Vanilla and fresh berry mini cheesecakes

This recipe comes from a British Newspaper. Click on this post title to be taken t original article if you want

Makes 12


500g Philadelphia cream cheese (at room temperature)

100g caster sugar
3 large eggs, whisked together
1 vanilla pod
175g double cream
200g white chocolate, chopped
1 punnet raspberries
1 punnet blueberries
1 punnet blackberries

Preheat the oven to 130C/250F/Gas Mark ½. Beat together the cheese and the sugar. Gradually add the eggs and whisk until combined. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod, add them to the cheese mix and stir in well.

Pour the cream into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it melt thoroughly. Give it a good stir, then pour into the cheese mix, making sure there are no lumps.

Line a 12-cup cake tin with paper cases. Mix together the berries and divide half of them between the paper cases. Pour the cheesecake mix over the berries, then bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until set but still quite soft in the middle. They should remain white. Cool the cakes to room temperature, then place in the fridge overnight. To serve, divide the remaining berries over the cakes and sprinkle with some icing sugar.

Try This Blossom for Lower Blood Pressure

Tea brewed from lovely flower buds may help keep your blood pressure in check -- if those buds are hibiscus.




In a study, drinking 3 cups of hibiscus tea per day appeared to help lower systolic blood pressure by an average of seven points in people with prehypertension or mildly elevated blood pressure.



Happy News About Hibiscus

Assuming you don't load it up with sugar, brewed tea is one of the healthiest drinks around. And the flavonoids and polyphenols in hibiscus tea may be the reason for the blood-pressure-busting benefits observed in the study, which was funded jointly by the USDA and the tea industry. More research is needed to confirm the findings



You can blow the whistle on "brain attacks" by turning on your teapot.




That's right. If you've got green tea brewing in there, it's one celestial seasoning that can extend your earthly stay. If you drink enough, you just might lower your risk of dying from a stroke by up to 42 percent!



Holy Teacup, Batman

In a large study of women, those who sipped at least five cups of green tea a day had a 42 percent lower risk of death due to stroke, compared with women who drank less than one cup a day. Other research shows that just two 8-ounce cups of tea daily can dramatically reduce the risk of dying from heart disease -- most likely because of the artery-friendly polyphenols in tea

Pumpkin Pudding

Ingredients
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
2 to 4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, optional
2 large eggs (the SuperFoods authors recommend eggs with extra omega-3s)
One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
One 12-ounce can evaporated nonfat milk (or evaporated 2% milk)

Preparation
Mix all the ingredients together and pour the mixture into an 8-by-8-inch casserole. Bake it in a preheated (350 degrees Fahrenheit) oven for about 30 minutes. Don't overbake; the center should be slightly wiggly. Cool and enjoy, or refrigerate for later use.