Blackberry Cheesecake with Almond Coconut Crust

  

I've been having this craving for a tasty and "light" blackberry cheesecake with an almond flavour.
This resulted in an experiment with a cheese cake recipe: I replaced the all purpose flour with almond and coconut flour,  and half of the cream cheese with low fat greek yogurt.
The result is both delicious and a bit "lighter" than the original recipe. This altered blackberry cheesecake of mine contains more vegetable fat from almonds and coconut, and less  saturated fat from dairy produts.

You need the following ingredients (for 2 small pies):

Pie crust:
1 oz (30 g) almond meal (you can turn a handful of almonds to almond flour with a coffee grinder)
1 oz (30 g) fine coconut flakes
4 teaspoons soft butter / margarine
2 teaspoons stevia / sugar
1-2 tablespoons thick yogurt (I used Greek yogurt with 2% fat)

Filling:
2,5 oz (75 g) cream cheese (I used a natural cream cheese with 12 % fat)
2,5 oz (75 g) thick yogurt
1,5 teaspoon vanilla
2,5 teaspoons stevia / sugar (sweeten after you own taste)
1 egg
grated lime zest from a half lime

3,5 oz (100 g) blackberries

Instructions:
1. Grind a handful of almonds with a coffee grinder to almond flour.
2. Mix the pie crust ingredients together. Press the crust gently against the bottom and the sides of the well greased pie pans.
3. Filling: Mix the ingredients together, check the sweetness, adapting it to your personal taste.
4. Pour the filling over the pie crust.
5. Pour the blackberries over the filling.
6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes at 180C / 350F degrees.




 

Let the cheesecake cool down before serving  it.

 

The almond coconut crust, together with the blackberries, gives the cake

a delicious and rich taste,

so you can serve it as it is.

 

If you wish to spice it a bit up,

try serving it with blackberry coulis and a coupe of vanilla ice cream.

 

PS. The blackberry cheesecake tastes very good the day after as well!

 

View the printable recipe

 

I'm linking to

 

Serenity Saturday

Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays

From Dream to Reality - D.I.Y. Dreamer

Recipe Sharing Mondays - Jam Hands

Marvelous Mondays - This Gal Cooks

Inspire Me Monday - Create with Joy

Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop

Let's Get Social Sunday

 Sweet and Savory Saturdays

 

 

The Message of Love

A beautiful love letter is found in the Gospel of John.

Chapters 13-17 describes what Jesus wanted to share with his diciples,

knowing it would be His last supper with them.

I've picked up a few sentences, that convey His love to his diciples

... both then, now and in the future.

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

You believe in God;

believe also in me.

My Father’s house has many rooms;

if that were not so, would I have told you that

I am going there to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back and take you to be with me

that you also may be where I am.

Gospel of John14:1-3

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Gospel of John 14: 27

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love,

just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 

You are my friends if you do what I command.

Gospel of John 15:9-14

I have told you these things,

so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Gospel of John 16:33

... Let's remain in His love.


 



MyFreshlyBrewedLife

Art of Composition - blog hop

Black and White - Lines, light and shadows

The last 12-weeks have given me a new perspective to my daily surroundings. I've discovered that our home, workplace, the city and the nature is filled with interesting lines, curves and textures  ... Wherever I look, there's something that captures my eye. Tracey Clarck's Art of Composition-online class has given a new and fresh insight in viewing the world!

We started with "the canvas": Paying attention to the things we find appealing in different images. From there the focus shifted to our own canvases, that is, what we are seeing through the camera lenses.

I have taken a whole bunch of photos, working with depth of field and negative space, to name a few of our themes. I've admired the captures of my classmates in the class gallery and learned a lot from them.

Contrast, lines, componental elements

The first picture in the beginning of this post is from the Black and White theme. Taking Black and White pictures is new to me - I have avoided it a bit, since I haven't really tried it before. Doing the class assignments showed me that Black and White photos have a  special way of conveying feelings and atmospheres. B & W pictures have an alert focus since they "denoise" some things creatíng harmony when the colors are gone - giving place to different shades, light and shadow.

Depth of Field
 

Depth of field is all about being attentive - where do you decide to focus in your photo. In the upper picture I've chosen to focus in the lower right part of the photo, that is, the silver earrings.
I found this assignment a bit challenging, since I do not have a SLR camera, but I found my way of capturing the depth of field. I've learned a whole lot of composing pictures, and about photography in general, in this course. I'm happy that everybody can join the course - also me with my little point and shoot camera :)


Negative space

The lesson on Negative space made an impression on me. Negative space refers to the place in your photo, where your eyes can rest, the positive space is there, where your subject matter is situated.

