Of course, there would have been an easy way out with simply making something like mascarpone, cream and fruits served in a martini glass. But then: I don't like the easy way out. Plus I really wanted to bake something. My usual wheat free winner, the melt-in-the-mouth chocolate cake was a no go due to its main ingredient. So I looked for some ideas in a few magazines and finally came across the perfect dessert in a German housewives' cooking magazine: Quark and cornflakes muffins.
Quark is not always easy to get in London, so I had to substitute it with some ricotta which worked equally well.
Wheat free ricotta muffins, makes 12 muffins: 250g ricotta
: 250g cream cheese
: 2 organic eggs
: 75g ground hazelnuts
: 100g castor sugar
: 2 tbsp corn flour
: 10 Physalis, quartered
: 100g white chocolate
: cornflakes
For the topping:
: 75g hazelnut flakes
: 100g castor sugar
: 12 capsicum
Beat the ricotta and cream cheese until smooth, then add the sugar. Beat in the corn flour and slowly add the eggs, one by one. Finally, blend in the ground hazelnuts and the Physalis.
Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie. Mix with a few handfuls of cornflakes. Make sure all cornflakes are well covered with chocolate. Full a tablespoon of the cornflake mixture in each muffin cup, then pour over the cream cheese filling. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes.
When ready, decorate each muffin with a spoon full of hazelnut crunch.
Melt the castor sugar in a pan until golden brown, add the hazelnut flakes, then drizzle the mixture over the muffins. Finally, decorate each muffin with a Physalis. If necessary, dip the Physalis in some of the melted sugar (that will make them stick to the top of the muffin).
