Thermomix - Spiced Pumpkin Baked Cheesecake

As a kid we spent a few years in Alice Springs, which has a sizeable American enclave.  I enjoyed pumpkin pies, spiced pumpkin cakes and other sweet pumpkin dishes as well as our traditional Aussie savoury pumpkin dishes.  I didn't realise until I was older that its quite uncommon to use pumpkin in desserts in Australia.  If you've never tried pumpkin desserts, do give it a try!

Spiced Pumpkin Baked Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 packet sweet biscuits such as milk arrowroot, marie.  I like to use half milk arrowroot and half gingernuts.

100g butter

2 x 250g blocks cream cheese

1/2 cup (80g) white sugar

1/2 cup (80g) brown sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree*

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract or the seeds of half a vanilla bean, scraped

3 tablespoons plain flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch ground cloves

Pinch teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Melt butter in the Thermomix at 90 degrees on speed 1 for 3 minutes, then pour out and set aside.

3.  Place biscuits in the bowl of the Thermomix and pulse with lid closed position on turbo a few times until you get a fine crumb.  Pour in the melted butter and pulse again to combine.  Press into a pie dish, covering the bottom and sides and set aside while you make the filling.

4. You can make the filling without rinsing or cleaning the bowl.  Insert butterfly, then add cream cheese and sugar to the bowl.  Beat on speed 4 until combined.

5. Add pumpkin puree and continue to beat on speed 4, then add eggs one at a time.  Add remaining ingredients (vanilla, flour, ground spices and salt) while still beating.  30 seconds after you've added the last ingredient stop the thermomix, and pour filling into prepared base.

6. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes at 180 degrees.  When ready the outer should be firm but there should still be a little wobble in the middle of the cheesecake.   Allow to cool a little then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until required.  I like to serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and a drizzle of maple syrup.

* I often throw a whole pumpkin in the oven when roasting other meals, scoop out the flesh when its tender and puree then freeze in 1 cup portions for this recipe, soups, smoothies, pumpkin pie and cakes.  You could roast (or steam) pumpkin prior to making this recipe, just let it cool before adding to the mixture.  You can use tinned pumpkin puree which can sometimes be found in lolly stores that sell American sweets, or online sellers though postage is hideously expensive.

Thermomix - Apple, sultana and cinnamon porridge

Hubby has been making porridge using the microwave the last week or so for himself and our 4 year old, G, but couldn't make it this morning because he couldn't find the oats.  He had a bit of a "boy look" I suspect, because they were there in the cupboard, though partly hidden by the flour.  G was a good sport about it though, disappointed but no real whinging or tantrum.  So I promised him I'd make him some porridge when I finished feeding his little brother his milk (D, 7 months).

I'd been making the berry porridge from the Cooking for your Baby & Toddler book, but G didn't enjoy it when he'd tried it and specifically requested sultanas in it.  I was going to use a couple of cubes of frozen apple puree but as we had plenty of apples and its going to be cooked anyhow, why not just use fresh?

Apple, sultana and cinnamon porridge

Ingredients:
2 small green apples, quartered and seeds removed
60g rolled oats
450g liquid (I used 150g milk, 300g water)*
60g (1/3 cup) sultanas
Cinnamon to taste
1 tbsp chia seeds (optional)
60g plain or vanilla yoghurt
Honey or maple syrup to serve, if desired

Method:
1. Grate apple in Thermomix for 3 seconds on speed 5.
2. Scrape down sides of the bowl, add oats, liquid, sultanas and cinnamon.  Cook at 100 degrees for 10 minutes on speed 1.
3. Stir through chia seeds and yoghurt, for a few seconds on speed 2 until combined.  Serve drizzled with honey or maple syrup if you like it sweetened.

If making as baby food:
4. After removing portions for the rest of the family, blend up the remaining portion to baby's preferred consistency.

* You could just as easily use soy milk, rice milk or nut milk.  Or 450g milk or plain water.  If making as baby food, you could use expressed breast milk or formula, although heating it for so long is likely to destroy some of the nutrients.  If using formula or EBM, uneaten portions will only last 24 hours in the fridge.  Avoid using sweetners in baby's portion, particularly honey if your child is under 12 months.

Oven Tray Fajitas with Thermomix Tortillas

We love Stepth Berg's thermomix tortillas!  We'll never go back to store bought.  They're dirt cheap to make (although tortillas are also pretty cheap at ALDI) and they taste so much nicer than store bought, and are free from all the nasties of the long life packet ones (Really, a bread product that stays "fresh" in your cupboard for months without mould? Somethings not quite right).

We use make them frequently, so often now I've become quite fast at portioning and rolling, frying and stacking in the Thermoserver, which is just the right size.

This fortnight it was paired with Oven Tray Fajitas.  As usual, my photos don't do it justice, especially as I wasn't fast enough to take a photo of the full tray before hubby attacked it - it was a wonderful meal.

We ate with leftover salad leaves and sour cream.  Mmmm delish!

