I’m not sure if this is a cheesecake or a dessert but either way it’s completely delicious. A soft chewy chocolate brownie which would be good enough on its own, layered with a a thick peanut-butter cream cheese layer then topped off with a chocolate and nutella ganache. The saltiness of the creamy peanut layer really helps cut through the richness of the brownie and the topping. If you are a peanut and chocolate lover then this is the dessert for you. The brownie recipe is from David Lebovitz and is considered to be one of the best brownie recipes around. I will definitely be using it again next time I make my brownies.

Ingredients

Brownie

8 tablespoons (115 g) unsalted butter, cubed

2 ounces (60 g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped.

1 cup (200 g) sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup (75 g) nuts, chopped

1/4 cup (25 g) chocolate chips

1/4 cup (35 g) flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Peanut cheesecake layer

200g of cream cheese

5 heaped tablespoons of peanut butter

200ml of cream (whipped until thick)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)

Nutella Ganache

3 tablespoons of Nutella

100g of milk or plain chocolate

100ml of cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF (160ºC.) I decided to bake my brownie in the same pan I was planning to serve it in. So line an 8-inch (20 cm) square pan with baking paper, leaving the overhang over the rim of the pan. This is so you can remove the brownie layer after it’s done.

2. In a medium saucepan set over very low heat, melt the butter and the chocolate, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar, then mix in the eggs and the vanilla extract.

3. Stir in the nuts and cocoa chips, then the flour and salt. Scrape the mixture in the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until the brownies feel just-set in the centre. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool, lift the brownies out of the pan by grasping the baking paper. Peel off the paper then put the brownie layer back into your serving dish.

4. Make the cheesecake layer by mixing together the peanut butter, vanilla, and cream cheese until smooth and combined. Then fold in the whipped cream until thoroughly mixed. Then spread this layer over the brownie and pop it into the fridge to set whilst you make the ganache.

5. To make the ganache put the chocolate, cream and Nutella into a glass or metal bowl and set it over a pan of simmering water. Stir until all the chocolate and Nutella have melted and you have a thick glossy chocolate sauce. Take the bowl off the heat then stir for a minute or two to help it cool, then pour over the peanut cheesecake layer. Put the whole think back in the fridge for at least 3 hours to set. When its done, cut into slices and serve or eat it straight from the dish with a big ass spoon a la fat girl. Voilà the peanut butter brownie cheesecake, the deliciousness of two desserts combined into one super dessert.

Last weekend I ventured down to Sangcheon to enter the medicinal cooking contest. Lured by the cash prizes on offer I entered and got accepted. We boarded a bus on Friday night at midnight and arrived at 4:45am and were told we should be back on the bus by 7am. Not much time to sleep huh? We arrived at the festival in the early morning to find it was outside and in the middle of a thunderstorm. The ground was crazy muddy and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

On the sides of the tents there were pictures of all the contestants, everyone else was in a chefs outfit then there is me in my holiday photo looking very inappropriate, oops.

Despite the mud and adverse weather conditions we sat through the opening ceremony and started cooking our dishes. Everything went amazingly and the sun came out. I later found out that we were not just representing ourselves in this international competition , we were representing England too! It was very exciting as I had never represented my country before. It was especially exciting for Niall since he is Irish! Things were going well, my dessert was done and the risotto was nearly finished.  Who knew I had the skills to knock out a cheesecake in a thunderstorm in a muddy field. (I will seriously have to up my game next time we go camping!)  We finished our dishes on time and laid them out, it was then that we realized we had missed the mark somehow. The level of skill and presentation from the other teams was amazing, I had no idea this was what we were coming up against and suffice to say we didn’t win.

Despite the lack of a win, we had a crazy fun time, met lots of lovely people and ate a lot of different foods. Even if the judges weren’t so keen, all the other participants went crazy over my risotto and cheesecake, so I shall share the recipes with you guys anyway.

Ginseng & Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients 

200g of Korean Rice

1-2 litres of chicken stock

1 onion

4 cloves of garlic

50g ginseng

100g of chestnut mushrooms

1 chicken breast

1 cup green tea

50g of dried shiitake mushrooms

25g of butter

100g of freshly shaved parmesan

75ml of cream

1 glass of white wine

1. To make the stock, boil the chicken stock with the dried mushrooms and ginseng for 20 minutes
2.  Chop and fry the mushrooms in butter for 5 minutes and set aside.
3. Chop the onion and garlic and fry off in a little olive oil and butter for five minutes.
4. Add the rice to the pan. and stir for a few minutes until it is translucent.
5. Add one ladle full of the stock to the rice and stir until absorbed.
6. Add another ladle full of stock and stir until absorbed. Repeat this process until the rice has cooked (about 20 minutes)
7. Add the mushrooms to the pan of rice, along with a knob of butter, cream and 50g of parmesan and stir.
8. To cook the chicken breast, boil the green tea and place the chicken above it in a steamer for 20 minutes until cooked.
9. Slice the chicken breast and serve of a bed of risotto and top with more fresh parmesan.

It may have taken me 29 years but I have finally made the best dessert ever. I have found true heaven in cheesecake form. I know I claimed the same when I made my lemon cheesecake but this one is even better. My lovely boyfriend brought me a rather large stock of Malteasers back from Hong Kong, when he went on a boys’ rugby trip last month. I fancied making a dessert with them and was rather tempted by the Lorraine Pascale cake, but making a cake is such a lot of hard work in this weather. So I had a quick search on pinterest for Malteasers and came across a picture of a Malteaser and Toblerone cheesecake. Sadly I am not the genius who came up with this winning combination. However when I clicked on the link there was no recipe to be found. So I created this one myself. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, I devoured the last one in mere hours and I’m pretty sure that the same thing will happen the next time I make it. It may seem a little cruel to include Malteasers in a Korean food blog but Whoppers are available here which are very similar, if not get your friends and family to get you some or order them online, they are amazing.

Ingredients

3 tubes of oreos

2 bags of malteasers

3 small Toblerones (100g)

300g of cream cheese

200ml of whipping cream

2 tabelspoons of peanut butter

1/2  a stick of butter (60g)

1 tabelspoon of vanilla extract

100g of icing sugar (sugar powder)

Directions

Crush the Oreo’s into fine crumbs. I used a blender as it’s mush quicker as they are all in separate packets. Melt the butter in a saucepan then mix in the Oreo crumbs. When combined pack into your tin. Soften your cream cheese in a bowl then mix in the peanut butter. Grate the Toblerones into this mixture, and crush 1 bag of the Malteasers and mix it in too. In a separate bowl whip the cream until its thick. Add one tablespoon of vanilla extract and the sugar powder and stir until it has dissolved into the cream. Add the cream cheese peanut chocolate mixture to the bowl of cream, and make sure everything is mixed together. When ready, spoon the mixture on top of the Oreo base. Flatten the top with the back of a spoon. Take your second bag of Malteasers and push them into the top of the cheesecake so only half of each one is showing. Put in the fridge and leave to set for at least 4 hours.Voilà  the devilishly decadent cheesecake of your dreams.