Raspberry Kuchen

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a lovely old fashioned cake that's completely without pretense. Chances are your mother or grandmother made a cake quite similar to this one. It was codified by Better Homes and Gardens and it's been around for a while, fading in and out of fashion as eating habits change. The original recipe can be found in the no longer new, Better Homes and Gardens: New Baking Book. We used to call it "Poor Man's Cheese Cake," but it's officially called a Raspberry Kuchen. A kuchen is a cake-like dessert that has a soft dough crust and a topping of custard or cheese that contains berries or other fruits. I love this recipe for many reasons. There are no stray egg whites or yolks left to deal with when the cake is finished. What's not used in the crust is used in the custard and that appeals to my "green" instincts. The cake, which can be made without a mixer, is very easy to do and has the added advantage of being low in fat and only moderately sweet. Best of all, it can be made with fresh or frozen berries of any type. Frozen berries will produce a creamier cake because of the liquid they exude as the cake bakes. Cane berries of all sorts have come to market here in Oregon, but to tell the truth, they're not up to speed this year. Hopefully, they'll improve this week and we'll have something worth putting by. Until then, I'm relying on the stash in my freezer. I used frozen berries to make the cake today, so it's wonderfully creamy in taste and appearance. I hope those of you who are not familiar with this cake will give it a try. Here's the recipe.

Raspberry Kuchen...from the kitchen of One Perfect bite inspired by Better Homes and Gardens: New Baking Book

Ingredients:
Base
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups fresh or frozen cane berries

Filling
1-1/2 cups plain low-fat or nonfat yogurt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 slightly beaten egg yolks
1 slightly beaten whole egg
1-1/2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. If using frozen raspberries, thaw at room temperature for 15 minutes; drain.
2) In food processor bowl or medium mixing bowl, stir together 1 cup flour, the first 1/2 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Add melted butter, 2 egg whites and first teaspoon vanilla. Cover; process or stir by hand until mixed.
3) Spread onto the bottom of springform pan; sprinkle with berries. Set aside.
4) For filling, place yogurt in a large mixing bowl; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons flour. Add remaining sugar, yolks, whole egg, zest and remaining vanilla. Mix until smooth; pour over berries.
5) Bake for about 55 minutes or until center appears set when shaken gently. Cool for 15 minutes; remove sides of pan. Cover; chill until serving time, up to 24 hours. If you are feeling brave, you can remove pan bottom. Transfer to a serving plate. Yield: 10 - 12 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Orange Yogurt Cake - One Perfect Bite
Yogurt Cheese Cake - One Perfect Bite
Greek-Style Yogurt Pie with Fruit Preserves - One Perfect Bite
German Rahm Kuchen - A Feast for the Eyes
Cheese Kuchen - Madame Chow's Kitchen
Grandma's Pear Kuchen - Jules Food

Greek-Style Yogurt Pie with Fruit Preserves

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Tonight, out of an abundance of yogurt, I have yet another custard dessert to share with you. Not all stores in this area carry Greek yogurt, so, when it's available, I've been known to buy more than I really need and then end up scrambling to use it before it goes bad. This pie is an example of where my over exuberance in the dairy aisle leads. It's a Greek-style yogurt pie that, despite similar ingredients, is creamier and slightly sweeter than the yogurt pie we made and posted here a few days ago. It also has an interesting crust that is made from a mixture of white and whole wheat flour that is fortified with wheat germ. There are no berries in the pie but it is topped with a copious quantity of fruit preserves. You may prefer to use macerated fruit as a topping. You will find the pie needs the sweetness the fruit provides. While it is easy to make, there is significant wait time before the pie can be served. It's best to make the pie the night before you plan to serve it. It's worth the wait. Here's the recipe.

Greek-Style Yogurt Pie with Fruit Preserves...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Kyra at TasteBook

Ingredients:
Crust
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
3 tablespoons wheat germ
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
Filling
2 cups whole-milk Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
4 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups fruit preserves, such as plum or strawberry

Directions:
1) To make crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place flours, wheat germ, salt, and cinnamon in food processor bowl. Process to combine. Add butter and sugar; process until dough holds together. Press crust mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Freeze 15 minutes. Cover edge with foil. Bake until beginning to dry out, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. (Leave oven on.)
2) To make custard: Stir yogurt, vanilla and zest in a bowl. Stir in butter and yolks. Stir sugar, flour, and salt in a bowl; stir into yogurt mixture until smooth. Pour into crust.
3) Bake, with foil covering edge of crust, until just set in center, 45 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool 1 hour. Spread jam over center of pie. Refrigerate at least 3 hours (up to overnight). Yield: 10 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Frozen Lemon Yogurt - One Perfect Bite
Yogurt Cheese Cake - One Perfect Bite>
Raspberry Yogurt Parfait - One Perfect Bite
Peach and Cream Fraiche (or Greek Yogurt Pie) - Smitten Kitchen
Yogurt Panna Cotta - Taste with the Eyes

