Orange Ginger Marble Cheesecake

I'm going to admit straight away that I am not a fan of chocolate and citrus together especially chocolate and orange. I'm not sure why I came up with the following recipe but I figure this: I really enjoy orange and ginger. Something creamy added to orange is nice and adding chocolate on top of that doesn't seem so bad- thus, an orange ginger marble cheesecake doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

For the crust:

• 4 tablespoons butter - chill and cut in 4
• 1 cup almonds (I used 1/2 cup cocoa covered almonds) 
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 teaspoon orange zest 
• 2 cubes crystallized ginger
• 1/8 cup sugar
• dash of salt 

Preheat oven to 375. 

Pulse all ingredients into a food processor until they start to form a dough. Press into the bottom as a non stick spring-form pan and bake for 13 minutes. Let cool and chill in the refrigerator for thirty minutes while making the filling. Reduce oven temp to 325.

For the filling: 

• 16 oz of neufchatel or creamcheese 
• 8 oz ricotta or firm tofu (yes, tofu- it helps create a dense cheesecake that won't crack)
• 4 oz Siggi's Icelandic Orange Ginger yogurt or just plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup sugar 
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 oz triple sec or other orange liquor
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 cube crystallized ginger, minced
• 3 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa
• 3 oz dark chocolate (60% or more) 

Your oven should be preheated to 325. 

Put a kettle of water on to boil.

In a standing mixture place cheeses, tofu and yogurt and mix on medium low til blended. Add the eggs one at a time on medium and then sugar. Add the egg yolks and vanilla along with triple sec, zest and ginger. 

On the side using a glass or metal bowl whisk together the cocoa, chocolate and 2 tablespoons of boiling water from the kettle. Meanwhile prepare the crust by wrapping the pan nearly all the way up in one sheet of foil (no holes) and placing it inside a roasting pan. Set aside. 

Scrape down the sides of the cheese cake mixture and using a 1 1/2 of mixture strain thru a sieve into the chocolate mixture and whisk together. 

Put the remaining "vanilla" mixture in the spring-form pan with the crust (as long as it's smooth- if not, also strain thru a sieve). Then top the "vanilla" portion with the blended chocolate part, placing it in dollops over the vanilla. After take a knife and with a cutting motion move your knife in a star shape across the cheesecake to "marble" it. 

Pour hot water from kettle halfway up the cheesecake into the roasting pan surrounding it.

Bake for up to 1 hour and 20 min or until set in the center. Turn off the heat of the oven and open the door but let cheesecake remain another half hour to avoid cracking. Place in fridge for at least for hours before serving, preferably over night. 

Enjoy xoxo Renee

*I served mine with raspberry coulis but it could use a marmalade or stand up by itself :)

Grilled Chocolate Pound Cake Sandwiches

The following recipe is provided by my mom-in-law Debbie. It's a perfect little treat while wishing for warmer weather :0




Toasted coconut ice cream:

2/3 cup finely shredded coconut, unsweetened
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups half & half
1 cup full fat coconut milk
3/4 cup sugar (1 cup if you like it sweeter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract


Place the coconut in a dry skillet and toast over medium heat until lightly browned,stirring frequently.
When the coconut is browned add 1 cup of 1/2&1/2. Let it bubble. Remove from heat, add the sugar and the extracts.
Chill completely. Add the chilled mixture and all the rest of the ingredients to ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions. Let it cure overnight.


Pound cake:


1/2 cup butter
4oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar (coconut palm sugar is what I used)
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons almond flour
1/2 cup hazelnut flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


In a standing mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add extracts. Add flours, baking powder and salt. Mix just until combined. Butter a loaf pan and put a strip of parchment paper along the bottom and up the short sides. Bake 325 degrees 45 minutes to an hour, until springs to touch. Cool.


To assemble sandwiches:

Finely chop 3/4 cup of 60% dark chocolate. Slice pound cake into 3/4 -1 inch slices. In a cast iron skillet melt 1/2 tablespoon butter. Place 4 slices in skillet. After 1-2 minutes flip them over. Carefully put 2 tablespoons of chocolate (each) on two of the slices. After another minute, place the plain slices on top of the ones with the chocolate, creating two sandwiches. Repeat with the rest of the cake and chocolate. You should be able to get 6-8 sandwiches from one cake. Top with the coconut ice cream.




*Note: this works much better if the cake was baked the previous day

Honey Almond Banana Bread

We all know banana bread seems to be the after thought of bananas gone bad but regardless of that no-fail recipe your Aunt Mary gave you. Maybe trying a new twist isn't so bad. I used honey to sweeten this banana bread and almonds instead of the classic walnut pairing.

You will need:

• 1/2 butter or oil 
• 1/2 cup honey 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 over ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 1/2 cup flour (I used almond and oat flours, mixed) 
• 1/2 cup coarse chopped almonds
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla 
• dash of salt 

Combine the dry ingredients and set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 350. 

Cream the butter (melted) and honey with sugar on medium with your mixer. 

Add in the eggs one at a time and scrape the sides down with a spatula. Add the vanilla and bananas while mixing on medium speed as well as the salt. 

Slowly add in the flour and fold in the almonds. 

Pour mixture in a greased traditional sized bread pan. 

Bake for 60 minutes or until cooked through in the center.