Category Archives: Cheesecake

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Top 10 Sweet Recipes of 2010

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe another year has past. Why is it that the older you get, the faster time goes by? Looking back, it’s a little scary to see all of the dessert calories I’ve consumed. Luckily, the dial on the scale has stayed in the same place, which is further proof that you don’t have to give up dessert to stay healthy! Here are my top ten favorite dessert recipes from 2010, in no particular order. (Okay, I lied… I just recounted and it’s eleven. Too hard to narrow it down!)

Thank you to everyone who has followed my blog this year. I can’t wait to see what sweet things are in store for 2011!

Apple Cheesecake Bars

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Cake Batter Ice Cream Sandwiches

French Toast Cupcakes

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Apple Pie Ice Cream

All-American Cupcakes

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes


S’mores Martini and Cupcake

Pina Colada Cupcakes



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cheesecake closeup

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars… Better Than Pie Baby!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. The boy and I both had nine days off together.  It was great to have  free time to catch up with friends. I’m pretty much a creature of habit, who thrives on structure though, so getting back to a normal week today feels fabulous! Aside from my brief, mini melt-down on Thanksgiving, it was a much enjoyed week. Repeat after me… The holidays are stressful. Please tell me you are in total agreement. I’m highly suspect of people who pretend the holidays are complete bliss. Let’s be real; even if we think we don’t have expectations going into the holiday season, they’re there just hiding on the subconscious level.

This year the boy was scheduled to be with his dad for Thanksgiving dinner. Matt and I are not your typical divorced couple. We care about one another, parent our son as a team, and have mastered the art of flexibility. Okay, it’s not as picture perfect as it may sound. Divorce is never good, but I think we’ve made the best with the challenges we’ve been given.

So yes, I had a little moment during Thanksgiving (actually a few moments) of not holding it together very well, feeling stressed over what I couldn’t control, and sad for not having exactly the life I had envisioned for myself. It was not my best moment (mascara running down your face on a holiday is never attractive). Some baking therapy and a few hours of retail therapy this weekend helped me gain perspective again. After making three batches of sugar cookie dough and a couple of impulse buys, here’s what I arrived at… The picturesque vision  I have of my life is not reality, and even if it was, it wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling as the incredibly functional, dysfunctional life that I’ve been blessed with.

These apple cheesecake bars, aren’t the apple pie you probably envision, but like my crazy life, they’re even better. They start with a layer of oatmeal cookie crust, topped with a creamy layer of cheesecake.  A thin layer of apple pie filling is then hidden under a to-die-for streusel topping. These were amazing. What put them completely over the top was enjoying them with a bottle of Kendall Jackson and a best girlfriend, while planning our New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys reunion concert night, and catching up on our reality-trash TV shows. It doesn’t get much better than that!

These bars would be great to make for a holiday cookie exchange and different from the usual cookie recipes people bring. Just remind your friends to refrigerate the bars. Feel free to tweak this to make it more toward your taste preferences. If you love the apple pie filling, double it. If cheesecake is your thing, you can easily make one and a half times the cheesecake layer, just adjust the cooking time by several minutes. The cookie layer is simple thanks to Betty Crocker, but if you feel compelled you can make the crust from scratch.

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars (adapted from Betty Crocker)

printable recipe

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker oatmeal cookie mix

1/2 cup firm butter or margarine, cold

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 can (21 oz) apple pie filling

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (I ommitted these)

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray.

Place cookie mix in large bowl. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly and coarse. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture (to use for streusel recipe below); press remaining crumbs in bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over partially baked crust. In medium bowl, mix pie filling and cinnamon. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.

Streusel Topping

1 1/2 cups reserved crumb mixture from crust

1 cup cold, salted butter

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

In large bowl with electric mixer combine, reserved crumbs from crust, butter, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla until all crumbly. Break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, sprinkling over top of apple filling.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Cool about 30 minutes. Refrigerate to chill, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Tips

  • Spreading the cream cheese layer can be tricky. First drop tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture all over the cookie crust and then spread.
  • Chill for a few hours. Don’t rush this step.
  • I prefer these taken out of the refrigerator for a few minutes before serving.
  • Double the apple pie filling if desired.
  • Make one and a half times the cream cheese mixture if desired.

