Posts tagged Sweet Tooth

Cheesecake of legends: Pasticceria Papa, Haberfield

Review
Sydney Food Blog Review of Pasticceria Papa, Haberfield

Sydney Food Blog Review of Pasticceria Papa, Haberfield: Nutella Baked Ricotta Cheesecake

For someone who loves cheese to the point of a gallbladder removal (true story), I’ve always been a bit touch and go on cheesecakes. Light, airy, lemony cheesecakes are good, dense, dry, baked cheesecakes, not so much.

But there has been so much hoo ha about the baked ricotta cheesecakes from Pasticceria Papa that I had to give it a go. Maybe I’d been eating it wrong this whole time.

Sydney Food Blog Review of Pasticceria Papa, Haberfield: Nutella Baked Ricotta Cheesecake

But then again maybe I just wasn’t built for cheesecakes. I mean, I may look like I’m made of cheesecakes, but I assure you that it’s not the case. The original ricotta cheese cake had the effect of drying my mouth out, and the nutella version just added a sticky rich feeling on top of everything.

Such a shame, since it’s one less delicious thing in the world to appreciate. My tastebuds mourn, and my waistline rejoices. Or at least that’s how I’m explaining the jiggling.

This meal was independently paid for.
Pasticceria Papa
145 Ramsay Street
Haberfield, Sydney, NSW
Phone: (02) 9799 9531
Website: http://ppapa.com.au

Pasticceria Papa Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

What I ate: 2 Ingredient Mango Froyo

what i ate 1 Comment
This simple two ingredient recipe makes a thick and creamy frozen yoghurt, in no time at all. Here it's served in an ice cream bowl, with fresh mango on the side.

Summer, the season of sweet ripe fruits and plenty of inspiration! So what do you do when you buy mangoes in bulk and they’re ripening at a faster pace than you can eat them? Make delicious desserts of course!

There is definitely a place for elaborate ice creams and cold, icy sweet treats when the mercury is rising and sweat is beading on your forehead, but I find that it’s so easy to fall into the trap of depending on a large amount of frozen treats to cool off.

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Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

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Sometimes you plan to do things, and sometimes things get away from  you. I had originally wanted to do a pumpkin ice cream for the Christmas/Thanksgiving season, but kept putting it off and putting it off…and so here it is now!!

I used this David Leibowitz’s recipe for pumpkin ice cream, just with a few tweaks here and there. I steamed the pumpkin instead of roasting it, because I wanted a slightly lighter flavour, and instead of the 180g of pumpkin puree the recipe called for, I used about 540g, because that was the amount of pumpkin I had and I wanted to compensate for the more lightly flavoured pumpkin puree. I also used thickened cream, instead of double cream, which would have reduced the fat percentage even more. The result was a slightly denser ice cream, with slightly less air whipped in due to the lesser percentage of fat in the final custard.

It reminded me of warm, sweet, spiced pumpkin breads that I used to get from the bakery, but in a cold, creamy package. If you’re a fan of the pumpkin, I definitely recommend that you try this ice cream.

Minion Pancakes!!!

Recipe 3 Comments
Pancakes shaped like the minions from Despicable Me

If you’ve watched Despicable Me – and its sequel – I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that the Minions absolutely stole the show with their adorable antics and costumes. Naturally, children love them too. So in a bid to win my young nephews’ affections – it is, after all, one of their favourite shows – I made them Minion pancakes! And with inspiration from Pinterest, I’ve learnt that there’s only one thing you need to make any cartoon pancake you want.

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Sydney Festival 2014, Hyde Park

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The Boss, $8, from Woofy’s

Okay, I must admit: I’m not much of a festival goer. I try my best to stay indoors for as much as possible, and the only reason I’d ever head outdoors is when I have to go somewhere, or where there’s food.

Which is why I was drawn to Festival Village in Hyde Park, as part of Sydney Festival 2014. Gelato Messina serving up carnival themed wacky treats you say? I’m there.

Sometimes you need a bit of savoury to go with the sweet. Or rather a savoury to prelude the sweet.

Or any reason to get a hot dog.
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Woofy’s Gourmet Sausage Sizzle had a stall there selling their gourmet hotdogs. The idea is that the base sausage is the same – Angus Beef – and you get to choose your toppings. The hotdog was satisfying and filling enough, but the two guys who were manning the stall over the late lunch period didn’t look particularly happy to be there. So, for $8 a pop, I could take it or leave it.

But now, for the pièce de résistance.

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For weeks now I’ve been taunted tempted by my friends’ posts about Gelato Messina‘s incredibly creative and intriguing carnival sweet treats. Pluto pup made with ice cream and pancake batter? Red skin and banana flavoured gelato lollipop? Duck fat caramel fudge on a caramel cheesecake gelato? BACON MARSHMALLOWS??!!

YES PLEASE!

