Ricotta Cheesecake with Fruits

Cheesecake is one of my favorite dessert recipes. I recently found a new cheesecake recipe using ricotta cheese. The original recipe contains sour cream and flour but I found that these ingredients were adding too much fat and heaviness to the dessert and I decided to remove them and make a lighter version of the cheesecake. I also adorned the cheesecake with fresh fruits instead of a jam.

Ingredients:
2 (8 ounces) packages of cream cheese
1 (16 ounces) container of ricotta cheese
1 cup of white sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of cornstarch
1/2 cup of butter, melted and cooled

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees . Lightly grease a springform pan.

2. Mix the cream cheese and ricotta cheese together in mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar, eggs, lemon, vanilla, cornstarch and butter.Pour the mixture into the springform pan.

3. Bake in for 1 hour. Then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the over 1 more hour. Allow to cook before serving. Adorn with different fruits.

Green Walnuts Bites with Brie Cheese

This treat is Simple, Chic and Delicious. Once a month I bring this dessert to a Women Club party an it has become one of the great traditions.

Buy Brie Cheese

Buy a jar of Gorelli Whole Green Walnuts and cut the walnuts. Spread out the walnuts and syrup on the top of the brie. Serve with crackers.

ENJOY !

Sweet Potato Pudding with Fig and Coconut

This sweet potato recipe is simple delicious. If you want you can try to spice it up with different top-ins. 

Ingredients:
1 lbs of Sweet potatoes
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cups of milk
1 cups of coconut milk
3 egg yolk
1/4 of a cup of syrup from Gorelli Whole Figs 

Preparation:
1- Make smash sweet potatoes with milk and butter
2- Put the smash sweet potatoes in a pan over medium heat and let is cook slowly 
3- Mix the egg yolks with the coconut milk and add this mix to the smash sweet potatoes
4- Mix several times and cook in low heat approximately for 30 minutes until you can see the bottom of the pan when you mix the potatoes with the spoon
5- Add fig syrup to the smash potatoes and let it simmer for 5 more minutes.
6- Put coconut strips and almonds on the top and serve cool

Another variation of this dessert is to cut whole figs in half and put the figs on the top of the Pudin. For better quality I always use Gorelli whole figs for my recipes. 

Gorelli Mix Fruit Salad

This salad is very simple to prepare. It has a very unique and refreshing taste resulting from the different type of fruits and the combination of fresh fruits with fruits preserves.    

Ingredients:
Gorelli Whole Fig Preserve
Gorelli Whole Walnut Preserve
Banana
Pineapple
Coconut
Apple
Guava

Preparation: 
1- Cut all the fruits in small pieces. Mix the fruits.
2- Garnish with a Gorelli Whole Fig Preserve

B.S. Brandy Flan

This recipe is a variation of the tradition flan recipe. Flan with brandy  has a very different taste than the transitional recipe. It just awesome.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 can (14 oz) of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of regular milk (some recipes will use evaporated milk)
1 cup of white sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
2 oz of B.S. brandy

Preparation:
1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
2- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar becomes a golden caramel syrup. Carefully pour hot syrup into a 9 inch round glass baking dish, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and the sides with the syrup.
3- In a mixer add the eggs, condensed milk, milk, vanilla and brandy until turns into a smooth liquid. Pour the mixture into a baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Place the baking dish in a large pan with water.
4- Place the large pan inside the oven and bake for 60 minutes.
5- Let it cool completely outside and let is cool 1 or 2 inside the refrigerator.
6- To serve, take a knife and move it around the edges and then carefully invert on serving plate.

Enjoy with coffee and B.S. brandy.

Fig Leaf - Fig with Manchego

The name "Fig Leaf" is figurative since there is nothing to cover up for in this after dinner dessert. White Fig is the best companion for aged cheese and although I prefer to pair the figs with "queso manchego" you could also use Italian aged cheese such as Asiago or Pecorino Toscano.

 Ingredients:
Gorelli White Figs
Aged Cheese (Manchego, Asiago)

Preparation: No preparation is needed but we highly recommend to use Gorelli White Figs. White Figs are very rare and they only grow in the country of Georgia. Every morning during the harvest season, a small batch of the white figs are collected by hand in the first 60 minutes after the sunrise .......discover the art of preserves. 

Chocolate Whole Walnuts

This recipe is very simple yet elegant and refreshing. Use of rare fruits is one of the latest trends in gourmet desserts.

Use Gorelli Whole Walnuts to prepare this fabulous dessert. These walnuts are very large in size and have a delicious taste. They are selected green while they still very young to make this preserve.

Ingredients:

4- 6 Whole (Young) Walnuts
Greek Yogurt (original or vanilla)
Hard Chocolate Shell
Mint Leaves

Preparation:

1- Microwave the chocolate in the container. Stir at 30 second intervals until fully melted. 
2- Dip the whole walnuts using a toothpick.
3- Serve with cold Greek and a touch of mint.

Wine Pairing: Gorelli Old Friends.

Gorelli Walnuts are made following a centuries-old recipe under the direct management of the same Master who between 1974-1982 was involved in the production of a similar walnut preserve that was sent to the Queen of England.