Tag Archives: cheesecake

Red Velvet Cheesecake

16 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Desserts, Holidays

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I’ve never been a huge cheesecake person. I’ve never been a huge red velvet person either. Then why on earth would I ever want to make this dessert? They both just sounded so much better together instead of on their own…Plus it was Valentine’s Day! I couldn’t resist this show-stopper. As it turned out, it was perfect for a romantic night in – no dinner reservation required.

It’s super easy to make, as long as you make sure to do everything at least a day in advance! This was great since I didn’t have to do any work on Valentine’s Day. The original recipe calls for a cream cheese frosting, but I think that’s way too rich. The cheesecake itself already has a lot going on, and finishing it with light and fluffy whipped cream is a lot better than a heavy cream cheese frosting.

Recipe
Red Velvet Cheesecake
Adapted from Southern Living
Makes 1 (9 inch) Cheesecake, serves 8 – 10

Ingredients

For the Crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (1 sleeve of graham crackers)
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

For the Filling:

  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup whole buttermilk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
  • 1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring

Directions

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar; press mixture into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

Beat 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar at medium-low speed with an electric mixer 1 minute. Add eggs, cocoa, sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla, vinegar, and food coloring; mixing on low speed just until fully combined. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake at 325° for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 300°, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until center is firm. Run knife along outer edge of cheesecake. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven; cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Serve with fresh whipped cream if desired.

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Greek Yogurt Souffles

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by in Baking, Bloggerific, Breakfast, Desserts, Eggs, Entertaining, Healthy

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Souffles are supposed to be super sophisticated and difficult to make, right?
Greek Yogurt Souffle
Wellllll….they must not be THAT hard because I successfully made these Greek Yogurt Souffles…and I can’t wait to make them again.
Greek Yogurt Souffles
This “breakfast” ended up tasting dangerously close to dessert…It was like eating a healthy cheesecake. Spoon a little syrupy fruit on top…and boom, you’re set. The best part…you can experiment with all of the different Greek yogurt flavors they have out there these days.
Deflated Souffles, not as beautiful as when they first come out of the oven, but still damn good.

Deflated Souffles, not as beautiful as when they first come out of the oven, but still damn good.

Recipe
Greek Yogurt Souffles
adapted from Baking Bites
makes 6 (6 oz) ramekins, in our case 3 larger ramekins (they were so big we had to share!)
Ingredients

  • 1 cup Greek Yogurt (nonfat or full fat both work here. Also – choose your flavor! We used Chobani Nonfat Lemon Greek Yogurt)
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 3 Tbsp AP flour
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • butter and sugar, for ramekins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Butter the bottoms of six (6 ounce) ramekins. Coat the inside of the ramekin with sugar and knock out excess.  Set on a baking sheet.

2. In a large mixing bowl whisk together yogurt, egg yolks, flour, salt and vanilla.

3. In a medium bowl or in a stand mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy…then gradually pour in the sugar and whisk/beat until stiff peaks form.

4. Add 1/3 of egg white mixture to the yogurt mixture and carefully fold.  Carefully fold in another 1/3…then the remaining. Be gentle! I’m still trying to become as good of a ‘folder’ as my mom.

5. Divide mixture evenly into ramekins, filling slightly below the rims. Bake on tray for about 15 minutes, until evenly risen and lightly browned around the edges. Try not to open the oven door to peak, you don’t want them deflating! Serve Immediately. If you don’t finish all of them, don’t worry…because you can put them in the fridge and they are great as leftovers the next day.

Red Velvet Brownies

12 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Baking, Desserts, Holidays, Uncategorized

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red velvet

The best part about holidays…is the food that goes along with them! Even in my single days, I have always loved Valentines Day…because no matter what it’s an excuse to eat chocolate and drink.

These Red Velvet Brownies with a cheesecake swirl are easy and the perfect color for your Valentine…Whether that be yourself, your significant other, your best friend, or your Mom (who will always be my Valentine, even if I am getting married this year).

Pretty swirl batter before going into the oven!

Pretty swirl batter before going into the oven!

Recipe
Red Velvet Brownies
from Food Network

Ingredients

Red Velvet Brownie Layer:

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 tablespoon red food coloring
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Cream Cheese Layer:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Special equipment: 8 by 8-inch baking pan

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking pan, and set aside.

Brownie layer: In a saucepan on medium heat melt the butter. Remove the butter to a large bowl and add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food coloring, and vinegar, in that order, mixing between additions. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and stir it into the cocoa mix. Fold in the flour until lightly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, saving 1/4 cup of the batter for the top.

Cream cheese layer: Blend together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Gently spread the cream cheese layer on top of the brownie batter in the pan. Dollop the remaining brownie batter over the cream cheese layer. Using a skewer or the tip of a knife, drag the tip through the cream cheese mixture to create a swirl pattern. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before cutting.

