Orange Coconut Mango Cheesecake

This delightful flavour combination isn't just for your breakfast juice anymore.



Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
  
• 1 + 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp. sugar
  
• pinch of salt
  
• 1 teaspoon coconut rum
  
• 1 coconut
  
• 2 lbs. cream cheese
  
• 2 Tbsp. corn starch
  
• 1 cup sour cream
  
• 2 mangoes
  
• 1 orange
  
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
  

Directions:

To make the base:

Drill coconut and drain water.
Bake coconut at 350°F for 20 minutes.
Break coconut open and remove flesh.
Peel brown skin from coconut flesh.
Finely grate coconut flesh.
Whisk 2 eggs.
Stir in 1/2 cup sugar, salt and rum.
Fold in grated coconut.
Press onto bottom of buttered springform pan.
Bake at 350°F for 20-30 minutes.

To make the filling:

Peel mangoes and slice flesh into chunks.
Purée mango flesh in blender or food processor.
Zest and juice orange.
Beat the cream cheese until soft.
Add 1 cup sugar and corn starch and beat until smooth.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Beat in sour cream, mango and all but 2 tablespoons of the orange juice.
Pour filling over crust and bake at 350 F for 75 minutes (or until set).
Allow to cool completely (8 hours) before garnishing.

To garnish:

Whip cream with 2 tablespoons orange juice and 2 tablespoons sugar.
Spread cream over top of cooled cheesecake.
Garnish with orange zest.

Chocolate and Orange Scones

This recipe was inspired by my friend Rob.

To understand the significance of this, you need to know that Rob is not a cook.
When Rob invites me over for dinner, it is to eat food which his wife, Sumaya (an excellent cook), has prepared.
Even when Sumaya is out of town, dinner at Rob and Sumaya's means enjoying food which Sumaya has prepared in advance and left for Rob to reheat.
Rob, however, does know his scones.

Being a good British child, I have been eating scones for most of my life.
Those scones, however, were always laced with that staple of British baking: raisins.
Chocolate was something one occasionally ate a solid piece of. If we were lucky, we might be given half of a Cadbury's Flake bar stuck in a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like raisins just fine. But I like chocolate a whole lot more -- and since learning to cook myself have been working hard to make up for the lack of appreciation for the versatility of chocolate evident in the food of my youth.

I have developed a number of chocolate recipes over the years, as the pages of the Polyphagous Dragon will attest, but it was Rob who introduced me to chocolate scones.

Rob's scones are sinfully delicious. He shapes a batch into one large scone, which then needs to be sliced into wedges with a knife. I find it far too easy to eat far too much of Rob's giant scone, however, so I shaped mine into small, individual rounds.

It was still far too easy to eat far too many!

The moral to this story is: shape your scones however you like -- and figure out some external method for balancing the caloric consumption.

The more important moral is: Be careful not to overlook a potential source of culinary inspiration. Sometimes the best ideas come from the most unlikely of sources.

Thanks Rob!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. all purpose flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 2 oz. unsalted butter
  
• zest of one large orange
  
• shaved chocolate
  
• 5 fl. oz. milk

Directions:

Mix flour, salt and baking powder together.
Incorporate butter with a fork until mixture is crumbly.
Add orange zest and chocolate. Mix well.
Add just enough milk to hold dough together, forming dough into a ball with your hands.
Shape scones as desired.
Place scones onto greased baking sheet.
Brush tops of scones with milk.
Bake for 7-10 minutes at 425°F.

These are best enjoyed still warm from the oven, but can be cooled on a wire rack and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or two. (If they last that long!)

Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread is simple to make and wonderfully versatile. Try some of the additions suggested in this recipe for a delicious variety of flavours.

Basic Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  
• 1/4 cup corn starch

Additional Ingredients (choose one combination):

• orange zest & finely grated dark chocolate
  
• lemon zest & minced candied ginger
  
• ground pecans & finely grated dark chocolate
  
• peppermint oil & crushed candy canes

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Stir in flour and corn starch until incorporated fully.
Stir in additional ingredients, if using.
Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick sheet.
Cut into rounds or shapes with cookie cutters.
Arrange cookies on cookie sheets lined with waxed paper.
Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for five minutes.
Then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Store cooled cookies in airtight containers at room temperature.