Wishing you a week that’s even better than you envision!



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night hunt egg cake

Chocolate Ganache Eggs & Chickie Brownie Bites at the Egg Hunt After Dark

Friday, we hosted our annual Egg Hunt After Dark Party. It was an absolute blast, but man was it dark.  As the kids get older, night-time egg hunting is a great way to kick it up a notch. I usually have one of my friends set up his bright outdoor lights on my front balcony to provide a little light, but this time around I completely forgot, so we were truly in the dark.

The original plan was to have the hunt right after dusk, so it would be just dark enough without being pitch black. I think the grown-ups were having too much fun, or maybe the hostess was having too much fun, which caused us to run a bit behind schedule. We had a great Italian dinner ~ lasagna, pasta, garlic bread, and salad. Bring on the carbs! And I ordered cheese pizza for the kids.

After dinner, I had the kids (around twenty of them) come inside to decorate Easter bags for the hunt. I bought spring-themed foam stickers and gift bags in bulk at WalMart. This kept the kids busy while the adults hid the eggs. I always fill a ton of eggs, but also ask families to bring a dozen or so eggs per child in their family. After the bags were decorated, the kids lined up with their bags and flashlights in hand and were set free, according to age, to find their loot. I’m fortunate to live at the very end of a cul de sac. There is a green common area next to my house and a large grass circle  out in the middle of the street. It provides ample space to hide eggs.  Eggs were also hidden in front of nearby houses. The adults either made it a little easy, or the kids are just more savy. The next morning we went on a search for left-overs in the daylight and only found one (and there were hundreds of eggs hidden the night before).  

While the kids opened up their eggs, the grown-ups made their way to the dessert table.  I served the Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecakes Nests that I posted yesterday. These were my favorite and were gone within seconds. I also made brownie bites in the form of chicks. I saw this idea at Cake on the Brain and loved it. Mine didn’t turn out as fabulous as I had hoped. But what I learned is that not all brownie mixes are created equal. Go for a high-quality brand when you make these. Instead of cupcakes, I wanted to do something different and found the perfect idea at WhiskThis. I used my egg muffin pan from Williams Sonoma and baked up mini yellow cakes. I covered them in chocolate ganache and piped on decorations with royal icing. They ended up fitting well in the jumbo muffin cups, and got great reviews. Finally, I served Cadbury Caramel Dessert Martinis in mini martini glasses to the adults, which are really a dessert in themselves.

After dessert, people lingered and the kids ran around, clearly on sugar highs. You know the sign of a great party, it’s when no one wants to go home. This was a great party! I’m so blessed to have such great neighbors.  I hope one day the boy will look back and realize what a great place this was to grow up in.



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egg ch 1 alone

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake Nests… Not Just for Spring

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. We had a fabulous time with family and friends, and experienced more excitement than usual when the earthquake shook the ground on Easter afternoon. Several seconds into it I realized this was more than our typical So Cal quake. All of the kids were in the front yard playing, and I ran out expecting them to be in a state of panic. They were down the street running in what seemed to be a race of some sort, clearly oblivious that the pavement was literally was rolling beneath them. It was one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. 

Things are calm again are we’re easing into our Spring Break, enjoying having absolutely no schedule.  Of all the treats I baked for the weekend’s festivities, these were my favorite and they went fast too.  I’ve seen so many cute nest treat variations, but hadn’t seen any mini cheesecake nests. I love my mini-cheesecake pan, and  had a bit of a cheesecake craving. Mini desserts are the way to go, especially during pre-bathing suit season. People may hold back and resist the entire slice of cheesecake, but not these little desserts. They’re just enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

These little babies start with a traditional graham cracker crumb crust. An Oreo crust would be a great variation. On top of the crust is a sweet peanut butter filling similar to the filling in a Reese’s peanut butter cup. The peanut butter filling is topped with a layer of creamy cheesecake with chunks of Reese’s folded in. It is heavenly biting into one of these. I grated up a Hershey’s chocolate bar and sprinkled it in the centers for the nests, and then filled the nests with Cadbury Chocolate mini eggs. By the time I got to the store, those Evil Reese’s Pieces eggs were all snatched up. Next year, I’ll have to act fast! But don’t think for a minute that this is an Easter only treat. Skip the nests and drizzle some chocolate sauce on top and it’s the perfect dessert for any occasion.  I can’t wait to make these again, and next time will have to hide a few!