Thermomix - Vanilla Glazed Hot Cross Buns

These are basically the Hot Cross Buns from the Every Day Cookbook (EDC), with a couple of tweaks:

I replaced the lemon peel with orange peel, as I think its a little sweeter and works better with the spices in the buns.  I also added vanilla to the glaze, because I have a jar of sugar that I add my vanilla beans to if a recipe calls for the seeds and not the pods - you could get the same flavour by adding the seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean or adding a little vanilla bean paste to the glaze ingredients.  And I didn't have any currants or other fruit on hand so I only put sultanas in.

I separated a third of the dough before adding the sultanas in order to make fruitless buns, as I don't like dried fruit much.

Its a little fiddly because it takes so long proving and has multiple proves, but was worth it.  They smell AMAZING while baking, the whole house smelled lovely.

Thermomix - Cream of Celery and Cheese Soup

I converted my mum's recipe for this soup - it is one of my favourites and I don't normally like celery!  It turned out just as good as the original recipe, and much easier.  The thermomix really shines with soups - no need to transfer to a separate blender or make a mess with a stick blender.

CREAM OF CELERY AND CHEESE SOUP

Ingredients:
120g tasty cheese
200g bacon
300g celery (½ large celery), leaves and stalks - chopped into large lengths
1 large potato - peeled and chopped into large pieces
2 onions - peeled and halved
2 cloves garlic - peeled
1½ tbsp stock paste concentrate (or equivalent powdered stock)
600g water
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g cream
Fresh parsley or coriander for garnish (optional)

Method:

1. Fry bacon on the stove - you can keep the rashers whole at this stage - no need to chop.
2. Place cheese in TM bowl and grate on speed 7 for a couple of seconds.  Set aside and rinse bowl.
3. Place vegies (celery, potato, onions, garlic) and bacon (broken into large pieces) into TM bowl with stock paste and water.  Chop for 2 - 3 seconds on speed 4, using the spatula to help move the contents about.
4. Cook at Varoma temp for 5 minutes (or until the temperature reaches 100 degrees) on speed 1. When the time sounds, add bicarb and cook at 100 degrees for 12 minutes on speed 1.
5. Blend the soup by slowly turning the speed dial from 1 to speed 10 and keep at speed 10 for 10 seconds.
6. Add cream and stir at 70 degrees at speed 3 for 1 minute.
7. Add grated cheese and continue to stir at speed 2 for another 2 minutes (no need to set a temperature).
8. Serve with a swirl of extra cream in each bowl and parsley or coriander to garnish if desired.

Thermomix - Beef & Zucchini Burgers

I adapted this recipe from my mum's recipe website.  I made dinner rolls using the basic bread recipe in the EDC cook book, using polenta instead of buckwheat, and they were tasty although a bit dense.

Hubby poses with his burger

Beef & Zucchini Burgers

Ingredients:
1 small onion, grated
185g zucchini, grated
1 - 2 cloves garlic
500g minced steak
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated green ginger
1 egg yolk


Method:
Place onion, zucchini and garlic in TM bowl and chop on speed 7 for 2 - 3 seconds.
Add minced steak, soy sauce, ginger and egg yolk and mix (spoon icon speed) for a minute or two, using the spatula to help ensure an even mix.
Shape mixture into patties - I got about 9 patties but you can make them bigger or smaller as needed. Barbeque on lightly oiled plate until done. Serve on toasted, buttered buns with tomato, onion and letuce and your choice of condiments (we used aioli, hubby added a pickle relish).

Thermomix - Vanilla Frosting

After a brief Google I found a frosting recipe for the Thermomix on Steph Berg's site, reproduced from a 2009 Thermomix Calendar.  It looks a lot like a recipe I've seen before that produces a lovely, buttery but not too sweet, icing for cakes.  I made it up and it tasted even better!

I've amended it slightly as I prefer to do things in the order below.

Ingredients:

35g Plain Flour

200g whole milk

150g sugar

200g unsalted butter

35g natural vanilla extract

Method:

Place sugar in TM bowl and mill for 15 seconds on speed 9.  Set aside and clean bowl.

Place flour and milk into TM bowl and blend for 5 seconds on speed 6.

Cook for 15min at 80deg on speed 4

Pour into bowl , cover with plastic wrap, pushing plastic down onto surface of mixture to ensure as little air contact as possible.

Allow to cool completely and rinse bowl.  Ensure bowl is cool before proceeding to next step.

Place milled sugar and butter in TM bowl and chop for 5-10 seconds on speed 7.

Insert Butterfly and aerate butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes on speed 3 with MC off to allow air in bowl, scraping down sides as needed.

Add Vanilla and beat 6 seconds on speed 4.

Add cooked milk mixture and continue to beat for around 2-3 minutes on speed 3 until very smooth and white.

Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes (exactly) then use immediately

My only problem was trying to add colouring at the end.  If I'd used powdered colour it would have been fine, or added the colour when adding the vanilla, but as it was the liquid colour beaded on the mixture and was fiddly to incorporate - lots of taking the lid off and scraping the sides.

The cupcakes I made with this frosting