Day 61 - Raspberry Swirl Cheesecakes

Friday, April 19, 2013

Today I decided to make Raspberry Swirl Mini Cheesecakes. I tried to make them once before and it was a total disaster... I clearly wasn't paying attention when I made them and forgot to add sugar! Oops!

Today I was fully focused and ready to make these delicious looking treats. I love mini cheesecakes and they're always a hit when I make them for parties, so I wanted another version to have in my recipe collection.

I started by making the crust for the cheesecakes. I like to make both graham cracker crusts AND chocolate cookie crusts. The crusts are just made from cracker or cookie crumbs, melted butter, and sugar. The mixture is then pressed into the bottom of lined mini cupcake cups.

Next, I made the cheesecake filling which as has all the classic ingredients: cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, sugar (very important I learned), and a pinch of salt. I pour the cheesecake mixture over the crusts and they were almost ready for the oven.

The last component is the raspberry sauce which takes these cupcakes from average to amazing! The raspberry topping is made from fresh raspberries and sugar, that's it! I just blended the two together in a food processor, and put the mixture through a mesh strainer to remove the raspberry seeds.

I dotted the top of the cheesecakes with the raspberry sauce and swirled it in with a toothpick. The vibrant red color looked amazing!

The cheesecakes bake at 325 for about 18 minutes. Once the cheesecakes come out of the oven, I let them cool and then stored them in the refrigerator. Can't wait to share these with my friends and neighbors (it would be too dangerous to keep these bite sized treats in the house!).

Day 60 - New York Syle Crumb Cake

Friday, February 8, 2013

The blizzard "Nemo" is dropping tons of snow on our area today, so while I'm trapped inside for the next day or so, I decided I'd do some baking. I found a recipe for New York style crumb cake on Pinterest which looked divine! The recipe came from a blog called "Baked Bree," and it received rave reviews.

The recipe was super simple. I stared by putting together the batter using flour, sugar, baking powder, an egg, vanilla, oil, and milk. I spread the batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish, and then started on the crumb topping. I made the crumbs using melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I sprinkled the crumbs over the batter and it went into the oven to bake for about 25 minutes.

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients 

Batter coming together

Ready to go in the oven

The entire kitchen smelled amazing as the crumb cake baked, I couldn't wait for it to be done! Once it came out of the oven, I sprinkled some powdered sugar over the top to finish it off.

Finished Crumb Cake

After tasting the crumb cake I can tell you that this recipe is definitely a keeper! The proportion of cake to crumbs is perfect! All you need is a glass of milk or a cup of coffee to go along with the cake, and I don't know anyone who wouldn't love this! Such a great treat to have while watching the snow fall outside! Stay safe out there everyone!

Day 59 - S'mores Brownies

Sunday, November 4, 2012

On a crisp day in November, nothing says Fall to me like gooey s'mores. Whether you're sitting outside by a campfire, or snuggling inside in front of a fire place, making s'mores always makes ya feel warm and fuzzy inside. I've seen countless s'mores recipes, all with different variations to make each one unique. I decided to go with a recipe I saw for s'mores brownies. It looked super simple and I hoped it would have that classic s'mores flavor.

I started by making a good ole' box mix of fudge brownies, following the directions on the box. Once the brownies finished baking, I sprinkled mini marshmallows over the top as well as crumbled graham crackers, and placed the brownies back in the oven (this time under the broiler.) You have to be VERY careful once the brownies are under the broiler, the marshmallows brown VERY quickly… let's just say mine came out pretty torched!

Brownie Batter

Graham Crackers

Chocolate 

Ready to go back into the oven!

The last step is to complete the "s'mores" part of the brownie by sprinkling chopped up Hershey bar bits over the top. The chocolate gets all melty from the heat of the brownies, and all I can say is that these looked ooey, gooey, delicious (even slightly burnt!)

Messy but so yummy!

I delivered a plate of these to my neighbor and I have no doubt that they will find these just as scrumptious as I did!

Since the holidays are just around the corner (YIKES!) I have no doubt I will be doing plenty of baking in the near future. Stayed tuned :)

Day 58 - Twix Brownies

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Today I decided to make Twix Brownies. I know I just made Caramel Brownies, but Twix are my favorite Halloween candy, and with Halloween right around the corner I thought it was appropriate! Is it even necessary to have a reason to make brownies? No one in my house seems to mind!

These brownies are very simple to make and everything is mixed in one bowl which makes for an easy clean up. I started by melting unsalted butter and unsweetened chocolate in the microwave. Once they are melted, I whisked in vanilla, sugar, eggs, and salt. To finish the batter, flour is slowly added in until the mixture is combined and thick.

Melted Chocolate and Butter

Finished Brownie Batter 

I poured half of the batter into a baking pan lined with foil and coated with nonstick cooking spray. I chopped up 12 fun size Twix bars and sprinkled them on top of the batter and then added the rest of the batter on top. The brownies bake for about 35 minutes, just until the center is cooked (be careful not to over cook!)

Brownie Layer 1

Twix Layer

Brownie Layer 2

Since these brownies are really fudgy, it's important that you let them cool completely before cutting them.