Strawberry Yogurt Pie (Mansikkapiiras) - Pink Saturday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It's been a while since we've had a real "peasant" style dessert. While local berries won't be in markets for another six to eight weeks, the strawberries that are available to us are passably good. Years ago, I regularly made a dessert from Finland that used thick yogurt and blueberries to make a light custard pie called Mustikkapiiras. The custard filling covered a layer of berries that was baked in a cookie crust. It was light and not too sweet. The recipe I used came from the Moosewood Restaurant. I must admit I've played with this one. The recipe, as written, produced a scant amount of custard, so I've doubled the ingredients to produce a thicker layer of filling that gives this homely dessert more eye appeal. While any type of berry can be used, it's especially nice with seedless blackberries or strawberries. When strawberries replace blueberries, the Mustikkapiiras becomes a Mansikkapiiras. Here's the recipe I've adapted from the Moosewood original.

Strawberry Yogurt Pie...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, inspired by a recipe from Sunday at the Moosewood

Ingredients:
Crust
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Custard (this portion of the recipe has been doubled)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups thick Greek-style plain yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Berries
2 cups sliced strawberries or other fresh berries

Directions:
1) To make crust: Butter and flour a 9-inch quiche pan with 1-1/2-inch sides. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, and blend well. Combine flour and baking powder and sift into wet ingredients to form a soft dough. With flour dusted fingers, pat dough into bottom of prepared pan. Push dough up to cover sides of the pan. Refrigerate while making custard.
2) To make custard: Mix eggs, sugar, yogurt, lemon juice, vanilla extract, almond extract and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Beat until smooth. Place berries in bottom of pie shell. Pour in filling and smooth to coat berries. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until crust is browned and custard has set. Chill well before serving. Yield: 8 - 10 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Frozen Lemon Yogurt - One Perfect Bite
Yogurt Cheese Cake - One Perfect Bite
Raspberry Yogurt Parfait - One Perfect Bite

This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Frozen Lemon Yogurt - Pink Saturday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Frozen yogurt enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the 1970's. It was touted as being a healthier alternative to ice cream, but many thought it was too tangy and its popularity faded. It was reintroduced in the 1980's and captured about 10% of the frozen dairy market. Today it still accounts for about 10% of all ice cream sales. I wish I could tell you that frozen yogurt is better for you than ice cream. That's not quite true. While it contains less fat than ice cream, it is still high in calories and can't be considered a "diet" food. Regular readers know that I love citrus desserts. What they don't know is that sweetened lemon yogurt is one of my favorites. If you freeze it, I'm in paradise. The sugar in this recipe helps balance a combination that would otherwise be too tart. This is almost effortless to make if you have an ice cream maker. It can, however, be made without one if you have time and follow the directions you'll find here. This is a perfect dessert for Easter Sunday or a spring fling. I hope you'll give it a try. Here's the recipe.

Frozen Lemon Yogurt...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
4 cups (32 ounces) plain yogurt
1-2/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
4 drops yellow food coloring, optional

Directions:
Combine yogurt, sugar, lemon juice and peel in a bowl and mix well. Stir in food coloring if using. Freeze, following directions that come with your ice cream maker. Transfer to freezer compartment of refrigerator and let sit for several hours before serving. Yield: 5 cups.

You might also enjoy these recipes:

Ice Cream Crunch Cake - One Perfect Bite
Lemon Buttermilk Ice Cream - One Perfect Bite
Key Lime Sherbet - One Perfect Bitee

This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Orange Yogurt Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Regular visitors to One Perfect Bite know that I love European, barely sweet desserts. This cake fits that mold. It's extremely easy to make and remarkable in that it has a buttery taste despite the fact it contains no butter. It's high and moist, a bit lighter that most yogurt cakes and is a perfect base for berries and a dollop of cream. I've used orange zest to flavor the cake but lemon or cocoa could also have been used. I baked mine in an 8-inch cheese cake pan with fixed sides because I like the height it gives the cake. A 9-inch cake pan with high sides or a chiffon cake pan can also be used. Make sure the center of the cake is done before you remove it from the oven. The first time I made the cake I didn't follow my own directions and the undercooked center forced me to create an unintended tube cake. Here's the recipe.

Orange Yogurt Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons strained orange juice
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup vanilla flavored Greek yogurt (see cook's note below)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch cheesecake pan with fixed sides. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; grease. Dust pan with flour. Set aside.
2) In bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar until thick and creamy, about 4 minutes. Add orange zest and juice and beat until well combined, about 1 minute longer.
3) Sift flour, salt and baking powser together into another bowl. Fold into batter.
4) Add yogurt to batter and stir to mix. Add oil and stir to combine.
5) Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake in lower third of oven until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and continue to cool on a rack. Transfer to a cake plate and dust with Confectioners' sugar if using. Yield: 8 servings.