Chocolate Orange Cranberry Cheesecake

This is a variation on my Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake and a favourite flavour combination for the Yule season.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups Oreo cookie crumbs
  
• 1/3 cup melted butter
  
• 2 lbs. cream cheese
  
• 2 Tbsp. corn starch
  
• 2 cups granulated sugar
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 1 cup sour cream
  
• zest of one large orange
  
• 3 oz. orange liquer such as Cointreau
  
• 8 oz. fine bittersweet chocolate, melted
  
• 3 cups fresh cranberries
  
• 1 cup water

Directions:

To make the crust:

Combine the cookie crumbs with the melted butter.
Press onto the bottom of a greased 9 or 10 inch round springform pan.
Bake for 8 minutes at 350 F.

To make the filling:

Beat the cream cheese until soft.
Add 1 cup sugar and corn starch and beat until smooth.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Beat in sour cream, orange zest and liquer, then melted chocolate.
Pour filling over crust and bake at 350 F for 75 minutes (or until set).
Allow to cool completely (8 hours) before garnishing.

To garnish:

Heat water and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan until sugar dissolves.
Add cranberries and bring to a boil.
Continue boiling gently until cranberries pop (approximately 5 minutes).
Remove cranberry sauce from heat and allow to cool but not set.
Spread cooled cranberry sauce evenly over top of chilled cake.
Refrigerate until sauce is set.

To serve:

Carefully remove cheesecake from springform pan and place on serving platter.
Enjoy with many friends!

Dragon Punch

This colourful non-alcoholic punch mixes well with a variety of spirits and liqueurs and is a staple of parties at Rainbow Dragon's Lair. (I prefer to serve a virgin punch and allow responsible adults to spike their own, if desired, so that everyone knows exactly how much alcohol they are consuming.)



Ingredients:

• 50% orange juice
  
• 25% ginger ale
  
• 10% lemon juice
  
• 10% lime juice
  
• 5% grenadine
  
• cocktail cherries & orange slices for garnish

Directions:

Combine juices, ginger ale and grenadine in a punch bowl or juice pitcher and mix well.
Serve chilled in a tall glass, garnished with fruit and a parasol.

Favourite Alcoholic Variations:

Spike with 1.5 oz Strawberrynna liqueur for a Strawberry Dragon.

Spike with 1.5 oz Marie Brizard's Raspberry liqueur for a Raspberry Dragon.

Spike with 1.5 oz gin for a Singapore Sling.

Spike with 1 oz light, 1 oz dark & 1 oz amber rum for a Zombie.

Apple and Orange Egg Custard Tart

A refreshingly tangy twist on Mom's apple pie.
I usually bake it with the pie plate sitting on top of a cookie sheet because the filling invariably spills over the top of the dish while baking.

Ingredients:

• 1 + 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 1 orange
  
• 3 cups apples
  
• 1/4 cup sugar
  
• 1 cup half and half cream

Directions:

To make the crust:

Mix butter into flour with a fork.
Beat one egg and stir into flour mixture.
Knead pastry with hands until it forms a soft ball.
Roll pastry out until it is sufficient in size to line bottom and sides of a 9" deep dish pie plate.
Grease and flour pie plate.
Line pie plate with pastry.
Line pastry with tin foil and fill with dried beans or other baking beads.
Bake blind 10 minutes at 425°F.

To make the filling:

Zest and juice the orange.
Peel and core apples and cut into thin slices.
Toss apple slices with orange juice and zest.
Beat two eggs.
Add sugar and cream to eggs and beat well.
Fill pie crust with apple mixture.
Pour egg mixture over top of apples.
Bake at 375°F for 45-55 minutes (until custard is set).
Cool in pan on wire rack.
Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Tzatziki Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• cooked chicken breasts, diced
  
• apples, cored and diced
  
• dried cranberries
  
• pine nuts
  
• tzatziki *
  
• baby spinach leaves
  
• extra virgin olive oil
  
• balsamic vinegar
  
• apple butter **
  
• mandarin orange segments

Notes on the Ingredients:

* One day I will figure out my own tzatziki recipe. Until then, the thickest, garlickiest tzatziki I have found is Skotidakis Tzatziki.

** Commercially prepared apple butters are often flavoured with spices such as cinnamon - which are fine for this recipe - but please choose an unsweetened variety. Apples are sweet enough on their own!

Directions:

Mix oil, vinegar & apple butter together.
Toss spinach leaves with vinaigrette.
Mix chicken, apples, cranberries & pine nuts with tzatziki.
Line serving plates with spinach.
Heap chicken salad on top of spinach.
Garnish with mandarin orange segments.

This chicken salad also works well as a spread for sandwiches.