by Martin -

Chocolate & Walnut Cookies

When I started writing down text for this recipe, I was wondering how am I going to call it. I was thinking in superlatives. Best, quick to make, tasty, simple. I really hate clickbait-y names though.

Nevertheless. I think once you try this very basic recipe, you won’t look back. Our household of two does not eat a lot of sweets. But the whole batch only lasted us for three days. However you can store them for much longer than that, if your will is stronger than ours.

Ingredients (16 cookies)

  • 100 g butter
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspon vanilla paste or extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 generous pinch of salt
  • 200 g all-purpose flour
  • 100 g chopped chocolate or chocolate chips
  • 100 g chopped walnuts

Preparation

The cookies are going to taste the best when you get your hands dirty. When you use your hands, your dough will be nice and soft to the touch. First mix butter and sugar. Once you create this paste, add your egg, vanilla and generous pinch of salt. Mix well. Add in chopped chocolate and walnuts. At this stage your dough will be extremely sticky, but your ingredients evenly distributed. Add flour and baking soda as your final ingredients. Form a dough ball.

Roll the dough into a giant sausage and use knife to create around 16 pieces of dough. In my case it turned out to be 18. Or 9 per batch. Form each piece into a ball, press in with your hand and then transfer onto cookie sheet. Make sure to leave plenty of space between individual cookies, Otherwise your cookies may stick together and you will endup with one giant cookie mess. Bake the cookies for around 12 to 15 minutes at 180° C (350° F).

Picture is worth a thousand words. So I suggest to watch a video below. If you liked the video, please consider giving us a thumbs up, comment or a Subscribe on Youtube. It helps us a LOT!

by Martin -

Simple no-bake cheesecake with berries

This recipe is special for me for two reasons. First of all it’s a classic that I can prepare quickly one day before an event or a party. Second, the cheesecake is always a hit and it’s ready in minutes. On top of that, you can improvise and use topping of your choice (as long as you let it cool to room temperature).

This is also a first recipe for me, where we made a youtube video for you. Please let me know if you like it!

Ingredients

  • 150 g digestive biscuits
  • 80 g butter
  • 150 g whipping cream (at least 30% fat content)
  • pinch of salt
  • 600 g cream cheese (for example Philadelphia)
  • 100 g icing sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 200 g berries (I had some leftover raspberries and blackberries from my garden)
  • 2 tablespoons of icing sugar or to taste

Preparation

Line your round cake tin with baking paper. I prefer to use a tin with removable bottom. The baking paper is there to prevent the cheesecake from sticking to the tin. Smash your digestive biscuits with a rolling pin or grind in a food processor. Mix with melted butter. Put the mix in the tin, firmly pack it in and then put in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

To make the cheesecake mix, first whip the cream to soft peaks with a pinch of salt. Then gradually mix in the cream cheese in batches. In the end mix in the lemon extract and sugar. Whip the whole mix until stiff peaks form. Look at the video for reference. Finally spread the cheesecake mix on top of the chilled base. Cover the cheesecake and return to fridge for at least one hour. Cheesecake can be served without topping at this point if needed.

Topping can be prepared a day ahead or just before serving. Just make sure to let the topping cool down to room temperature before pouring over the cheesecake. The topping for this particular recipe is a 50:50 mix of raspberries and blackberries. Mix the berries in a small pan with a couple tablespoons of water and let it come to boil. Once the fruit is soft, add about two tablespoons of icing sugar or to taste. Let the topping cool down to room temperature.

Once you are ready to serve, spread the topping over the cheesecake! Simple as that. If you liked this recipe, please give us a like and/or Subscribe to our Youtube channel. It helps us immensely.

Thank you.