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Cooking: Whole Wheat Pancakes

Recipe Review: White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake

I love trying out recipes and crafts I find online and it just occurred to me that I’ve never shared any of those with you. Hmm, it’s about time!

If you like cheesecake, but you’ve never made one before, this is a FANTABULOUS recipe to start with. The recipe includes minutely detailed step-by-step details. Cheesecakes take a bit of patience and a springform pan. Follow each and every direction and your cheesecake will come out perfectly.

You’ll find my comments in italics.

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White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake
clone of a Cheesecake Factory recipe
found at Top Secret Copy Cat Recipes

Crust:

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (filling removed) or 20 crumbled Oreo sandwhich cookies (filling removed)
1/3 cup margarine, melted I used real butter

Filling:

1/2 cup raspberry preserves I used low-sugar preservses
1/4 cup water
4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese at room temperature use real cream cheese, not lowfat or fatfree or your cheesecake won’t set properly
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 eggs at room temperature
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped into chunks I used white chocolate chips

Garnish:

2 ounces shaved white chocolate (optional) I used white chocolate chips
whipped cream (optional) Redi Whip works, too

Before preheating oven: prepare a 9″ springform pan by lining the sides and bottom with parchment paper and then covering the bottom with aluminum foil. This step comes later in the recipe, but it takes a little bit to get it just right and I found that my oven was on for a silly amount of time while I wrangled with the parchment paper.

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

2. Place a large pan or oven-safe skillet filled with about 1/2-inch of water into the oven while it preheats.

I used a large Pyrex baking dish. Whatever you use, test it first to make sure the springform pan fits inside with a little room to spare.

3. This will be your water bath.

4. Combine the raspberry preserves with 1/4 cup water in a medium microwave-safe bowl.

5. Heat for 1 1/2 minutes on high in your microwave.

6. Stir until smooth.

7. Strain to remove the raspberry seeds, and discard seeds.

8. Allow strained preserves to cool, then put the bowl in the refrigerator until later.

9. Measure 1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs OR crush 20 Oreo cookie wafers (with the filling scraped out– in a resealable plastic bag) into a medium bowl.

If using Oreos, you want 20 sandwich cookies or 40 wafers. Now, what to do with all that Oreo filling?

10. Mix in 1/3 cup melted margarine.

I used real butter.

11. Press the crumb into a 9-inch spring form pan that has been lined on the bottom and side with parchment paper.

12. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to press the crumb mixture flat into the bottom of the pan and about 2/3 the way up the side.

I didn’t do the 2/3 part, ’cause I like my crust just on the bottom.

13. Wrap a large piece of foil around the bottom of the pan to keep the cheesecake in the water bath and prevent it from leaking.

14. Put the crust in your freezer until the filling is done.

15. Use an electric mixer to combine the softened cream cheese with the sugar, room temperature sour cream, and vanilla.

You don’t have to use a stand mixer, but if you have one, it makes the work much easier. You could also use a large food processor.

16. Mix on the lowest setting for a couple minutes or until the ingredients are smooth and creamy.
17. You don’t want to beat too much air into the mixture, or it will fall and be grainy.

18. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

19. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl and then add them to the cream cheese mixture.

20. Blend the mixture just enough to integrate the eggs.

21. Remove the crust from the freezer and sprinkle 4 ounces of white chocolate chunks onto the bottom of the crust.

I chose to use white chocolate chips.

22. Pour half of the cream cheese filling into the crust.

23. Drizzle the raspberry preserves over the entire surface of the filling.

24. Use a butter knife to swirl the raspberry into the cream cheese.

25. Just a couple passes is fine, you don’t want to blend the raspberry and cream cheese together too much.

26. Pour the other half of the filling into the crust.

27. Carefully place the cheesecake into the water bath in the oven.

Be very careful here. By this point, the oven is hot and the water is HOT. If much of the water evaporates while you’re making the cheesecake, add a more and close the oven for about five minutes before adding your cheescake.

28. Bake for 12 minutes at 475 degrees, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the top of the cheesecake turns a light brown or tan color.

Leave the oven door closed for at least 30 minutes. The water bath helps keep the humidity in the oven high which will help the cheesecake cook evenly and will help to minimize cracking.

29. Remove the cheesecake from the oven to cool on a cooling rack.

Again, work carefully. You’re going to have hot water dripping from the bottom. I put a towel under my cooling rack for just that reason.

30. When the cheesecake is completely cool, cover cheesecake with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to sit overnight.

Don’t be tempted to remove the springform pain for at least a couple of hours. The cake will shrink as it cools and will pull away from the sides. As long as you’ve used parchment all the way around, the cake will come out perfectly once it’s cooled. It can take four hours or more for a cheesecake of this size to cool enough to go in the fridge. Don’t be tempted to put it in too early, or you’ll end up with condensation all over your cake!

