Orange quark creme with Blackberry sauce

We have been to a number of forests and natural reserves here where you find wild berries growing everywhere, edible ones. So, earlier when we would go for our bicycle tours, hubby and me, during summers we would take a small break and simultaneously stuff our mouths with some yummy berries growing there. We just couldn't resist it. I love plucking and collecting berries on my own. It is such a big pleasure incomparable to anything else. The ones we buy in the market are a lot of times much bigger, but not necessarily better in taste and compare no ways to the fun associated with the former.
So, I knew right from the beginning, as soon as we moved into this house, that I'll be planting different berry plants.
Now we have a number of those in our garden. And this year we enjoyed our first round of blackberries from our own garden and we got quite many of them. The happiest person in the family was of course my sunny boy, ecstatic with joy on hearing that we can finally pluck another round berries, every time I told him that some more had ripened. So, Rishab enjoyed the handful of blackberries he got each time.
But, I had no chance to collect so many to be able to bake anything. But, I didn't even want to. I think the best way to eat them is fresh, as they are, rich in vitamins and minerals and pigments which are good antioxidants. A lot of health packed in these small fruits.
But, then I came across this recipe in a booklet which I saw in my Recipes ring binder. And liked it so much that I had to make it. So, I went searching for some blackberries, which wasn't easy to find as the season was ending, as it was already middle of October. But, I at least found one packet of fresh ones. Then I went searching for the frozen ones, but couldn't find any, except mixed together with other fruits. The only thing I could find separately was raspberries and I felt that would do fine for the sauce.
(I'm sorry, my picture are suffering in quality, not that they were ever so good, but the failing sunlight- whichever time of the day-is making me experiment a little bit, hopefully will have some better results soon)

So, here goes the recipe....

Orange quark creme with Blackberry sauce

Based on the recipe from the booklet
"Kochen und Backen mit Grafschafter "

Serves 4-6 people
Preparation time: 20-30 minutes


Ingredients:

Orange creme
300 g Magerquark (low fat quark, 0.1 % fat)
200 g cream cheese
75 ml juice of fresh oranges (like Valancia oranges; DE: Saftorangen)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1-2 tbsp zest of oranges (with untreated skin)
2 tbsp confectioners sugar or to taste (or use syrup)
a few drops Orange liquor (Like Cointreaue)-optional, I left it out

Blueberry sauce
2-3 tbsp Grafschafter Apfelschmaus* (I used golden syrup instead)
250 g Blackberries (fresh or frozen)
(I used 100 g fresh blackberries and 200 g frozen raspberries)
100 ml black grape juice
(I used some orange juice instead)
roasted slivered almonds (optional)
mint or lemon balm leaves for decorating (optional)

* A syrup made by cooking apples and pears. No sugar is added. It is dark in colour and it's sweetness comes from the natural sweetness of the apple

Method:

• mix together all the ingredients for the orange quark creme and keep in the fridge until required
  
• For the sauce, heat and melt the frozen raspberries along with the juice and add the goldensyrup (or Apfelschmaus)
• cook till the sauce starts to thicken, then add the fresh blackberries, cook further till they turn slightly soft
• remove a couple of the blackberries and keep aside
  
• puree everything else or directly pass through a sieve or strainer to remove the seeds
• cook further for a few minutes, if required or
  
• serve with the orange quark creme
  

This was a wonderful dessert. The flavours of orange and the berries combined together with the creaminess of quark. If only it was not so rich and I would have eaten three times the portion. This is one dessert sure to make you happy. I don't think I need to say much as the pictures tell it all, don't they?!

Now, since I did not find enough blackberries, I used frozen raspberries, which made the colour of the sauce lighter in shade, but it was still quite purple in colour even if the pictures make it look more like redish.
Therefore, this one goes to a wonderful event Food in Colours (FIC) held at Sunshinemom's Tongueticklers with this months theme being Purple and Black
Now, let's talk about another pleasant thing. Yes, about awards!
Lovely Ivy of Kopiaste passed me this Award:

And here are the people I would like to forward it to:

Anudivya of ...a little bit more...
Jude of Apple Pies, Patis & Pâté
Sunshinemom of Tongueticklers

