We have very little land around our home. So all the land as much as possible should be used for growing food. This was my theory. But my husband likes roses and for a long time he has been telling me to grow roses. So the middle ground was to grow roses that were fragrant and good enough to eat.
I am delighted that I now have a few roses that are fragrant and good enough to eat in my garden. I have used them in this recipe to glamourize the dessert. If you are using roses, pick them early in the morning when the perfume is the best. Pick off all the petals and give it a rinse to wash off any bugs.
Heat the oven to about 40 degrees C (or lesser, depending on your oven). Turn the oven off. Place the petals in a single layer in a tray on a baking paper. Place the tray in the oven - I left in in for about 4 hours and they turned crisp and retained their colour. If the oven is too hot, the petals will burn.
Ensure that if you are growing roses for cooking, not to use chemical sprays. Play with the colours and create your own mixes. For this dessert, I used red rose petals for the middle layer and yellow roses for the jelly layer.
Ingredients:
200 grams Arnotts Gingernut Biscuits
80 grams unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
2 teaspoon gelatine powder
2 tablespoons boiling water
375 grams cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
2/3 cup thickened cream
150 grams white chocolate
1/2 cup pistachio kernels, toasted and crushed
85 gram packet raspberry jelly
2 teaspoons rose essence
some dried rose petals and silver leaf for decoration
1 square cake tin - 5 cm deep, 20 cm wide, greased and lined with 5 cms of overhanging paper on all sides.
Method:
Put the biscuits in a zip lock bag and using a rolling pin, crush them to a coarse consistency.
Melt the butter in the microwave, add the all spice powder to it and use this to massage the biscuit crumbs and stick them together.
Place the crumbs inside your greased and lined cake tin and compact it using the back of a small bowl or tumbler. Leave in the fridge while you get the second layer organised.
Using the same zip lock back and the rolling pin, crush the pistachio kernels. Set aside. Keep your rose petals - about 10 to 15 ready.
With your electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar and orange rind till light and fluffy. Gradually add the thick cream and keep mixing.
In a microwave safe dish, melt the white chocolate and gradually add to the cream cheese mix.
Next, add boiling water to the gelatine and stir well to dissolve. Allow it to cool for a couple of minutes and then add this to the mix as well and beat well.
Add 1 teaspoon of rose essence at this stage and then fold in the rose petals and pistachios.
Bring out the base of the cheesecake and pour the cheese - chocolate mix in and smooth down with a spatula.
Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Lastly, prepare the jelly as per the instructions in the pack. Add 1 teaspoon of rose essence to the jelly and let it cool in the fridge for an hour. The jelly must not set, it should still be pourable when you take it out in an hour.
Pour it over the cheese cake and let it set for an hour or so. Decorate with more rose petals and some silver leaf.
Let it set overnight.
To unmould the cake:
Run a flat knife around the sides to loosen the cake. Lift carefully using the overhang baking paper. Set it on a wooden board and then transfer it to platter to serve.
Thanks for sharing this informative information about American Pistachio Kernels with us. It's very helpful. Keep it up!
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