Cook's note: Plain yogurt, strained to remove excess liquid, flavored with a teaspoon of vanilla extract can be used as a substitute for Greek yogurt. If you use a 9-inch pan reduce cooking time by about 10 minutes.

Yogurt Cheese Cake

Cheesecake is a sometimes treat in our home. We love it but can't justify the calories that it packs. It's my youngest daughters favorite dessert, so I did a test run of a new lower-fat version last evening. The recipe was developed by Gina De Palma and it comes from her book "Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen." Her cake caught my eye because it uses Greek yogurt and mascarpone instead of cream cheese. Both products are available in low-fat versions, so I thought I'd give her recipe a try. I was able to get low-fat Greek yogurt at Trader Joe's and a local grocery store had reduced-fat mascarpone. I decided to use a square springform pan. It's shape makes it possible to cut the cake into smaller pieces and I wanted to get 12 slices from the finished cake. Before I go any further, I must tell you that this is a delicious confection, but there are buts . The cake is less firm than a standard cheesecake. It actually jiggles. I had to cook it longer than the recipe suggested to assure the center of the cake was actually done. Plan to make the cake the day before you want to serve it. Because it was soft and I wanted reasonably clean slices, I froze the cake before slicing. That added more time to my game plan. Would I make it again? Absolutely. I love the texture and flavor of the cake. I plan to do another test run. I want to make the cake in individual custard cups. I know there are petite cheesecake pans, but the portion size is larger than I want to serve. The cake has a gorgeous yellow glow and it looks spectacular with fresh berries strewn around it. I hope you'll try this.

Yogurt Cheesecake

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
3/4 cup sugar + more to dust the pan
3 cups low-fat Greek yogurt
1-1/2 cups reduced-fat mascarpone or reduced-fat cream cheese
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
3 large eggs
6 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:
1) One day before serving, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bring a kettle of water to a boil. Grease a 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle pan with sugar, tapping out excess. Wrap outside of pan with foil to prevent water from seeping into the cake. Place springform in a large roasting pan. Set aside.
2) Place yogurt, mascarpone, sugar, and confectioners' sugar in bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Add salt and vanilla. Beat in whole eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, scraping bowl as necessary. Pour batter into springform. Carefully fill roasting pan with enough hot water to rise halfway up sides of the springform. Tent pan with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate pan and bake for 20 minutes more. Remove foil and continue baking until cake is puffed but not cracked, jiggly but not liquid in center, about 25 to 35 minutes more.
3) Turn off oven. Open door and cool cake in roasting pan until water is lukewarm, then remove and cool an a rack. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove sides from springform just before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

Raspberry Yogurt Parfait

If you're watching calories this dessert is a lovely way to end a meal. It's easy to do and can make an ordinary meal special. It has five ingredients and requires no special equipment to prepare. While it must be chilled for 2 hours before serving, it can be assembled in less than 30 minutes. What's the trick? It is difficult to find fromage frais in most supermarkets. If you live in a large metropolitan area, it can be purchased from a cheese store, but the rest of us will have to scramble to find adequate substitutes. The best would be quark or Greek yogurt. The easiest would be a reduced fat cream cheese that's thinned with a little milk. You can also make your own cheese if you feel inspired. I use a minimal amount of sugar in this recipe, so be sure to taste for sweetness as you go along. Frozen berries are fine but make sure they are thawed before you add them to the cheese mixture. A last reminder - the egg whites in this recipe are not cooked, so be sure to use pasteurized eggs or reconstituted powdered egg whites to avoid any chance of salmonella.

Raspberry Yogurt Parfait

Ingredients:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 (8-oz.) cup low-fat vanilla yogurt - room temperature
12-oz. fromage frais, quark or Greek yogurt - room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar (optional)
4 large pasteurized egg whites or an equivalent amount of reconstituted powdered egg whites
6-oz. fresh raspberries, mashed or an equivalent amount of frozen, thawed berries
Optional garnish: berries and mint leaves

Directions:
1) Place 1/4 cup water in a small heatproof bowl. Sprinkle with gelatin. Let sit until gelatin softens. Add water to a small skillet and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Place bowl containing gelatin in pan and stir until gelatin dissolves. Remove from pan and cool slightly.
2) Combine yogurt, fromage frais and sugar in a medium bowl. Mix well. Add yogurt and stir with a spoon until combined.
3) Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold into yogurt mixture until just combined.
4) Transfer half the mixture to another large bowl. Fold in mashed berries.
5) Spoon a portion of raspberry mixture into four (8-oz.) dessert glasses. Top each with a portion of the yogurt mixture. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Garnish with raspberries and mint if desired. Yield: 4 servings.