Chocolate Cheesecake

As I have previously told you, my family celebrates a very specific holiday during the winter, Chocolate Day.  For those of you who do not know, Chocolate Day is the 26^th of December.  We sit in pajamas all day while watching movies, playing games, and eating more chocolate than one should ever eat.  This year, at Christmas dinner my brother jokingly said that we should have chocolate cheesecake on Chocolate Day.  Obviously I jumped at the opportunity to create something delicious while utilizing our nicely redone kitchen!  I found this recipe for chocolate cheesecake in Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.  It was a huge hit!!!!!

Ingredients

For the crust:

                2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

                2 TBS sugar

                ¼ tsp cinnamon

                3 TBS unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

                1 ½ lbs (3 – 8oz packages) cream cheese, room temperature

                ½ cup sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

4 oz dark chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 9 inch springform pan and place it on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 

Mix the crust ingredients together until all of the dry ingredients are evenly moist.  Press the crust ingredients into the pan evenly.  Place the pan in the freezer for 10 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes or until it is set and tinged with color. 

Cut the cream cheese into quarters and place in a food processor along with the sugar.  Mix for about 2 minutes, scrap the bowl.  Add the eggs, vanilla, and salt, pulse 4-6 times, scrap the bowl.  Pour the chocolate into the bowl.  Pulse until well blended.  Remove the bowl from the processor and rap it on the counter 4 times to de-bubble the batter.  Pour the batter into the crust. 

Bake for 35 – 40 minutes on the center rack.  When complete the top should be puffed and set, but if you tap the pan the center will be slightly shaky.  Place the pan on a cooling rack, and allow it to cool completely.  Refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.  

Triple Chocolate Truffles

It’s been a while since the baking brigade took to the kitchen. Please blame the rowing season and last minute college papers. Back in full force for the Thanksgiving feasts I wanted to attempt something new, creative, difficult…truffles seemed the perfect solution! Better Home and Garden’s special issue of 100 Best Cookies led me to this phenomenal recipe!

Triple Chocolate Truffles

What you need…

12 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

½ of an 8-ounce package cream cheese, cut up and softened

4 teaspoons instant coffee crystals (*we substituted for cinnamon and cayenne pepper; decrease amount to about 2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne pepper)

1 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon milk chocolate pieces or semisweet chocolate pieces

2 tablespoons shortening

2 ounces dark chocolate and/or white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

How you make them…

(Makes about 36 truffles)

·         In a medium heavy saucepan heat and stir the 12 ounces semisweet chocolate over very low heat until melted and smooth

·         Remove from heat; stir in cream cheese until mixture is combined.

·         In a small bowl stir together coffee crystals and the water; add to the chocolate mixture stirring until smooth

·         Cover and chill for 1-2 hours or until form

·     Line a baking sheet with waxed paper

·         Using two spoons drop the truffle mixture into 1-inch mounds on prepared baking sheet

·         Cover and chill for 1-2 hours or until firm

·         Roll mounds into smooth balls

*We skipped #6 and immediately rolled the mounds into balls and then cooled them again.

·         Meanwhile, in a heavy medium saucepan heat and stir the 1 ½ cups milk chocolate pieces and the shortening over low heat until mixture is smooth

·         Remove from heat, cool to room temperature

·         Using a fork, dip balls into chocolate mixture, allowing excess chocolate to drip off

·         Return truffles to baking sheet; chill for about 30minutes or until firm

·         In a small saucepan heat and stir the 2 ounces dark chocolate and/or white chocolate over low heat until smooth

·         Drizzle melted chocolate over tops of truffles

·         Chill for a few minutes or until set

P.S. I apologize some of the pictures are sideways...#nottechsavy

Fresh-Peach Drop Cookies

Looking for a unique way to use your summer fruits? Pick some of your freshest peaches and start dicing...these peach drop cookies are perfect for a summer sweet tooth!

Martha Stewart's Fresh Peach Drop Cookies

What You Need:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg

• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 1/3 cup peach jam or preserves
• 2 tablespoons fine sanding sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. Beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
4. Reduce speed to low. Beat in egg and vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined.
6. Add peaches and jam, and beat until just combined. (*We didnt have peach jam but had apricot jam, tastes just as delicious!)
7. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing about 2 inches apart. (*If not baking all of the cookies at once, refrigerate dough between batches; dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)
8. Combine sanding sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar mixture.
9. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes.
10. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely

Thoughts On Cookies: These cookies are best the day they're baked. They will soften at the edges after a couple of days, but they'll still taste delicious. Comments from the food critics...