Marbled Pumpkin Gingersnap Tart

24 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by in Baking, Desserts, Easy, Entertaining, Events, Holidays, Thanksgiving

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Basically, a delicious pumpkin cheesecake with a graham-gingersnap crust.

A perfect (and easy!) Thanksgiving dessert. Also amazing for fall in general. This dish looks complicated, but I couldn’t believe how quickly it came together when I made it on Thanksgiving morning. I might need to work on my ‘marbling’ skills a bit, but taste always trumps imperfections in presentation. This is also the first of many recipes I will make from my new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. It’s an absolutely wonderful and beautiful collection of recipes. I can’t wait to share more with you!

Recipe

Marbled Pumpkin GIngersnap Tart

From the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

yield: one  9-inch tart, serving 8 (I used a 10 1/4 inch tart pan, things still worked out great, slightly less time in the oven).

Crust 

  • 4 ounces gingersnap cookies (about 16 cookies), coarsely broken
  • 3 ounces graham crackers (five and a half graham cracker sheets)
  • ¼ cup (½ stick) salted butter, melted.

Cheesecake batter 

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, well softened
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk

Pumpkin batter 

  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1¼ cups (about ½ to ¾ of a 15- ounce can) pumpkin purée
  • ¼ cup granulated white sugar
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • Few fresh gratings of nutmeg
  • 1 cup heavy cream

Make crust – Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Finely grind the gingersnaps and graham crackers in processor (yielding 1½ cups). Add the melted butter, and process until the cookie-crumb mixture is moistened. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom and up the sides of  9- inch- diameter tart pan with removable bottom. (I like to use the bottom and outer side of a measuring cup to help pack the crumbs into the base and neatly up the walls of my crumb crusts.) Place pan on rimmed baking sheet. Make cheesecake batter.  Mix together the ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.

Make pumpkin batter.  Beat the egg and the egg white lightly in a large bowl. Whisk in the pumpkin, sugars, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Gradually whisk in the cream. Assemble tart  Pour the pumpkin batter into  gingersnap graham crust. Dollop the cheesecake batter over pumpkin batter, marble the two together decoratively with a knife. Try not to pierce the bottom crust as you do.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the tart completely on a rack, or in the fridge if you prefer it cold. We made this early in the morning, cooled it, put it in the fridge, then served it for Thanksgiving dessert. It was great, and I’m thinking it’s even better on day 2!

Pumpkin-Orange Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust and Salted Caramel

20 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by in Baking, Desserts, Entertaining, Thanksgiving

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…If the title of this recipe isn’t a mouthful, I don’t know what is. When you say it out loud, it almost sounds ridiculous. But when I saw the recipe in Sunset Magazine, I thought this creation may be too good to be true. I wondered before making it, “too many ingredients?”

The Holy Grail of Thanksgiving Desserts

No. They are all amazing flavors that were obviously made for each other. We first made this as a unique Thanksgiving dessert, and it was so good I think we’ll be making it this year, and the next, and the next…

Recipe

from Sunset Magazine

Pumpkin-Orange Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust and Salted Caramel

Ingredients

  • CRUST
  • 1 package (9 oz.) chocolate wafer cookies
  • 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
  • FILLING
  • 3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • Zest of 2 medium oranges
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • TOPPING
  • 6 tablespoons store-bought caramel topping
  • 1/8 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
  • Flaked salt* (such as Cyprus sea salt flakes or Maldon salt), for garnish

Preparation

  1. 1. Make crust: Preheat oven to 350°. Whirl cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Whirl in butter just until incorporated. Pour crumbs into a 9-in. springform pan and press over bottom and about 1 in. up inside of pan. Bake 7 minutes, then let cool on a rack. Reduce oven heat to 300°.
  2. 2. Make filling: In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, sugars, and flour until smooth. Beat in eggs on low speed 1 at a time. Add remaining filling ingredients and beat until just blended. Wrap bottom of pan with foil, pressing it up the outside.
  3. 3. Set springform pan in a roasting pan and pour filling into crust. Pour enough boiling water into roasting pan to come about halfway up side of springform pan. Bake until cheesecake barely jiggles in the center when gently shaken, about 1 1/4 hours. Let cheesecake cool on a rack 1 hour, then chill until cold, at least 5 hours.
  4. 4. Whisk caramel topping and table salt in a bowl and spoon over cheesecake. Arrange pecans around rim and sprinkle flaked salt over pecans.
  5. *Flaked salt has large, hollow, crunchy crystals. Find it at well-stocked grocery stores and online.
Note:For a fissure-free cheesecake, beat your filling just until it’s blended–no more. (Too much air in the mixture will make it deflate, and then crack, in the oven.) Find pumpkin pie spice in your baking aisle, or make your own: 4 parts cinnamon, 2 parts ground ginger, 1 part nutmeg, and 1 part ground allspice.