Misti Doi Cheesecake (eggless)

I have been baking a lot these days and enjoy experimenting with yeast, but do not blog about it as frequently as I would like  . . . . .  it’s just lazy me. So, I made this last month and was loved by everyone. It’s prefect for a party as it please all age groups and can be should be made in advance. But, the best part is how incredibly easy it is to make . . . . With just 3 ingredients, it is a rather exotic sounding dessert.

I colleague of mine introduced me to Mother Dairy’s Misti Doi and I liked the creamy texture with subtle flavour it offered. Prior to this I have had misti dahi in earthen ware (‘kulhad’ as we call it here) during Durga Puja festivities. It is otherwise hard to find in Mumbai and was really happy to see it. Purist may not be impressed but it worked for me. Soon I was searching recipes to use it in some other form as my husband will not have it as ‘just dahi’. So, google to rescue and I was hooked onto the pictures on this amazing website ‘Passionate about Baking’ and realised that the recipe is eggless too. So, let’s go straight to the recipe.

400 gms Mishti Doi (I used Mother’s Dairy  brand)

400 gms (1 tin) sweetened condensed milk

200ml cream (I used 25% Amul)

Take a muslin cloth and put in all the dahi. Hang it for about an hour to remove whey. Keep the dahi in refrigerator during this time.

Remove the hung curd from the cloth and mix it together with condensed milk and cream till it becomes a homogenous mixture.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 degree centigrade.

Take a 7” diameter loose bottom cake tin and cover it on with aluminium foil on the outside to prevent any leakage. Place this on a cookie tray.

Add the batter to the prepared tin and bake it for 20 minutes. Leave it in the oven itself to cool. When it has completely cooled to room temperature, cover the tin and keep it in the refrigerator overnight.

Demould and garnish with white chocolate shavings.

Coffee n Fig Ice cream

The days are getting hotter and exams are over. It’s time for fun . . . .

This ice-cream is an explosion of flavours. Coffee, figs and chocolate . . . exactly in that order. Fresh figs are still available and so decided to make this creamy luscious and easy recipe adapted from here.

No ice-cream machine.

No churning.

Simple ingredients.

Awesome flavour.

I have used coffee decoction here and strongly recommend it. I had always been an instant coffee girl and found filter coffee bitter (That’s probably one thing which all coffee lovers admire and want in their cuppa . . . . but this is just weird me). But, few years back when we visited Coorg, we came back with a lot of coffee, mainly for friends and had few packets left with us. The coffee was lying in the freezer for a year and then finally I decided to either use it or give it away. The coffee conquered my senses in the very first meeting. The taste was rounded, smooth and the aroma was heavenly . . . I was addicted. But all good things come to an end and till someone gets me my fix from Coorg, I am using coffee from a local brand which is good, but I don’t admire as much as the earlier one.

Coming back to this ice-cream. Do try this and I am sure you will enjoy it as much as we did.

For ice-cream

1/2 can (200 gms) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup fig compote (recipe below)
1/4 cup coffee decoction (at room temperature)
1 cup cold heavy cream (I used 25% Amul)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (can use less, if desired)

For Fig compote

125 gms fresh figs
1-1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1-1/2 tbsp brown sugar
pinch of salt (I used Fleur de sel)

Make the fig compote first. Chop the figs and add it to thick bottom pan along with sugar. Cook till the figs are mushy and smash them a bit. Remove from heat and add butter. Let it cool completely before you add it to the ice-cream recipe.

In a medium bowl, stir together the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, fig compote, coffee.

Whip the cream till soft peaks are formed and then fold it with the coffee-fig mixture. Mix well and uniformly. Pour into a loaf pan and sprinkle chocolate chips and lightly mix.

Freeze for at least 8 hours or overnight. Keep the pan at room temperature for 2 mins before scooping out to serve. Enjoy the creamy ice-cream with your loved ones.