S'Mores Cheesecake

I meet with a group of former colleagues each Tuesday for coffee and I've volunteered to bring treats.  It gives me a chance to make a dent in the 14,117 "to try" recipes I have sitting in various places around my house and they seem to appreciate it.  Well, this week it was canceled but only after I had made this weeks' treat: S'Mores Cheesecake.  So here I am with a whole cheesecake just waiting to be eaten.  

It's very tasty, if not a tad sweet.  I like the marshmallow topping but that's really where a big chunk of the sweetness is coming in so I may reduce the amount by half or so next time around.  And all though it's a very tasty topping I'm sure jarred Fluff would do if you don't want to make it yourself.  

Make sure you make the cheesecake portion the night before you need it so you can properly chill it overnight.

Enjoy!

Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons melted butter

Filling

9 ounces milk chocolate (I had to use chips but it worked fine)

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup whipping cream

3 eggs

Topping

1 cup sugar

2 egg whites

3 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon salt

12 large or 120 mini marshmallows (if using large, cut into quarters)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For crust:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Stir all ingredients together and press into a parchment lined springform pan.  I used my square one for no other reason than that I like it.
• Bake 12 minutes. Cool.

For filling:

• Melt chocolate in a double boiler.  Cool to lukewarm.
• Blend cream cheese, sugar, and salt until smooth.  Make sure not to go crazy here.  Over beating can cause a cheesecake to crack.  More on that later...

• Add whipping cream and mix until incorporated.
• Add melted chocolate then eggs one at a time.  
• Pour over crust
• Bake at 350 for 15 minutes then reduce oven to 200 and continue baking for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes.  Now, to that cracking issue.  I never, ever, ever crack cheesecakes. Well, except for that one time 5 years ago in a weird oven and the two other times that I've not listened to myself.   But seriously, no other time.  I don't use water baths or anything else "fancy" other than the above method - long, low heat.  I seriously think this is what helps me not crack them.  Any time I've used another method, they've cracked.  Just like this one did.  So, I'm altering the directions to my method.  And I'm never following any other baking directions for a cheesecake again.  Seriously.  
• Once done (check for a wiggle by shaking the pan.  It shouldn't be set at this point, the center should shimmy nicely), turn off oven, crack the door and leave the cheesecake in until the oven is cool, about an hour or so.  
• Remove and place in refrigerator overnight.  

For topping:

• Whisk sugar, egg whites, water, cream of tartar, and salt in a large metal bowl.  Set over saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.
• Remove from over water (but keep water simmering) and stir in marshmallows.  Let them sit and soften for about 3 minutes.  Return over water and beat until shiny medium-stiff peaks form.  Beat in vanilla.
• Place on cheesecake.  Let stand until set, about 15 minutes.
• Either use a torch to singe the top or a broiler for about 3 minutes.  

I varied the recipe I found in the July 2008 Bon Appetit.

Rocky Road Fudge Bars

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. Dang Olympics are eating into my blogging time!

Anyway, I've recently become an Angel Baker which is a program that sends home baked treats to our soldiers abroad. It's an amazing program and my first "assignment" was great. You should check it out.

So I made these bars as part of my package. I figured if anyone could use some sweet, layered, chocolaty goodness it was soldiers! I'm not sure if they qualify for "true" rocky road bars since I used peanuts instead of walnuts (it's normally walnuts, right?), but they're good either way. They are sweet, so small bars (which are not normally my style) are great.

Enjoy!


Base
1/2 cup butter
1 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup chopped nuts

Filling
6 oz cream cheese, soft
1/4 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups mini marshmallows

Frosting
2 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup mil
1 oz unsweetened chocolate
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

For base:

• Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13x9 inch pan with parchment (or grease and flour, if that's your thing).
• Melt butter and chocolate in double boiler until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in remaining base ingredients.
• Spread into pan

For filling:

• Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, and egg until smooth and fluffy. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.
• Spread over base.

• Bake 25-35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. On a side note, I had some issues with this since I managed to stick my toothpick into about 14 different spots before I hit an area that was chocolate chip free. So be warned, the toothpick may come out wet, but only wet with melted chocolate. Keep stabbing!
• Top with marshmallows and cook 2 more minutes.

For frosting:

• While the base and filling are baking, cook cream cheese, butter, milk, and chocolate on low heat until blended and smooth.
  
• Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.
  
• Pour over warm, puffed marshmallows and swirl with a knife to marble. Two things here: 1) I did this too early to keep the frosting from crusting a bit so I just whipped it for a second to remove the crunchy bits and 2) mine didn't marble, but they still tasted great!
• Refrigerate until firm.

I found this recipe in Best of the Pillsbury Bake-Off Cookies and Bars

I should have quit while I was ahead

It's been a LONG time since I've thrown out a dessert (I mean, really, are they ever THAT bad?) but I did today. I should have known better too. The entire process turned out to be a comedy of errors. I even thought to myself "maybe there have been one too many issues here. Turn back now? Naw." I should have listened.

But I decided to post them anyway. I figure I can't be the only one who has bad baking days!

I can't say for sure what went wrong, so for now I'm blaming the recipe. ;) I did half the original (which is posted) and thank goodness because I probably would have cried if I'd had to throw out 17 chocolate and cream cheese-based anything. I'm pretty confident in my dividing abilities, having a degree in math and all, so I don't think that was it. I under-baked by five minutes because they started looking a little scary brown for cream cheese and they still turned out dry and pretty non-chocolaty.

So, if you see a glaring error in the recipe, let me know. If not, I wouldn't bother.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

3/4 pound (one and a half 8-ounce package) cream cheese (not softened)
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

CUPCAKES:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (preferably canola)
1 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with 18 cupcake papers

TO MAKE THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

• In a medium-sized bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add the egg and beat well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.
• This was actually really tasty at this stage. Once cooked, not so much. I don't know if I could use it for something else. It has a raw egg in it, so I'm thinking a filling wouldn't do. Maybe leave out the egg and inject into the middle of a chocolate cupcakes?
  

TO MAKE THE CUPCAKES:

• In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the oil and sugar.
• This is what happens when you're not careful with your cocoa scooping.
  

• Add the dry ingredients into two parts, alternating with buttermilk and vanilla, and making sure all the ingredients are well blended.
• This is when I started to really worry. This is the thickest batter I've ever seen. It's almost cookie dough.
  

• Carefully spoon the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds full. Drop a small scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) of the cream cheese filling on top of each cupcake.

• Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
• This is at 25 minutes.

• Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 30 minutes. Remove the tins and cool completely on a wire rack.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

My chat board mommy friends and I have started a weekly recipe challenge and this week I hosted with cupcakes! These were the winners. The cupcakes are tart and sweet, not to mention adorable! If I make these again I would do them in mini form and add lemon to the batter to up the tart level. I found the cupcake recipe here and the frosting is an adaptation of the Sprinkles cream cheese frosting, which is the MOST perfect cream cheese frosting I've found.

Cupcakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites
1/3 cup thawed frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 or more drops red food coloring
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I have NOT tried this yet!)

Icing
4 ounces cold cream cheese
1/2 stick unsalted butter, firm but not cold
Pinch salt
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons thawed frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate


For cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with liners.
• In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg whites and lemonade concentrate. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until just smooth. Add just enough food coloring to turn the batter a light shade of pink.
• Scoop batter into liners (fill about three-fourths full). I got 9 perfectly flat cupcakes from this recipe. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

For icing:

• Combine butter, salt, and cream cheese, 2-3 minutes on med-low.
• Reduce to low, add the sugar and beat until incorporated.
• Add vanilla and concentrate and beat just until incorporated. Do not over mix.
• Add milk 1 teaspoon at a time if needed for consistency.

Lemon Layer Cake with Raspberry Curd

This is a fantastic, light, and airy lemon cake. And the curd is perfect! You may notice the alarming amount of butter in all three elements, but hey, that's what makes it so good.

It's a bit time intensive but I never mind that when things come out this good!


Cake
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk
5 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Raspberry Curd
1 stick unsalted butter
12 ounce package frozen raspberries, thawed
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Frosting
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 1/2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Curd (make the day before)

• Melt butter over medium heat.
  
• Add raspberries, yolks, sugar, and salt. Mash raspberries. Cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Pour through a strainer, pressing to extract as much as possible.
  
• Cool to room temperature then stir in lemon juice. Chill.