Negative space

'
The assignments of the 12th week includes a series of 6 photos, where we could focus on the themes, that in special ways have taught us something (I'll post mine next week). The other assigment was to take 3 portraits.

Well, I have a thing with portraits. That goes way back to elementary school. We all have issues, and one of my issues was to be born with "thick lips" and high cheek bones. A nick name as "kiss lips" wasn't admiring when you were 8 -10 years old. I was assigned often to play the role of a doll in school theater plays - well, in short, I've learned to prefer portraits of my profil. One of the portrait is tough not a total profil ... trying to take a portrait was actually quite fun - as I wrote in the class gallery, my next class could be about how to shoot self portraits (smiling :)

Portrait

The other portrait is of my ear. Before this class I wouldn't have focused on just one part of the person when taking a portrait - or chopping / cropping a head of the subject - but I've learned that everything is possible!

This Art of Composition -blog hop is about cherishing the good time we've had in the class -
learning, shooting and sharing.

 

This blog hop works in a way that in the end of each post there's a link to the next post.

So, please visit Liz at Belles Belonging to see

her captures and thoughts about our 12-weeks adventure with Tracey Clark:

Belles Belongings


Thank you Tracey and all my fantastic classmates for the enriching 12-weeks!
And last but not least, I'm grateful to Rebecca and Kristi from Nurture Photography,
I won this course from a giveaway in the Nurture Photography Fall Challenge 2012!

Nina
 

 

 

 

The participants in the Art of Composition - blog hop:

 

Margie Nihao, Cupcake

Diana    The Studio 56

Nina     Thoughts and Images Along the Way

Liz      Belles Belongings

Light

The ideals which have

lighted my way, and

time after time have

given me new courage to

 face life cheerfully,

have been

kindness, beauty and truth.

 Albert Einstein

I'm grateful for the lovely textures provided by 

Kim Klassen {texture 1402 magic} and Nancy Clayes {texture 110}.

I'm linking to



Creative License Friday #3

 

 

This weeks photo in Creative License Friday is submitted by Nancy from The Gift of A Moment. Seing this beautiful scenery made me wish to find my self sitting on this brick wall early in the morning ... watching the first rays of sun rising behind the hills.

 

I desaturated the original photo, added then a vintage-like brown Shades, and a texture from Lenabem-Anna.

 

When you arise in the morning,

think of what a precious priviledge it is to be alive

- to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

 

Marcus Aurelius

Come and play along in this creative photo meme hosted by She Who Carries Camera,
 the link is open until Thursday:

Link to Creative License Friday

 

... And a warm welcome to my new blog friend Mary!

 

 

Palm Sunday

The next day the huge crowd that had arrived for the Feast

heard that Jesus was entering Jerusalem.

They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him.

 

And they cheered:

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!

Yes! The King of Israel!

 

Jesus got a young donkey and rode it,

just as the Scripture has it:

 

No fear, Daughter Zion:
    See how your king comes,
    riding a donkey’s colt.

 

The disciples didn’t notice the fulfillment of many Scriptures at the time,

but after Jesus was glorified,

they remembered that what was written about him

matched what was done to him.

 

John 12:12-19  - The Message

 

 

Texture from Anna

I'm sharing with

 

Random 5 Friday

 

1. The teachers and other colleques gathered together today at work around 1. pm to enjoy a "Laksemad"  /  Salmon Sandwich and to wish one another Happy Easter. I find this habit of eating together before going for the holidays as a charming and a cozy way of cherishing the fellowship. Before Winter Break there's warm soup and bread, before Sommer Holidays there's a barbeque, and before Christmas Holidays there's Smørrebrød with Christmas specialities.
I'm happy of being included to the fellowship as an interdiciplinary colleague - I guess when the relations are good and spirit among the permanent staff is open and warm, it is easy to welcome and embrace new colleagues.

2. In the beginning of holidays I sometimes get this weird confusion - Now that there's time and opportunity to do all the nice things you don't get to do so much in the everyday life, I get paralyzed and find it difficult to "seize the moment"...
My mind is occupied with all the open possibilities: Should I start with reading the books I've been waiting to open, should we invite friends over, what about just taking an afternoon walk in the forest, actually I should go to the gym, or craft some cards ...
And I end up cleaning. Rubbing the kitchen is a concrete action, that gives immediate results. When your hands are at work, your mind can relax ... This week I've been organizing our bookshelf - maybe as an act of anticipating the confusion ... I wonder if that's the reason I don't experience this "Holiday stress / confusion", now that the holidays has begun?