Peanut Butter Cup   Cheesecake Bites

Printable Recipe

(Makes 24 mini cheesecakes)

Crust
1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Peanut Butter Mixture
1/2 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar 

Cheese Filling
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
½  cup sugar
1 TBL lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 large eggs
6 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix graham cracker or sugar cookie crumbs with sugar and melted butter and press into a 9-inch glass pie pan or mini cheesecake pan. Bake 8 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For peanut butter mixture, using a fork cut in powdered sugar with peanut butter until balls form. Cut in brown sugar. Pour over crust.
For cheese filling mix softened cream cheese with sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and eggs. Beat 5 minutes. Break up peanut butter cups into large chunks and fold into cheese mixture. Pour over peanut butter crumble mixture and garnish with remaining crumble mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool and refrigerate.

 Garnish with grated chocolate bar and chocolate eggs. 



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candy-recipes-collage

Halloween Candy Recipes… The Best Kind of Left-overs Snicker’s Cookies, Reese’s Pie, Whopper’s Cheesecake and More!

When it comes to left-overs there are three types of people, the “Don’t You Dare Throw That Away” type, the “Count Me Out” group, and my favorite type, the “Don’t You Dare Throw That Away…I Will Keep it in My Fridge For a Week and Then Throw it Out!” people. I think we’ve all had the experience of looking into the refrigerator of someone who fits into the latter category.

I’ve never been a left-over girl, but candy is a definite exception. One of the best ways to get rid of left-over Halloween candy is by baking with it. Cookies, brownies, cakes, pies… think outside of the recipe card! Last year my boy and I decided to make a candy bar coffee cake after Halloween. It turned out great – coffee cake and chocolate, what’s not to love? I have already pilfered my son’s candy bag. Is that morally wrong? I do feel a little guilty. I’ve eaten the Snicker’s bars (my greatest weakness), but have hidden the Butterfinger’s for a recipe I’ll share next week.

Here are some of my favorites sweets I’ve baked with candy (pictured above)



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You Want Pies With That on Your Beach Get-away? Cinnamon White Chocolate Mini Pies

It’s Pie Time for the “You Want Pies With That?” baking group. This month’s theme, “Vacation Pies” was chosen by Jenn at Piccante Dolce.  It’s the perfect theme to celebrate the end of our summer vacation. Next Tuesday it’s back to reality in our house. My son starts third grade – can’t believe it! I head back to work and once again try to figure out how to juggle being the chauffeur, short order cook, homework monitor – oh and somehow manage to fit in that full-time job at the school district, since that’s the job that pays the mortgage.

The beach is hands down my favorite vacation spot and was the inspiration for my pie this month. Hawaii, St. Lucia, Monterey… the geographical location really doesn’t matter. As long as I have a lounge chair, a bit of sunshine, and a romance novel, I’m in heaven. I’ve spent my life in Southern California at the beach, so you might think a vacation would actually mean going some place different. But me, do something different? Don’t bet on it!

I used my new mini cheesecake pan from Sur La Table to make these cinna-mini pies. I LOVE this pan! Bite-sized desserts are my favorite for their automatic portion control. These pies are filled with rich, creamy white chocolate cheesecake, surrounded by a graham cracker crust, and a cinnamon streusel topping. The crumbly topping helped me achieve the sand-like texture I was going for, and the taste was to die for! I garnished these little babies with chocolate swirled shells that were made with my chocolate seashell mold. I have to say I didn’t go into this one with total confidence. I wasn’t sure how the white chocolate/cinnamon streusel topping would taste. Fortunately, this one was a big success. Oh my gosh, these were good! At the point in which I realized these could not stay in my kitchen (too dangerous to keep around), I wrapped them up individually and brought them to work as little welcome back greetings for the people in my office. They turned out really cute and were a little morale booster for a workplace that desperately needs a bit of sunshine!

 White Chocolate Streusel Tartlettes

Crust

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs

2 ½ tbsp. butter, melted

2 tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use nonstick spray to lightly spray pan. Mix ingredients in a medium bowl. Divide mixture evenly into 12 mini cheesecake cups. Bake for 3-4 minutes and cool.  