        Connor: "They taste like a peach scone but fluffier!"

        Mom: "Put more of the sugar/cinnamon mixture on top...load it on, make it a little sweeter. But they're great!"

        Dad: "mmmmmm".

Lavender Shortbread

Hello summer bakers!

Basking in the sun? Wafting the sweet smell of summer flowers? Well, get off your butts and bake into the kitchen I dont care how hot it is! And bring some of those flowers with you...we'll use them!

This lavender shortbread is a delicious summertime recipe, great with an ice cold glass of lemonade! Minimal ingredients, extraordinary taste!

What You Need:
1 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon
2 cups corn starch
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 lb butter, at room temperature
3-4 teaspoons lavender hand crushed or ground

What To Do:

1. Add corn starch, floud, salt, and sugar to a large mixing bowl.
2. Cut butter into tablespoon sized pieces and add to the bowl.
3. Using a spoon or your hands, mix the butter into the dry ingredients. (I found a pastry blender worked best)

4. When the butter is fully integrated, the mix will be sand-like in texture. It will NOT form a "dough".
5. Pour the mixture into a half-sheet pan (18" x 12" x 1"), spreading evenly in the pan.
6. Use your hands to firmly press down on the dough, pushing the fine mixture into an even mass. (Make sure you press down the edges firmly as well so as not to lose any shortbread!)

7. Using a small form or toothpick, prick the cookies about 1" apart across the entire top (this lets the moisture out during the baking process).
8. Bake for 40 minutes at 325 degrees, then reduce heat to 300 degrees and continue baking for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around edges and across the center.
9. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.
10. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting with a sharp knife.
11. Let cookies continue to cool before removing.

Tra Vigne's Biscotti

Hello summer bakers! Has the boredom of summer started to catch up with anyone? It sure has with me. Which is probably the reason I found myself pulling out the flour and mixer at 10:45pm last night to make this famous italian cookie, i biscotti!

Yours in summer baking, Kate

Ingredients (makes about 40 cookies)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon gray salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup crystal sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs
6 tablespoons aniseeds (or 1 teaspoon anise flavoring)
1 cup unblanched whole almonds, toasted
*I recommend chopping the almonds in half or quarter sizes
*Optional: 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

To Do

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
2. In bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together the butter, crystal sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, flour mixture, and aniseeds and beat on low until the dough begins to come together.
4. Add almonds (and/or chocolate chips) and mix just until distributed. DO NOT OVERWORK!

5. On a floured board shape the dough into a ball, flatten, put in a bowl for 2hrs to allow the dough to relax.
6. Preheat oven to 325 degrees; line a backing sheet with parchment paper.
7. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions on a lightly floured work surface.
8. Using your hands, roll each portion into a log about 3 inches in diameter.
9. Roll the logs in crystal sugar to coat well.

10. Place the logs on the prepared baking sheet and press down gently to flatten slightly. Logs should be several inches apart.
11. Bake until firm and light brown, about an hour. When poked with a finger, the dough should feel firm to the touch and not collapse or cave in. Remove from oven then lower oven temperature to 300 degrees.
12. Let the logs cool completely. Carefully move them, still on parchment paper, to a cutting board, then peel off the parchment paper.
13. Cut the logs with a sharp serated knife into 1/2 inch thick slices.
14. Lay the slices down on a baking sheet and return to the oven.
15. Bake until toasted to a golden brown on both sides, about 5-6 minutes (about 3 minutes on each side).
16. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

Notes on the Recipe: This is not an "aw we can skip that chilling the dough thing", with biscotti it is very important that the dough gets cold. So if you dont have a good amount of time or arent a leisurely baker, maybe try a different cookie. Also, we like more 2-bite sized biscotti, so we tend to cut smaller pieces. When we ignore the cooling process and cut pretty soon after the biscotti come out of the oven. This aids in the cutting of the dough; use the serated knife semi-slowly as not to tear the dough.