The brownies came out soo good! They are so moist and the twix added a little crunch in the center as well as some gooey caramel -  I actually liked them even better than the Caramel Brownies! I would definitely suggest making these. You can even substitute your favorite Halloween candy in the middle!

Finished Twix Brownies

Stay tuned until next time :)

Day 57 - Caramel Brownies

Friday, September 28, 2012

Tonight I had a special friend come over to bake and hang out with me. Mary is in 6th grade and I used to babysit her and her sisters when I was in college. We have such a special relationship, and even though her and her sisters are too old to need my babysitting now, I love to keep in touch with them as much as possible.

Tonight Mary and I are catching up (first and foremost), eating pizza, and baking! We decided to make caramel brownies. I found the recipe from the website Annie's Eats. The caramel brownies look amazing and are pretty easy to make.

First, we melted semi sweet chocolate with butter in the microwave. Next, to the chocolate mixture we added sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, and salt which created the brownie batter. In a pan lined with foil, we poured in half of the brownie batter and baked it for about 20 minutes.

Melted Chocolate

Finished Brownie Batter

While the first half of the brownies baked, we made the caramel filling by unwrapping a package of soft caramels and melting it with heavy cream until the mixture was thick and smooth. When the bottom layer of brownies came out of the oven, we poured in the caramel to create the center layer, which was then topped with the remaining brownie batter. The pan went back into the oven until the brownies were cooked through, which took another 20 minutes or so. When they came out they looked and smelled delicious!

Mary making the caramel!

Finished Caramel

Brownies ready for the oven!

Finished Brownies

We cut up the brownies after they cooled (cooling is especially important for these since the center is so gooey!) and they were so yummy! The only change I would make is baking these in a smaller pan. Since I only had a 10x13 pan on hand, instead of a 9x12 or smaller, the brownies came out fairly thin. They were still delicious and very gooey in the center, but I think they would have been better slightly thicker.

I not only enjoyed having Mary as a baking partner this weekend, but I loved spending time with her and catching up!

Day 56 - Mini Apple Crisp & Caramel Apples

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Happy Fall!

In honor of my favorite season, my friend Claudia and I went to Silverman's Farm in Easton to enjoy some fall festivities including a little apple picking. If you haven't been to Silverman's, I highly suggest going there just to walk around, it's so beautful (other than the crowds!). When we got home with our loot, we decided to make mini apple crisps (instead of a traditional apple pie), as well as caramel apples.

I have been dying to make caramel apples forever. The only other time I remember making them was when I was really little and I remember loving it - such great memories! I recently saw online the genius idea to make caramel apple slices. Who likes to awkwardly bite into a giant caramel apple anyways? Putting a slice of apple on a stick covered in caramel is the perfect solution because it's much easier to eat!

We started with preparing the apples by slicing them and putting them on lollipop sticks. Then we melted a bag of caramel squares with a little milk in the microwave and then started dipping away! The only thing about dipping the apple slices is that the caramel doesn't stick as well to the exposed center of the apple as it does to the skin of the apple. We just kind of finagled the caramel to sort of stick to the apples as best we could. I also happened to have some Autumn themed sprinkles on hand (don't judge!) which we tried to use to decorate the apples. Unfortunately, the caramel set quite quickly and make it difficult for the sprinkles to stick!

Apples ready for caramel 

Caramel

Finished!

Next, we decided to make mini apple crisps using a set of small ramekins I have. We cut up a bunch of apples into fairly small chunks and mixed them with sugar and cinnamon (at this point you have to try to control yourself so you don't eat the whole bowl of cinnamon sugar apples!). We spooned the apples into each ramekin until they were just over filled. The apples cook down so you want to make sure to really mound the apples in the ramekin. We then started on the best part, the crumb topping. All we did was mix a stick of butter with a cup of brown sugar and a cup of flour with a pastry blender until crumbs started to form. We piled the crumbs on top of each ramekin and they were ready to bake. These took about 35-40 minutes to bake (just until the apples are soft and the tops are browned). They looked and smelled incredible!

Ready for the crumb topping

Ready to bake!

The best part about making the apple crisp in the ramekins is that a single serving can easily be popped back into the oven or put in the microwave to be reheated. I would suggest serving these warm with a scoop (or 2) of vanilla ice cream. There's nothing better than that, guaranteed!

Finished Apple Crisps

YUM!

Day 55 - Oreo Cheesecake Bites

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Today I am making a dessert that I made for the first time on Labor Day Weekend, Oreo Cheesecake Bites. They were such a hit, I decided to make them again today and blog about it!

This recipe is super easy, it starts with the crust which is just two sleeves of crushed Oreo's and melted butter. They are mixed together until they form a sand like consistency, and then the mixture is pressed into the bottom of a baking dish.

Oreo Crust

Next, I made the filling which starts with cream cheese and sugar being creamed together. Once the mixture is smooth, I added sour cream and vanilla extract, followed by four eggs which are added in one at a time. Lastly, the remaining crushed Oreo's are folded into the mixture and it is poured over the Oreo crust.

Finished batter

Ready for the oven

The cheesecake bakes for about 40 minutes and then is left out to cool before being refrigerated. The last step before serving these is to cut them into bite size squares and drizzle with melted chocolate. These are seriously so delicious, I have a feeling I will be making these again soon!

Finished product :)