Baked Cherry Ripe chocolate cheesecake

As the saying goes, you don't miss something (or someone) until it's gone. In my case, what I miss is Cadbury's Cherry Ripe chocolate bars, which are not sold in Austria. Cherry Ripes are my favourite ever chocolate bars. The combination of dark chocolate, cherries and coconut is so, so good. 

I have been relying on family and friends to 'import' these chocolate bars in their suitcases for my husband and I or to send them via post, which is ridiculously expensive.  

My father-in-law arrived a few weeks ago for a holiday and he bought a WHOLE box of Cherry Ripes - 40 or so bars of choc-cherry heaven! In honour of this event, I decided to splash out and make something featuring Cherry Ripes. And so the baked Cherry Ripe chocolate cheesecake was born.

This cheesecake is rather amazing, if I do say so myself. My desire was to have a cake with a strong Cherry Ripe flavour and texture, so I didn't melt the bars, I just chopped them roughly. When eating this cake, you really get to taste the delicious chocolate bars. 

Naturally, this is a very rich cake; you only need a very small slice, so it will go a very long way if you make it for a crowd. I'd estimate that you could slice this into 16 pieces.

Enough waffling on from me, here's the recipe. Make it, it's wonderful.

Eggplant parmigiana bake

For my family, this was a lovely spring meal, even for the non-eggplant liking person among us (no names will be mentioned!). 

Once cooked, the eggplant becomes so soft and squishy. And the juices, combined with the tomato sauce and bechamel sauce is very tasty. For something different, I sprinkled the top with cheese combined with hazelnut meal, instead of breadcrumbs. The taste of the hazelnuts gave a bit of nutty sweetness to the dish, which I really liked. I grilled the top a little to make the cheese/hazelnut mix crunchy.

This dish would freeze very well, either cooked or uncooked. You could make a double batch, and freeze one for later. 

I think this eggplant parmigiana  makes a lovely, tasty meal. Serve it with a fresh garden salad and some crusty bread to mop us the lovely sauce.

Sticky lemongrass and lime chicken

This chicken and its marinade are a little addictive. The sticky, salty and spicy ingredients taste so fantastic together. Don't waste any of the marinade. Reduce it over low heat in a small saucepan to make a heavenly sauce for your chicken at the table.

How to use up your Easter chocolate

Chocolate, chocolate everywhere!

If your house is anything like mine, you'll have lots of chocolate floating around in cupboards, the fridge, bags, boxes and at the back of the pantry at the moment.

The mind boggles at how it all gets eaten every year!

I think some people just throw it away as they cannot think what useful thing could be done with it all. Or it sits in the door of the fridge and goes all hard, white and awful. What a waste!

My solution - cook with it! I've got loads of recipes that use chocolate.

You can use Easter egg chocolate to cook with, just melt it down as you would regular cooking chocolate.

So, if you'd like to use up all that chocolate laying around your house, try some of the following recipes.

• Nigella's Easter Egg Nest cake
• Donna Hay's baked chocolate custards
• Torta Caprese al Limone (white chocolate)
• Hazelnut, raspberry and dark chocolate muffins
• Chocolate mousse
• Dark chocolate, walnut and cranberry brownies
• Italian chocolate mousse cake
• Toblerone and coffee semifreddo
• Chocolate-layered celebration cake

Nigella's Easter Egg Nest Cake

Nigella's Easter Egg Nest Cake. One word - awesome! 

I made this cake as our dessert to have on Easter Sunday with friends. It was easy to make, fun to decorate and I think you'll agree, it looks wonderful.

The cake has three parts, the bottom layer of cake, the chocolate cream filling, and the 'nest' decorations. In her recipe, Nigella says that it's OK if the cake 'falls apart' on the sides, as it's meant to look like a nest, so not perfect. My kind of cake definitely. My cake stayed together quite well, but the sides were crunchy and crumbly, which I think is how it was supposed to be.

This is a flourless cake too, so great for all those eating gluten free. It was very moist, and kept well for three days afterwards (God know's know?) in an airtight container.

Serve with some double cream and a hot cup of espresso. Happy Easter.

Here is Nigella's recipe and method.

Hot Cross Buns

Easter goodies - I'm a bit late I know.

Hot Cross Buns aren't sold in Austria, so if I want to eat them, I've got to make my own. No bother there. They are not too difficult, just a little time consuming with all the rising time. But you can do other things while you wait for the dough to rise.

