheesecake recipe from the big book of chocolate by jennifer donovan and just played with it to give it the cocoa bean twist. i had promised a chocolate dessert for a large and lively 30 people dinner party on friday night.

the main course was curry so i chose to go for one of our spicy flavours with the heat of ginger to warm everyone after braving the newly frosty air to leap about with sparklers. . .

base

250g ginger biscuits ( you can also add crystallised ginger to spice up the flavour - chop small)

75g butter

2 tbsp cocoa powder

cheesecake

50g butter

400g cream cheese

2 eggs lightly beaten

5 tbsp caster sugar

150g dark chocolate melted

orange zest from 2 oranges

juice of half an orange

12 cardamoms toasted gently and crushed

method

grease a 23cm loose bottomed cake tin or flan dish

crush the biscuits and melt the butter for the base. mix together with the cocoa powder and crystallised ginger. press firmly into the base.

beat the cream cheese, eggs, sugar, butter, zest, cardamoms, orange juice and melted chocolate together in a large bowl until thick and smooth. it's good to use a electric hand mixer. spoon the mixture over the base and smooth with a palette knife. refrigerate for at least two hours. you can top it with cocoa powder or shavings of chocolate if you like, though i think it's nice plain.

farmers market favourites

cardamom, orange & ginger biscuit

this is a first in the series of cocoa bean recipes for fresh truffles and our own version of fudge. i will include all the favourites from our market days and the long lost experiments....

i made this on saturday morning and popped it in a kilner jar in the fridge. in the winter it will keep perfectly in a sealed jar on the kichen counter though it may disappear more quickly! if you have chilled it and want to appreciate the full flavour, allow to warm up a bit before eating. an alternative is to freeze it and eat like sophisticated cubes of icecream ( thanks for this suggestion has to go to theresa, the jam and chutney woman at limerick market.)

having fresh chocolates to eat over the weekend makes you very popular with family and friends and it's so easy!

ingredients

275g dark chocolate

100ml single cream or soya cream

orange zest

orange juice or oil of orange

6 cardamoms

5 ginger biscuits (homemade if you are brilliant but shop bought will do fine!)

method

line a small loaf tin with clingfilm

lightly toast the cardamom seeds over a low heat and then crush using mortar and pestle

melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan/pot of warm water

gently warm the cream and stir into the melted chocolate

add the cardamom, orange zest and a few drops of juice or oil

add the roughly broken ginger biscuits and mix well

pour into the loaf tin

allow to cool and then cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours

remove, cut into generous chunks and eat!

Once the basics are mastered, feel free to play around with quantities to make a softer or firmer chocolate, depending on the season and your tastes.

milk chocolate chip shortbread with orange zest and cardamom

the rain was so incessent this morning that i decided that instead of bemoaning the wintery weather in the middle of july i would embrace it and spend the day in the kitchen cooking warming, hearty fayre.

it was in the middle of preparing a lamb curry that a watery sun came out, but by that point the fragrance of the cardamoms had already seduced me and i had my heart set experimenting with a milk chocolate chip shortbread with cardamom and orange zest.


shortbread was the obvious choice, as this recipe contains 8oz of butter and i am attempting to lose a bit of weight (you will probably notice over the following posts, as i record the food i love to cook and eat, how regular and always half hearted these attempts are; it really takes only the slightest craving or excuse to throw me off course).

this recipe, as i suspected it would be, was perfect for this afternoon's baking fest. it filled the entire house with a lovely smell of spice and orange, maybe not the types of smell you'd hope to find tempting in the middle of summer but truly comforting for this type of day. and it is certainly one i will file away for christmas time too.

recipe

8oz butter
4oz sugar + a bit extra for sprinkling
1oz cornflour
11oz plain flour
zest of one orange
1/2tsp crushed cardamom seeds
2-3 drops of vanilla extract
3 1/2oz milk chocolate drops
(feel free to substitute for dark chocolate)

method

1. preheat the oven to gas mark 3, 160C or 140C with a fan.
2. gently melt the butter either in a microwave or in a pan.
3. add the orange zest, vanilla extract and the crushed cardamom into the melted butter;stir to make sure they are well mixed.
4. add the cornflour, sugar and flour and mix well until they are all combined.
5. mix in the chocolate drops and make sure they are evenly distributed through the mix otherwise it is just unfair.


6. spread the mixture evenly into a swiss roll tin and sprinkle lightly with sugar.
7. bake for 40-45 minutes and check the shortbread is cooked, it should be firm and going golden at the edges.
8. cut, and then leave to cool. when cool turn out.
   

the results

these are a lovely, crumbly shortbread with a lovely sweetness from the chocolate and the orange and a delicious, subtle spicy undertone.

we enjoyed ours with a hot chocolate (made with cocoa bean's milk hot chocolate mix, of course!). i am taking them into work tomorrow to share round, so as not to eat them all myself; here's to actually hoping it is not a balmy summer's day....

the lamb curry, in case you were wondering, was mildly disappointing.