Burnt basque cheesecake

My friend Cynthia's birthday was coming up and I decided to bake her a Burnt Basque Cheesecake. I was nervous cos this is my first attempt. Thanks to this recipe, my cheesecake was a success. It was cheesy with a lemonade tint. 🧀😋  

Ingredients (for a 8" cheesecake): 

• 750 cream cheese 
• 210 caster sugar 
• 3.75 gram salt 
• 5.25 eggs
• 0.75 teaspoon vanilla essence 
• 0.75 tablespoon lemon juice 
• 300ml heavy whipping cream 
• 7.5 gram flour 

Instructions (taken from junandtonic.com blog) : 

1. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and salt together in a stand mixer on medium for 2-3 minutes, until smooth and silky. Then, add the eggs one by one while the mixer is on low, and let it incorporate. Then, add the vanilla, lemon juice, and heavy cream. (Make sure not to measure the lemon juice and cream together, otherwise the cream would curdle.) Finally, dust the flour through a sieve, into the cake batter, and mix it until there are no lumps.
2. Heat your oven to 250°C. 
3. Then, line a 8 or 9-inch cake tin with baking paper, fitting it snugly on the bottom and ruffling it on the sides. Make sure to have at least 2-inches of baking paper sticking out on all sides, as the cake will rise as it bakes. 
4. Pour the cake batter into the lined cake tin. Give it a few gentle taps release any large air bubbles. 
5. Then, bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top of the cake is brown and charred at parts, but the center is still noticeably jiggly. 
6. When done baking, let the cake cool in its tin on a wire rack until it reaches room temperature. Then, put it in the refrigerator to cool for at least another 2 hours. After that, remove it from its tin and remove the baking paper, slice it into 8-12 slices, and indulge! 

Granola

Oats lowers our cholesterol and keeps us full (it's complex carbs). I'm not a big fan of oats until I discovered granola. 😀 I add it to my smoothies or acai bowl. 

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups rolled oats 
• 1/2 cup of nuts (almond, walnut, pecan, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed)
• 1/2 cup of crisp rice 
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar 
• 2 tablespoons of honey 
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil 
• Toppings: Dried fruits, goji berries, chocolate chips 

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven at 160 degrees Celcius. 
2. Combine the mixture in a bowl. 
3. Line the pan with parchment paper. 
4. Bake it for 30 minutes until browned. 
5. Let it cool. Add toppings and mix it. 

Lamb Chops

I don't grill lamb very often. Skills not used are often rusty. Thank you Gordon Ramsey for this quick tutorial video.