And, I think there is nothing like the smell of freshly-baked anything in the house.

Most recipes for hot cross buns call for mixed spice to be used. Mixed spice is not sold here either. So I made my own, using cinnamon, chilli powder and black pepper. Sounds weird I know, but it tasted really great and smelled wonderful. There was just a tiny bit of spice and my children ate them without a problem.

If you've never baked hot cross buns, give it a go. But I'd say definitely eat them the day of baking, as they are fresh and soft. If you leave them for a few days, they do become a bit heavy. You can reheat them but there is nothing like fresh baked.

Slather on some butter and eat hot from the oven - bliss!

Creamy leek pastry

I made up the recipe for this pastry rather quickly. Sometimes, dinner time comes and I stand in front of the fridge in a daze with the door open, thinking 'what am I going to cook?'

I needed something as a side dish for a family meal . I had some pastry in the fridge and a leek - not the most inspiring of ingredients. 

I came up with this creamy, leek-filled pastry square, with a little thyme and tomato on top. It was so yummy and received a 'thumbs-up' from the family.

You could add some sliced ham into the leek mixture for some more flavour. 

Or you could half the size of the pastry and make these smaller for a great finger food recipe for a party.

What you'll need

Made four pastry squares, as a side dish to a main meal.

1 piece of puff pastry (40cm x 40cm), cut into four squares (10cm x 10cm)

1 leek, cleaned and white part finely sliced

1 onion, peeled and finely sliced

2 cups milk

1/4 cup plain flour

1 tablespoon butter

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 roma tomatoes, quartered

What to do

Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the pastry squares onto a lined baking tray and into the oven.

Cooked until the squares are puffed up and brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. While the squares are still puffy, using a spoon, hollow out a hole in the middle of the pastry (use the back of the spoon and just push down).

Now make the filling. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter. Once melted and bubbling, add the onion and leek. Cook until the leek and onion are soft and translucent. 

Now sprinkle in the flour slowly and stir well until you have a paste. Reduce the heat to low. Slowly add the milk and using a wooden spoon, stir constantly until the sauce starts to thicken. Once the thickening process starts, remove from the heat and keep stirring for a minute or two. Season well. 

Spoon the leek sauce into the middle of the pastry squares until it reaches the top of the pastry. Top with the tomato pieces and sprinkle with a little dried thyme.

Serve immediately. Makes a lovely side dish to grilled meats or lunch with a salad.

Donna Hay's baked chocolate custard

These baked chocolate raspberry custards were luscious and a nice end to a lovely dinner.

The recipe is from Donna Hay. You'll find it here or in her book 'simple dinners.' I think I overcooked my custards a little; the texture was a little more 'cake' than 'custard', but they still tasted wonderful, especially with the tangy raspberries.

Give this recipe a try for dinner parties or for a family dinner. You can make them beforehand, then store in the fridge until needed. You could serve them warm from the oven, or have them cold from the fridge as I did.

Paleo Eggplant 'Pizza'

Hello Paleo people, here's a recipe for you.

Eating 'lower carb' has it's challenges. 'What to use as a pizza base' is one of those challenges. I don't eat pizza very often, but sometimes it is nice to have something with some melted cheese on it.

I made these 'pizzas' for my own lunch one day. It didn't take very long, and these were really yummy. I think I captured the 'gooey' pizza texture, which is how I like my pizza. The eggplant base will not be crisp, but it will at least look like a pizza and taste really good.

Rocket, avocado and cashew salad

Salad time! We ate this great salad with crumbed fish. It was so great; lots of texture and flavour.

I dressed this salad very simply with a squeeze of lemon, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground pepper.

Grilled pineapple and icecream

Easy dessert time. This is a wonderful way to use a big, juicy pineapple.

Skin and chop the pineapple, a little heating in the pan, make a sauce, scoop on your favourite icecream, and it's done.

Quick and so, so tasty.

You could also add some fresh, grated ginger or even a sprinkle of fresh chilli for a little more Asian-flavoured.

Lamb shank pie

This lamb shank pie is more of a 'serving suggestion' than a recipe. 

You can use this recipe for the lamb shank filling. All you'll need is some puff pastry, a little melted butter to brush it with and that's it.

Serve the lamb shanks to the table and then tear off the pastry and use it as a scoop for the beautiful, tender lamb and yummy sauce. You could make this recipe in a large baking dish and have four or six lamb shanks standing upright. I made them in individual dishes, which worked really well.