 Cheesecake

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ cup sugar

2 oz. white chocolate baking bar

Blend ingredients until smooth. Fill cups evenly with cheese mixture. Bake 14-16 minutes.

 Streusel Topping

2 Sticks cold salted butter

  2 1/4 Cups flour

  1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon

  1 3/4 Cups brown sugar

  1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla

While cheesecake layer is baking, prepare crumb topping. Use electric mixer to combine, butter, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla until all crumbly. after cheesecake is removed from oven, break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, divide among the 12 cups, sprinkling on top of cheesecake layer. Put back in oven and bake an additional 5-7 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Lightly loosen cheesecake tarts around the edges. Carefully remove cheesecakes. Garnish with a chocolate shell. Refrigerate until ready to serve.



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Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake… It’s Swirl-icious!

It’s pie time for the “You Want Pies With That?” group. This month’s theme is “Summer Pies” selected by Mary at Alpineberry and Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake. When I found out the theme, I started to think of all of my favorite summer treats and suddenly flashbacked to childhood to those mini sundaes that my sister and I used to beg for.

You know, the ones stacked in the long, plastic bags with the little wooden spoon underneath the lid, sitting on top of the chocolate or strawberry swirl. Shortly after the flashback, I became obsessed with finding them. I still have yet to find the ones that we used to get, but this one comes pretty close. Once I had taken the first bite and had that little wooden spoon in hand, I knew what I would create.

I’ve never made one of those swirly cheesecake pies, but always love the way they look. This pie doubled as one of our 4th of July desserts. Lord knows, at this point in summer the last thing I need is two pies tempting me. I made them in mini stars and winged it way more than usual. It started with the standard graham cracker crust recipe (which we’ve all probably memorized). The cheesecake recipe was the condensed milk and cream cheese filling. I’ve never made

a cheesecake this way. The filling was good, not the best I’ve had – maybe it’s because I was raised on my mom’s version. The second time around, I’ll try another cheesecake filling recipe. The highlight of the process was making the little marbelized swirls (It doesn’t take much to excite me these days!).

Does this compare to my memory of those strawberry sundaes I used to have on hot summer nights? Well…no, but isn’t that how memories usually are – just a tad embellished over time?

 Need more summer pie ideas? Head over to “You Want Pies With That?” and see this month’s roundup.

 

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Pie

Graham Cracker Crust

 

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup white sugar

6 tablespoons butter, melted

Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter or margarine until well blended . Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees F for 7 minutes. Cool.

Cheesecake Filling (Adapted from Southern Food recipe) *

4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

4 eggs

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk; beat until smooth. Add flour, eggs, and vanilla; beat until sell blended. Pour into prepared crust. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan in heavy duty foil; place the pan in a shallow baking pan, such as a jelly roll pan. Put the pans in the oven and add about 2 cups of hot water to the shallow baking pan, or to a depth of about 1/2-inch. Bake for 1 hour, or until lightly browned. The cheesecake will be just slightly jiggly in the center. Cool.

*Note- When using 6 small ramekins, I halved the recipe for the filling and it was plenty. I did not do the water/jelly roll pan method for these mini ones. I placed them on a baking sheet and cooked for about 20 minutes.

Strawberry Swirl

1 cup fresh strawberries

1 tbsp. sugar

Combine strawberries and sugar and puree in a food processor until smooth. Spoon dollops of strawberry sauce onto cooled cheesecake. Use a toothpick to create the swirls, but don’t over do it. Refrigerate for several hours before serving (up to 24 hours).



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Berry Fancy Desserts for the Fourth of July

                       Top Row: New York Cheesecake With Blackberry Coulis, Patriotic Parfaits, Bottom Row: Blueberry Napoleons With Creme Fraiche, Berry Pudding Cakes, Summer Shortcake 

Yesterday I shared a few fun desserts for the 4th . Here’s a few more crowd pleasers fancied up just a bit. The Napoleon and Cheesecake recipes come from two fabulous food bloggers. Martha gets credit for the parfaits and shortcake, and Better Home and Gardens shares their berry pudding cake in a 4th of July slideshow. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I’m leaning towards the Napoleon.

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