For the love of friends
This post had a beginning, but I decided to truncate it and concentrate on my main objective instead, which is to write this in appreciation of friends who have been supportive and helpful of late. You all know you who are, and since I’m not very good at expressing myself in person, I have decided to say it with another thing that I love : yogurt.
Full fat, European-style cow’s milk yogurt, which I tend to always keep a carton of in my fridge. If ever I needed to put forward a case for the planet-threatening, methane-belching cow, bovine yogurt would form one of my principle arguments. Granted, far more environmentally friendly four-footed creatures have graced this planet and yielded us many pleasures in a 125ml easy-peel tub. Sheep’s milk yogurt for example, which is very flavoursome and can also be used in all these instances. I guess I just have a soft spot for something I grew up eating so regularly – who, as a kid, didn’t lick the smear of yogurt off the yogurt tub lid?
As B is intolerant of most dairy products except yogurt, I often use it as a substitute for cream, buttermilk or sour cream in certain recipes. Along with a dash of rice vinegar, yogurt is my not-so-secret-ingredient in homemade potato salad and coleslaw. For baking, I sometimes have to adjust quantities, or alter the baking time slightly when substituting with yogurt. I rarely have a problem with the end result and in fact take pleasure in knowing that I’ve actually made my cake marginally healthier.
The sticky ginger cake recipe (originally with sour cream) comes from Belinda Jeffery’s book. It is one of the most fantastically moist, heart-warming cakes your fork will ever meet. Belinda says it is the cake you must make, out of the entire book, and I couldn’t agree more.
The yogurt lavender cake is based on a recipe from this book and the cheesecake is from this book, which I aim to write more about soon as it is one of my current favourites. Below is the recipe for the green tea cookies which aren’t actually part of the original cheesecake recipe, but which also feature in the book and are the best green tea cookies I’ve tasted to date.
Green Tea Sable Cookies :
(makes about 50; recipe from Okashi by Keiko Ishida)
240g pastry flour (chilled)
15g green tea powder (matcha powder)
150g unsalted butter, at room temperature
130g icing sugar
pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
Sift flour and green tea powder twice. Set aside.
Beat butter, icing sugar and salt until soft and creamy. Add egg yolks and mix well. Add flour and green tea powder mixture and fold in with a spatula. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
Divide dough in half. Place both portions in two large pieces of parchment paper. Shape into logs about 3.5cm in diameter. Wrap logs with parchment paper and refrigerate until firm. If not using immediately, wrap with cling film and freeze. Cookie dough can be kept for up to 2 months in the freezer.
Preheat oven to 150’C. Cut logs into 7mm thick rounds. Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 25 minutes, then remove and leave to cool on wire rack before serving. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.
(Optional presentation : Prior to baking the cookies, you can dip the edges of each sliced cookie in granulated sugar. Also if you wish, you can brush a little egg white over each cookie and scatter with a few green tea leaves on top.)
[Note : To use as a garnish for the yogurt cheesecake above, I crumbled the sable dough on a tray before baking].
Tags: cake, cheesecake, cherry, cookies, flowers, ginger, matcha, yogurt
Ali said,
March 13, 2010 @ 11:33 pm
ah. sticky ginger golden syrup cake. Made on yoghurt. yes please x
Julia @ Mélanger said,
March 14, 2010 @ 8:57 pm
As they say, actions speak louder than words. Great idea to show your appreciation. 🙂
Sarka said,
March 15, 2010 @ 11:08 am
What a beautiful post full of my beloved yogurt! I can’t do without yogurt in my fridge. Can’t wait for the cheesecake recipe.
Maria Jose-Dit i Fet said,
March 16, 2010 @ 10:02 am
Estupenda receta!!! besos
felicia said,
March 16, 2010 @ 2:41 pm
love the spiciness that ginger adds to cake!
think its an acquired taste, though.
i used to hate ginger!
but i’m always up for lavender and green tea!
Shari said,
March 17, 2010 @ 1:27 pm
Great way to pay a tribute to special people. Beautiful cake — with ginger!!! Great!
sweesan said,
March 18, 2010 @ 5:59 am
gorgeous!! I have Keiko Ishida’s Okashi as well and I’ve tried several recipes, it’s great! I’m gonna try making the Pineapple Yogurt Cheesecake some time this week.. 🙂
Alisa-Foodista said,
March 18, 2010 @ 7:46 pm
Your friends are lucky to have you. What a delicious way to pay tribute to them
Hilda said,
March 25, 2010 @ 11:08 pm
Do I need to send you a big bag of Carambars? You know how overjoyed I would be to. Anyway, I know where you live. Both of these look fantastic, as you know that I can’t live without yogurt so there’s always a stash of it in the fridge, and A. brought home a jar of edible lavender the other day (I also have a bag of it but never mind, he’s so cute sometimes) so something is definitely going to be happening. I hope you know you can always send me an email if you want a sympathetic ear. =)