31. Before serving, sprinkle the entire top surface of cheesecake with 2 ounces of shaved white chocolate.

White chocolate chips!

32. To serve, slice the cheesecake into 12 equal portions.

33. Apply a pile of fresh whipped cream to the top of each slice and serve.

I like to add the whipped cream to the individual slices. Not everyone wants it and it also ensures you have lovely stacked whipped cream and an not oozy deflated whipped cream.

Makes: 12 servings

Optional: if the birthday girl has the flu, put birthday candles in the bottom of a paper plate with holes punched in.

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Faux Rocher

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I love chocolate.

It’s possibly unhealthy how much I love chocolate, but there you are!

Ferrero Rocher are one of my favorite indulgences, so much so that my lovely sister gave me a lovely heart shaped box full of them for Valentine’s. I haven’t opened them yet…letting the anticipation build!

A friend of mine shared a recipe for a clone recipe. The original came from Australia (love my Aussie friends!) and asked for packs of nuts and other ingredients without specific amounts included. With my friend’s help, I worked out the “how much” and then gave the recipe my own U.S. touch.

These aren’t identical to Ferrero Rocher, but they’re a darn good facsimile and will be a lovely Valentine’s treat for me and my sweetie!

Faux Ferrero Rocher

1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tbs shortening
1 cup chopped lightly roasted peanuts, chopped
½ – 1 cup hazelnuts or macadamia nuts (the real thing uses hazelnuts)
1 (13 oz.) jar of Nutella
miniature muffin tins and liners (approx 1 1/4″ size)

I used Hershey’s, but you can use any combination of milk and dark chocolates.

Line miniature muffin tins with wrappers.

Place chocolate chips and shortening in a microwavable bowl. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir, adding chopped peanuts. Mix thoroughly.

Place small teaspoon chocolate nut mix in base of pan or wrapper.

Place a nut in center.

Cover with about ½ tsp. Nutella.

Cover with chocolate nut mix.

Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Eat!
Makes approximately 30 really yummy candies.

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Recipe: Pull-Apart Bread

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*sniffs*
Do you smell that?

Ooooo, baking bread! I can’t think of anything that makes a house feel more like a home than the smell of baking bread. My mom is a bread baker and I am always reminded of coming home from school on cold days and smelling her sourdough bread baking. Nomnomnom…nothing better!

This is a favorite recipe of mine originally from a very old community cookbook. I’ve edited and changed it until it’s just the way we like it. If you’ve never made homemade bread before, this is an easy recipe to start with.

Pull-Apart Bread
sometimes called Monkey Bread

1 pkg dry yeast
1 c lukewarm water
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbs. sugar
1/2 c. (1 stick) melted and cooled butter + another 1/2 cup
3 1/2 – 4 cups flour (AP works just fine)

In a large mixing bowl*, dissolve yeast and lukewarm water. In a small bowl, beat the egg, add salt, sugar and 1/2 cup of melted and cooled butter, beating well. Add to yeast mixture. Mix well.

Slowly mix in flour, about 1 cup at a time, mixing well as you go. Mix until the dough is elastic and pulls away from the edges of the bowl.

*If you have a stand mixer, add ingredients into the mixer bowl, using the standard attachment through the first two cups of flour. Change to the dough hook and mix until dough pulls away from the bowl.

Cover and let rise until double in bulk. Time will vary based on the room temperature. Approximately 2 hours.

Once the dough has doubled, place remaining 1/2 cup of butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave 30 seconds at a time until just melted. Stir to help any unmelted bits finish melting.

Prepare two loaf pans by spraying lightly with non-stick cooking spray.

Place dough on a large piece of parchment paper. Roll out to about 1/4″ thickness. Use a pizza cutter or a dough knife and cut into 1 1/2″ to 2″ pieces. Dip each piece in melted butter and place in loaf pan, evenly distributing pieces between the two pans.

Cover with a towel and let rise until double again, approximately 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake loaves for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes and then turn out on a plate or cooling rack.

A lovely loaf of Pull-Apart Bread

The pieces will just fall apart and are lovely to have with dinner!

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Recipe: Ranger Cookies

Jennifer’s Best Peanut Brittle

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If I could make one candy to give away every year, it would be peanut brittle.

This is probably my most miraculous of recipes due to it’s ability to cause sheer happiness in it’s recipients. I’ve actually made friends by sharing this at parties and functions.

Every year someone tells me that this is their favorite peanut brittle recipe, which of course gives me a reason to keep making it for them!

You’ll need a good, heavy saucepan and a candy thermometer for this. If you’ve never owned a candy thermometer, it’s really worth having. I recommend investing a few dollars (a very few, really!) in a good quality thermometer. Glass thermometers are cheap, but they tend to break easily. I have a professional metal candy thermometer that I picked up at a local restaurant supply store, but they’re easy to find online and at other stores with cooking supplies, too.