Thoughts on Edibility: As this is a family recipe, my thoughts are its delicious! We send these biscotti to my Papa every year for Father's Day and he says they taste just like from home...northern Italy! Also, the brilliance of biscotti is they are a customizable cookie! Add the almonds, chocolate chips, no almonds, dried fruit, whatever you desire to create your own biscotti!

Hummingbird Cake

It’s a beautiful summer day and my mom and I wanted to bake. To carry the sweet sun into our kitchen, we wanted a cake that involved a little fruit. We found the Hummingbird Cake in Art Smith’s “Back to the Table” cookbook. Makes 12 servings and is perfect for some summer satisfaction!

Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped ripe bananas

1 cup drained crushed pineapple

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs, beaten

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (4 ounces) finely chopped pecans

Icing

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 4 ½ cups) sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.       Lightly butter two 9-inch round cake pans, sprinkle evenly with flour, and tap our the excess.

3.       Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl. *The recipe mentioned to add the sugar as well, however we thought that may be too heavy to add atop the light, sifted mixture so we added it later.

4.        In another bowl, stir or whisk the bananas, pineapple, oil, eggs, and vanilla until combined. *Do NOT use and electric mixer.

5.       Add the sugar and dry mixture and fold together with a large spatula just until smooth. *Do NOT  beat.

6.       Fold in the pecans.

7.       Spread evenly in the pans.

8.       Bake until the cakes spring back when pressed in the center, 30-35 minutes.

9.       Transfer the cakes to wire racks and cool for 10 minutes.

10.   Invert the cakes onto the racks, turn right side up and cool completely.

Icing

1.       Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until combined.

2.       On low speed, gradually beat in the sugar, then the vanilla, to make a smooth icing.

Finish it off!

1.       Place 1 cake layer, upside down, on a serving platter. Spread with about 2/3 cup of icing.

2.       Spread with about 2/3 cup of the icing.

3.       Top the second layer, right side up.

4.       Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake.

5.       Let stand 1 hour before serving.

*I didn’t really follow all the upside-down right-side up flip and flopping of the cake. I recommend putting each layer right-side up for ease of icing.

Notes on the recipe: The cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and stored, uncovered, in the refrigerator. We used frozen pineapple chunks and chopped them up. I think they retained a little more water than we anticipated, so we had to bake the cake about 40 minutes. If you choose to use frozen fruits, try to defrost them and blot them dry as much as possible!

Thoughts on edibility: Wow! After an extended sabbatical from eating after dinner my family and I were so excited to dive into this cake. Moments after the first slice the kitchen table was silent as everyone’s taste buds sank into the bliss of the Hummingbird Cake! My mom commented that the actual cake is very similar to that of carrot cake. Dad didn’t really say much till his plate was empty. And I personally think that this cream cheese frosting will be the only recipe I use for cream cheese frostings ever again! Delicious!  

Sincerely yours in baking,
Kate

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

Dealing with equally as much separation anxiety after I left Ann Arbor, I needed to follow suit and bake with Olivia (in spirit). Ironically enough as soon as I started to break out the flour and Silpat cookie sheets Olivia texted me to say she was baking as well! So excuse the overload of posts in the next few days!

These cookies are for the chocolaholic and can be attributed to the one and only Martha Stewart. The recipe makes about 3 dozen and is to die for!

Sincerely yours in baking,
Kate

P.S. Blogspot's picture uploader is undergoing maintenance. Pictures to come soon!

The Goods:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1 ¼ cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

To Do:

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.       First, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

3.       In an electric mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter on medium speed until mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

4.       Add eggs and vanilla, and beat to combine.

5.       Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture; beat to combine.

6.       Form dough into flattened disk and chill until firm, for about an hour.

7.       Shape dough into 1 ¼ inch balls; roll each ball in sanding sugar.

8.       Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, about 1 ½ inches apart. Bake until set, 10-12 minutes, rotating halfway through.

9.       Transfer to rack to cool for 5 minutes.

Notes on this recipe:

We did not chill the cookies (we were too eager to eat them!!!) and they turned out just fine! So if in a rush you can skip the chilling directions.

Thoughts on edibility:

This is one of the best raw cookie dough for the ultra chocolate lover, so consuming the raw dough is an option. Naturally, you can consume these cookies in their natural baked, disc form. Or our thought was to freeze a few and use them as the perfect ends for a homemade ice cream sandwich!