June 11, 2014 | Short Order

High school senior Elena Mehlman reinvents sweet treats

          Sweets treats. That’s what her father craved. Desserts without sugar or white flour. That was what her father needed. For Elena Mehlman, a high school senior at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn, it seemed a simple matter of math and chemistry. 

           Elena, precocious daughter of my artist friends, Ron and Janice Mehlman, has spent half her life in Brooklyn and half in Pietrasanta, where she worked in several kitchens. She decided to devote some free time to creating healthy and delicious recipes without sugar or white flour for family and friends. She developed her blog to share her discoveries.

           Instead of white sugar she uses agave syrup, honey, maple syrup and Truvia (“the best-tasting stevia on the market,” she says.) For white flour, she substitutes kamut flour, buckwheat flour, spelt flour, whole-wheat flour, gluten-free flour and corn meal.

Elenas Hazelnut Cheesecake
12 servings

1 1/2 cups shelled toasted hazelnuts
1/3 cup ground almonds
2lbs cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups agave syrup
1 t  vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.

Butter a 9-inch round pan and line with ground almonds, shake out excess.

Put all remaining ingredients into food processor and whip together.

Pour ingredients into the 9" pan

Prepare an 11" pan with 1" of water. Place the smaller pan with ingredients inside, into the slightly larger pan with water.
Make sure not to wet the interior ingredients. (This is like the cake is floating in an outside bath while it bakes).

Bake for 2 hours, in 300 degree oven, turn off the oven. Leave for 1 hour longer in hot oven, turned off.

Take out of oven, run a butter knife along the perimeter of the cake to loosen from the sides. Gently flip over the cake onto a flat serving plate.

Decorate with cut up strawberries on top and refrigerate for two hours before serving.







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