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Top row: Messinaweiner (Plutopup) $9
Bottom row, from left: Samurai Fairy Balls, $7, So Wrong It’s Right, $9, Gelatofee Apples, $7, Eyescream Lollipops, $7

So my dining partner was gallantly dragged into ordering five desserts to share with me. The Messinaweiner was a hot (no pun intended!) favourite, with it’s pancake batter coated maple syrup gelato. The pancake batter added a kind of moreishness to it, but to be really honest I couldn’t really tell that the gelato was maple syrup and the sauce was plum-flavoured. It made for a delicious bite, but I was envisioning slightly more discernible flavours in my head. The Eyescream Lollipop was the most recognisable, and every bite screamed out Redskins to me. The pop rocks weren’t quite popping, but the bites were still delicious and easy to finish. I wanted the So Wrong, It’s Right to be right so badly, but unfortunately it didn’t quite hit the mark. Once again I couldn’t really discern all the flavours that were meant to be there – duck fat caramel, bacon marshmallow etc – but it really could be that my tastebuds were still rioting in protest to all the sugar. The Gelatofee Apples were a really creative take on traditional toffee apples, and the refreshing green apple gelato providing great balance to the creamy milk chocolate. The surprise gelato for me came in the form of the Samurai Fairy Balls, which had a yuzu popsicle hidden underneath a mound of pink fairy floss. I do wish there was a way to incorporate all of it in a single bite – we ate through most of the fairy floss before we got to the yuzu sorbet, which was foot stompingly tart and actually needed a bit of the sugar to temper it – but I really did enjoy the citrus kick of the yuzu sorbet.

In all, Gelato Messina took us on a crazy sugar-fueled roller coaster ride that left us in a sugar coma afterward. Two lessons to learn: Don’t order 5 frozen treats all at once to finish on a balmy warm night, and maybe it’s a good idea to space out that much sugar over a longer time frame.

If you’d like to grab your Gelato Messina fix, or enjoy the rest of the attractions at Sydney Festival 2014, it will be on till the 26th, so head on down to Hyde Park after 4:30pm, except for Mondays.


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Party Food Roundup: The Sweets

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CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!!!! And with christmas being just two days away, I’m presenting my last roundup: the sweets. Everyone needs a little bit of sugar to keep them going, and here are my favourite sweet recipes for last minute desserts.


1. Lychee and Lemon Sorbet

It’s hot and time for fruity sorbets. First up on the list, this Lychee and Lemon Sorbet: made entirely out of fruit juice, this sweet treat is incredibly refreshing to end the meal with.

2. Easy Lemon Tiramisu

Tiramisu – which means ‘pick me up’ – is a favourite at any party, and this lemon version a summery adaptation of a rich italian dessert. Find the recipe here.

3. Pineapple, Lime and Chilli Sorbet

I love the mixture of savoury and sweet, and the addition of chilli to this frozen treat is just perfect for the spice lovers, like me! Find the recipe for Pineapple, Lime and Chilli Sorbet here.

4. Jelly Slice

What to do when you’re told not to bring a thing? Jelly slice, of course!

5. Pomegranate Iced Tea

I remember going Christmas parties, and there’s always someone who always forgets the drinks. Well, you can always bring an iced tea to your next party! Recipe here.

6. Blood Orange Sorbet

I know I’ve put up a lot of sorbet recipes, but it is summer, and I’m using the excuse that I’ve bought an ice cream machine for me as an early Christmas present. Here’s a refreshingly tart recipe for a blood orange sorbet, made just with some juice and sugar!! Also works if you want to use pomegranate juice instead of blood orange.

Pomegranate Iced Tea

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Like an ominous feeling creeping up the back of your neck, I can just feel the stale heat of summer creeping in through the end of the spring breezes. And because I’m an absolute wuss about the heat, I’ve got a recipe for a rosy pink fruity iced tea that will chase the sticky heat away.
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Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

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Ginger bread cookies decorated in various ways sit on a cooling rack, on red fabric

Christmas is around the corner, and although Australia isn’t exactly the land of white Christmases, some things still remain the same – a big family feast, homes decorated with so many twinkling lights you can see them from space, and some holiday baking fun with the kids.

It’s very hard to turn away brightly iced gingerbread that are perfect for that instant sugar high.
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Pineapple and Guava Sorbet

Recipe 6 Comments
Two scoops of pink pineapple and guava sorbet sit precariously in a glass, with an umbrella stuck into the top for that tropical feel.

With the temperatures climbing, it’s time to once again dust off the ice cream machine, and get cracking on those frozen treats that make a hot day bearable.

This time I chose to go for a tropical themed sorbet because I love how it evokes images of being in the tropics, by the beach…and also because my local green grocer had a special on guava juice. I simply mixed pineapple one part pineapple juice to two parts guava juice, and dissolved 25% by volume of sugar – the magic sorbet ratio provided for by David Lebovitz.

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Leonard’s Bakery, Hawaii

Hawaii Review Travel 3 Comments
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You’re walking down Hawaii’s eat street – Kapahulu Avenue – after a full dinner. The night life is bustling, and people are spilling onto the street. At the end of the road, a neon sign beckons you, like the neon signs of Vegas calls to gamblers in the wee hours of the night.

“Come,” it says, “I have doughnuts.”

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Malasadas, to be more exact, are a Portuguese dessert that consists of deep fried balls of yeast dough that are then coated in sugar. Variations – which are the spice of life – include different coatings (Original, Cinnamon and Li Hing – which is the flavour of Chinese dried plums), and fillings like Custard, Haupia (Coconut) and Dobash (Chocolate).

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You can hardly go wrong with deep fried balls of dough, and Leonard’s Bakery is all kinds of right. They take your order, and deep fry them on demand, so you always get hot Malasadas. A crispy toasty ball of goodness is encrusted with sugar, and gives me the kind of high that rivals the memories of being a kid. I also love the filled Malasadas, which add a velvety custard-based filling to this deep fried cloud of decadence. If you’re in Hawaii, do try their flavour of the month – I had macademia whilst I was there, and while it didn’t taste overwhelmingly like macadamias, it was still a delicious creamy filling.

Mmmm..doughnuts.