Creamy Strawberry and Chocolate Icecream

Rishab, my son, loves sweets and chocolates. His clear answer this year for the type of cake he wanted for his birthday party was a chocolate cake . But a few weeks back we got to know, or realise, that he might be lactose intolerant. Some checkups still need to be done, but, as advised by his gastroenterologist, we are giving him a lactose free diet. That means I have to exclude anything which contains any type of milk or milk products, unless it has been made lactose free (through lactase enzyme).
That also means no icecreams for him. I found one packet of lactose free icecream, but after tasting its artificial flavours, I was quite apprehensive of buying them again. Of course, my son didn't mind it. Anything sweet is always good!
Well, after seeing so many icecream recipes at different blogs I felt I should also make some on my own, as I found lactose free creams as well in the market. Now, all I needed was a good recipe which can be made easily, without requiring any icecream maker, and I found a delicious recipe at Meeta's "What's For Lunch, Honey?"
On asking him, if he wanted a chocolate icecream, he immediately said "yes!". Not surprisingly, as he is not allowed to eat chocolates right now as most of them contain milk or milk products and I haven't tried dark chocolates, but for the longer run, I'll have to figure out something.
Though, now I felt that he deserved a chocolate icecream as he has been so cooperative, never complaining about all the changes that I have made in his diet plan, worst of all at the kindergarten.
So, this was my first trial at making icecream, for which I took this simple but tempting recipe of a "Dark Chocolate Icecream" at Meeta's What's For Lunch, Honey?

I have modified it sligthly to make it lactose free and used strawberries instead of raspberries.
Ingredients:

250 ml soya cream (17% fat)
120 ml lactose free heavy cream
5 tablespoons (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
140g ( about 2/3 cup) fine sugar
250g (2 cups) strawberries


Method:

• Whisk together all the ingredients,except for the strawberries, in a saucepan.
• Puree the strawberries and pass through a fine sieve.
• Bring the cocoa-cream mixture to a rolling boil while frequently whisking in between.
• Remove from heat, add the puried strawberries and mix. Cover the saucepan for approx. 10 minutes.

• With an ice-cream maker (detailed instructions given at WFLH):
• Place the mixture in the fridge an chill completely for 24 hours.
  
• Allow the mixture to churn and freeze until smooth and creamy, as per the instructions of the manufacturer.
  

• Without an ice-cream maker (that is how I did it):

• Pour the ice-cream mixture into a flat steel box with a lid. Once the mixture has cooled down, put it at -15 °C in the freezer for about an hour.
• Take out and whisk everything shortly and thoroughly with a hand blender.
  
• Put it back in the freezer and repeat the process after every hour, until it begins to thicken on the edges of the tin. Decrease the time to 45 minutes if required.
• Once it is smooth, creamy and frozen it is ready to be served.
  

NOTE: Depending upon the temperature of the freezer whisking may be more frequently required.

Rishab enjoyed the icecream fully. He got two small scoops of the icecream and finished every bit of it and wanted more strawberries for it, which I gave him a bit surprised though, that he actually wanted to eat the icecream along with the fruits.
Me and hubby ate some as well and found it quite delicious. It had a rich chocolately flavour and this slightly tangy flavour of the fruits, as described by Meeta in the recipe. Strawberries also have this fruity sourness along with being sweet, just like raspeberries, which also makes them so delicious.
I must also mention that I could not continue to blend the icecream every 45 minutes till the end after it had begun to harden on the edges, as it was already time to go to bed, but it tuned out soft enough, I felt, that was quite good for the fact that I didn't have an icecream maker.

This is going to be my last minute entry to "Fruit Fair", this months MBP, being hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen.

Chocolate dessert

Preparation time: 5 minutes
3 servings

Ingredients:
For the smoothie:
2 cups yoghurt (from the fridge)
1 cup cold milk
1/2 Banana, sliced
1 tbsp haselnut spread (like Nutella)
1 chocolate muffin, cold (from the fridge)











In addition:
3 muffins with chocolate glaze

Method:

• Mix the smoothie ingredients in a Blender.
  
• Cut the muffins horizontally into two halves.
  
• Take 3 dessert glasses. Put in each: the lower half at the bottom.
• Put some fruit pieces over it.
• Add the smoothie.
• Followed by the other half of the muffin.
• Decorate with another piece of fruit. and serve.

I have tried to make it as healthy and low in calories as possible. Basically this is another effort to feed my son some milk and yoghurt. And it surprisingly turned out better than I feared. But I do need to optimise it further. This was a very spontaneous idea which I just made with my gut feel.