Cake

• Heat oven to 350. Prepare two 8x2 round cake pans. (I did not use parchment rounds this time and I regretted it. No huge harm done, they just didn't release as nicely as I would have liked)
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
  
• Pulse 1/4 cup of the sugar with lemon zest in food processor until finely ground.

• Beat butter and zest mixture with electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add remaining sugar and beat until smooth.

• Add 1/4 cup milk and beat until just blended. Reduce speed to low and alternately add flour and milk in 3 batches. Beat only until blended, no longer.
• Beat egg whites in a large bowl until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat to stiff peaks.

• Fold the egg whites into the batter carefully. (The point of "folding in" is to keep the air bubbles in the eggs, so do this carefully. If you're not sure how to do this, check here). This is really a very pretty batter!
  
• Divide batter between the two pans and bake about 35 minutes.

• Cool 10 minutes in pan then remove and cool completely.

Frosting

• Beat butter and zest until fluffy.
• Gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  
• Add lemon juice and beat for one minute.
  

Assembly

• Cut each cake into two layers.
  
• Spread curd in between layers, leaving about a 1/2 inch border.

• Frost. I used a zig-zag on the sides and smooth on top, but whatever floats your boat works.

A few tips:

• Butter at "room temperature" does not necessarily mean YOUR room temperature. It needs to still be somewhat firm, just not solid and definitely not squishy. I usually take it out 20 minutes before I start and it's perfect. If I forget, 12 seconds on my microwave is perfect.
  
• Separate eggs while they're cold, then let them come to room temp. It's easier to separate them when they're cold.
  
• It's absolutely necessary to have a perfectly clean bowl when whipping egg whites. ANY fat or soap residue will make them stay flat. So, to make sure, wipe out the bowl with white vinegar then rinse with water.
  

I found this recipe in Luscious Berry Desserts

Oatmeal Cranberry Bars

I found this recipe in my Everyday Food magazine last month but was hesitant to try it. They looked so tasty but I'm not a fan of raisins. So I decided to substitute cranberries and see how it was. I have to say, they're pretty darn tasty. Kind of like a thick oatmeal cookie. Nice and moist and chewy. Enjoy! And if you must, I'm sure they're decent with raisins too, just don't bring them to my house.


3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup flour
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (NOT quick cooking)
1 cup dried cranberries

• Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment.

• In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, egg, salt, and cinnamon until smooth.
• Add flour, oats, and cranberries. Fold in just until combined.
• Spread batter in pan and bake until toothpick comes out with moist crumbs, about 28 minutes.

• Cool completely and slice.
  

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Disclaimer: I'm having some technical difficulties with my fonts (obviously!) and I apologize. It's driving me crazy but I can't figure out why they're all coming out different sizes even though they're all marked as the same size. Suggestions?
I decided I needed to do a red, white, and blue cupcake for the 4th and my husband and I are constantly on the look out for the perfect Red Velvet Cupcake so here's my newest attempt. I really liked the taste and texture of this one but my husband said it wasn't moist enough, although I question his palate! He did say this after eating an unfrosted one (which, of course, is pure craziness! Everyone KNOWS the cream cheese frosting is what makes red velvet so irresistible).

Although I was happy with the flavor, I'm not a fan of my decorating skills. I've signed up for a Wilton class that starts next week so hopefully my treats will start looking a little prettier.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 1/3 cups cake flour
2 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder (I didn't have any on hand and used regular with no ill results)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cold cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter, firm but not cold
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 ¾ cups powdered sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla

For cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar in mixer for 3 minutes on medium until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating each until fully incorporated.
• In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and food color.
• Add a fourth of the dry ingredients to butter and mix, add a third of the wet. Continue adding in that pattern, ending with dry.
• Scoop into cupcake liners about 1/2-3/4 of the way full. Bake 18-22 minutes.
• Allow to cool completely before frosting

For frosting:

• Combine butter, salt, and cream cheese in mixer and beat on medium 2-3 minutes
• Reduce to low and add sugar, mixing until just incorporated. DO NOT over mix. It should be thick but not really "fluffy". Think ice cream texture.
• Add vanilla. If necessary, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time to thin.

I've taken these recipes from two different places. The cupcakes came from Simply Recipes and the frosting is from the packaging of Sprinkles cupcakes that I received as a gift. This is, as far as I'm concerned, THE BEST cream cheese frosting I've ever tasted and use it for anything that calls for it.