Peanut Brittle

2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (Golden Syrup works if you don’t have access to corn syrup)
1/2 cup water
2 cups raw peanuts (I like Spanish peanuts)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon baking soda
real butter for greasing pan

Grease a 10″x15″ baking sheet thoroughly with butter.

Combine first five ingredients (sugar, corn syrup, water, peanuts and salt) in heavy saucepan. Stir using a long-handled wooden spoon.

Boil until candy thermometer reaches 293 degrees F.

Remove from heat and cool for a couple of minutes. Add vanilla and beat. Sprinkle baking soda into the mixture and beat will. It will foam and change colors, which is just what you want it to do!

Immediately pour into baking sheet. Be very, very careful because liquid candy at high temperatures is like lava! Make sure the baking sheet is on a towel or cooling rack because it will be extremely hot.

Allow to cool completely (time will vary, usually an hour or so) then flip over and give it a whack! Break the pieces up however you like, then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Do not store peanut brittle with other candies because it will absorb moisture and become sticky, sticky, sticky.

For best results, share with friends!

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Recipe: Bon Bon; Bon Bon

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O! Christmas Candy! My house smells like chocolate…and peanut butter…and coconut…and sugar and and… Christmas!

I grew up with my mom making Coconut Bon Bons (which we called Bon Bons) every Christmas. My mom still makes them and it’s one of the candies I make that my friends start asking about in mid-November.

Peanut Butter Bon Bons are a more recent family favorite. My hubby calls them Peanut Butter Cups on Steroids. It’s a fairly apt description of spherical pb and chocolate goodness!

Coconut Bon Bon Filling:

2 pounds (or 7 1/2 cups) of powdered confectioner’s sugar
3 cups coconut
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups of chopped pecans

Chocolate Coating:

12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 pound of food grade paraffin (optional – but the chocolate will look nicer and hold together better if you use it)

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. The mixture should be firm and hold together. If not, add a little more powdered sugar.

Using a cookie dough scoop, scoop out balls. Round them with your hands and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Melt the chocolate chips and paraffin in a double boiler over low heat. Using a toothpick or skewer, dip each of the coconut balls into the chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Let stand to room temperature and store in an airtight container (unless you eat them all first!).

PB Bon Bons Filling:

2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 3/4 cup powdered confectioner’s sugar

Chocolate Coating:

6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/8 pound of food grade paraffin
(if you make Coconut Bon Bons, too, you’ll have plenty of chocolate coating left for these, too)

Mix peanut butter, butter and sugar. It will look crumbly, but it’ll hold together.

Roll into balls place on parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Melt the chocolate chips and paraffin in a double boiler over low heat. Using a toothpick or skewer, dip each of the coconut balls into the chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Let stand to room temperature and store in an airtight container.

Look for more holiday recipes later in the month!

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Chocolate Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

Recipe: Chocolate Saucepan Cookies, a.k.a. Cow Patties

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This is one of my mom’s recipes. I can’t even guess how many times she made these chocolatey wonders for my brother, sister and I when we were growing up.

They are amazingly simple, yummy and cheap to make and I love making them for my own family.

One caution for those that like to change recipes and use what you have (as I do!) – you can’t substitute anything for the instant oats or the cookies won’t set properly and you’ll have a gooey mess.

Chocolate Saucepan Cookies
better known as “Cow Patties” or “Mud Cookies”
by my mom, Leona

8 tbs (one stick) butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sugar
4 tbs bakers cocoa
3 cups quick-cooking oats (also called instant oats)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter (optional…extra yummy with crunchy!)

In a medium saucepan, bring butter, milk, sugar and coca to a boil. Boil for two minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and immediately add oats, vanilla and peanut butter. Stir well. Drop by 1/4 cup-fulls on to wax paper (an ice cream scoop works well).

Allow to cool completely. The cookies will get firm and lose their shine as they cool.

Store in an airtight container. Try not to eat too many…or you’ll get a tummy ache!

boiling in the saucepan

Enjoy!

Recipe: Autumn Apple Cookies

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Sometimes, the best treats are the ones that you never planned to make.

My kids have been under the weather and everyone has been feeling a little low. I wanted to make a treat to bring up the general household spirit, but a quick rummage through the kitchen (and the knowledge that tomorrow is my grocery day!) determined that I had precious little to work with. Among other things, I found a couple of apples and some nuts. Throw that together with some basic baking supplies and Autumn Apple Cookies were born.

Sweet and a little bit fluffy, they hit the spot and made everyone feel just a tiny bit better!

Autumn Apple Cookies
by Jennifer Ofenstein
http://www.sewhooked.org

3/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup whole oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup apples, peeled, cored & finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream shortening and sugar, add milk. Blend in eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, mix flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Slowly add to creamed mixture. Stir in vanilla. Fold in apples and nuts.

Drop by teaspoonfuls (or with a cookie scoop) onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool two minutes then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

also posted on cut out + keep

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