HOMEMADE VANILLA PASTE

I have made vanilla extract on here before, and as lovely as that was at the end of the batch I was looking for other ways to preserve my vanilla beans. My beans that I had bought for that had gone hard and were almost impossible to use for cakes and other sweet treats, so after a little inspiration from a friend I decided to make vanilla paste.

I started off by boiling my beans in water for 30 minutes until they became soft. Use as many beans as you have and cover in enough water to cover and cook. Once they are soft blend, then strain. Measure out the amount of liquid and add an equal amount of sugar, cook on a low heat until it has dissolved and turned syrupy, store in clean jars in the fridge and use as you would vanilla extract.

I plan on making vanilla sugar with the waste strained beans. I dried them in a low oven until they were completely dry. Hopefully I can bribe my sister with some vanilla goodies and use her thermomix to blitz the beans and sugar together! If you do not have access to a thermomix, you can always store your spent dried beans in a jar of sugar so the fragrance can permeate through.

UPSIDE DOWN NECTARINE CAKE

I love cake...I love anything desserty...The original recipe is for pineapple, but when we were travelling we came across a nectarine tree and I made this cake with them. Today I also didn't have pineapple but I also wanted to make it with spelt. So feel free to use either spelt or plain flour. I have changed the original recipe significantly to suit what I had in the house, the original ingredients will be in brackets. 

Topping:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup golden syrup (brown sugar)

3 nectarines (3 slices pineapple)

Cake Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1.5 cups spelt flour (1 cup self raising flour and 1/2 cup plain flour)

1/2 cup sour cream (milk)

(2 tsp baking powder)

Preheat oven to 180 C and line a 24 cm baking dish. Mix the butter and golden syrup for the topping and line the base with it. Slice nectarines and layer them on top of butter and golden syrup mix. Cream butter and sugar for cake with the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time and then mix in the sour cream. Fold in the flour and baking powder and pour on top of the nectarines. Bake for 35-45 minutes until skewer comes out clean. Can be served with cream for extra decadence. 

HEALTHY 'CHEESE' CAKE

I love creamy things but when trying to lose weight creamy things don't really help. So I came up with an idea for a healthy alternative using labneh - a yogurt 'cheese'.

So first you need to make the labneh 24 hours in advance. basically this is just s strained yogurt. I place a 1kg tub in a muslin or chux cloth (i like the biodegradable ones) lined colander which sits inside a bowl. I place this in the fridge covered with cling wrap for 24 hours.



After the 24 hours you can begin to assemble the cheesecake

Biscuit base (i didn't use this to cut down on sugar and fat but it is beautiful with the base)
3/4 packet digestive biscuits crushed
1/4 butter melted
Filling
1/2 C cream whipped to soft peaks
3/4 of the labneh
2 tsp agave syrup
2tsp vanilla extract - see how you can make your own homemade vanilla extract
Topping
500g raspberries - frozen is fine
2 tsp agave syrup or to taste
2tbs powdered gelatin dissolved in 1/4 C warm water

To make base combine crushed biscuits and melted butter and press into spring form pan. Place in fridge to chill.

For filling whip cream and then whisk in labneh and agave and vanilla extract. Pour over biscuit base and place back in refrigerator.



For the topping, place raspberries in saucepan and simmer while stirring to create a pulp. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove seeds, stir in dissolved gelatin and stir. Pour over filling and place in refrigerator to set for a couple of hours.

HOMEMADE VANILLA EXTRACT

I love buying products with as little processing as possible and as natural ingredients as possible. I recently bought 100 organic beans for less than $17AUD delivered that's much better than the $8AUD i paid for 3 at the local organic shop! I'm setting aside half to use 'fresh' where the recipe calls for vanilla beans, but sometimes I like to use vanilla extract. I read the back of my vanilla extract and the main ingredient is ethanol - um isn't that what they make cheap petrol from????? well i don't want to ingest that organic or not. So I'm making my own! From vanilla beans and vodka! EASY!

My lovely organic vanilla beans. So soft, shiny and smelly!

 You need 50 ml of vodka per vanilla bean. Find a clean jar and make sure the vanilla beans are submerged under the vodka (you could use another liquor but i think vodka is the best as it has a 'neutral' flavour) and allow to infuse for 6 months. after that strain through a coffee filter and bottle for later use! YUM can't wait for this stage!

My first batch of vanilla extract