3. I found a lovely recipe - A blackberry cheese cake. I've decided to enchange the pie crust, substituting the all purpose flour with almond and coconut flour ... Let's see how it goes!

4. Debbie's post on free online courses at 62 different universities around the globe was is really inspiring reading! I ended up signing up to Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques and to
Søren Kierkegaard - Subjectivity, Irony and the Crisis of Modernity!  The courses last for about 6-9 weeks, you get all the information online, and the home work is varying from course to course.

5. As I drove home from work I heard Carpenter's Yesterday Once More. This song brought back many happy summer memories from my childhood, and I'd like to share it with you!

 ... Here in Scandinavia we're waiting for the spring,

as the friends in Australia are saying farewell to summer.

 

... Even though the seasons change, there's something that fits to every season:

 

“As with most fine things, chocolate has its season.

There is a simple memory aid that you can use to determine

whether it is the correct time to order chocolate dishes:

any month whose name contains the letter A, E, or U

is the proper time for chocolate.”

 

Sandra Boynton

Chocolate: The Consuming Passion

: : :

 

Enjoy the weekend!

- And a warm welcome to my new blog friends

Jill and Natalia!

 

Nina

 

 

I'm linking to Nancy's / Rural Journal's Random 5 Friday:

 

Flowers from a friend {Wordless Wednesday}

I have used Carte Postale -texture in this photo with the courtesy of French Kiss Textures.

 

Linking to:

 

Wordless Wednesday - Create with Joy 

Wordless/Wordfull Wednesday - Werenas Schöne Welt

WW - Project Alicia

WW - Jenni from the Blog

Wordless Wednesday - Better in Bulk

Wordless Wednesday - Blog She

Wordless Wednesday - David

 

Winter aconites

These little buddies are popping all over ...

The winter aconites are pushing the brown autum leaves aside,

creating small yellow islands along the sidewalks,

cheering us up and yelling: "Spring has arrived!"

:

... A warm welcome to my new blog friends
AllyJo, Christine and Vanisha!

::

PS. According to the weather forecast the snow storm
raging in Southern Denmark might not hit Copenhagen this time,
so the small winter aconites won't be covered by snow.

: : :
 

I'm linking to

I've used texture Kristin from Kim Klassens Cafe

Perfect peace

 

You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace

 whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You,

because he commits himself to You,

leans on You,

and hopes confidently in You.

 

Isaiah 26:3  - Amplified Bible

Miracle by Sarag Groves


Linking to:



 

Almond Whoopie Pie

For these Almond Whoopie Pies you need basically almonds, unsalted butter and an egg - together with a bit of sweetened and baking powder. I filled the whoopies with whipped cream and a spoonful of my favourite jam, which is starberry-apple jam at the moment.

I eat a handful of almonds every day, either at the breakfast or as a snack later on ... Almonds do contain all sorts of healthy nutrienst, such as amino acids and fatty acids, and they also give you a feeling of being satiated.

So when I came accross this recipe I immediately wanted to try it: The whoopies turned out nice and crunchy, and the almond taste goes well with the soft cream and jam -  Yum!
(The filling according to the original recipe consists of cream cheese, whipped cream and lime - but I was drawn to keep it simple and used the lactose-free cream alone since it suits best for my digestion).

Almond Whoopie Pies (6 pies)

Ingredients:

Pie bottoms:
1,3 cup (3 dl) almonds flour (chop the almonds in a coffee grinder/ food processor to almond flour)
2 oz (60 g) soft unsalted butter
1 teaspoon stevia (or 2 teaspoons sugar, honey, acacia syrup or other sweetener)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg

Filling:
½ cup (1 dl) whipped cream
0,5 teaspoon vanilla powder
0.5 teaspoon stevia (or sugar / other sweetener)
6 teaspoons strawberry-apple jam (or some other jam you like)

Decorate with:
Powdered sugar

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together and form  12 small, round pies onto the baking tray. Bake at 390 degrees F. (200 degrees C.) for about 10 minutes.

Whip the cream and sweeten it with stevia / sugar and vanilla powder. Add one spoonful of jam to the center of the pie bottom, pipe a circle of whipped cream around the jam, and set another pie bottom on the top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Next time I'm going to fill these whoopie with chocolate mousse

- it would go well with the almond taste, wouldn't it?!

View the printable recipe

I'm linking to the following blog parties:

Serenity Saturday
 Pi Day Pie Party
Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays
From Dream to Reality - D.I.Y. Dreamer
Recipe Sharing Monday - Jam Hands
Marvelous Mondays - This Gal Cooks
Inspire Me Monday - Create with Joy
Clever Chicks Blog Hop