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Showing posts with label Cheesecake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheesecake. Show all posts

Thursday, 16 June 2011

Chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecakes

Hey hey. Guess what I've got on my mind today?
 ... 
Did you guess yet?


Books. And Crushes. 


Lemme explain. I am an avid reader. That's how I know how to use words like 'avid' ;p And today, I was tweeting about the book I'm currently reading when I thought that I'd really like  to start incorporating book reviews into my blog. Which means you guys are going to be subjected to my opinions about some of the books I read. If you don't like to read, well ...  then ... you're missing out big time. And no! You can't just watch the movie. It is never as good!


On a related note, the lovely people at Quadrille books have sent me a new cook book to review which I'll do next week, as well as run a giveaway for a copy of the book. My very first giveaway! Are you excited? I am!


On to crushes. I was thinking that I have a blog crush on the creator of today's recipe; Lauren's Latest. And it got me thinking of the other blog crushes I have - Annie's Eats, How Sweet it is and Gingerbread Bagels to name a few.  
Y'all already know about my chef crush on Nigella Lawson right? Well did you know I also crush on the lesser known though equally talented Jo Pratt? And the Caribbean food god Levi Roots? Oooh and the Ace of Cakes. Though I don't know his name.
I have clothes crushes on dresses and playsuits. 
Hollywood actor crushes on Josh Hartnett and Joshua Jackson - *swoon* wasn't Pacey Witter just the best character to ever grace our TVs? 
Halle Berry, Nicole Richie and Rihanna are my girl crushes, Kathryn Stockett (have I raved about her debut novel 'The Help' yet?) and Chimamanda Adichie are my author crushes ... I think you get the message, I have crushes just about everywhere.


Everywhere, that is, except in real life. If my work's HR department is reading this, it is upon your weary heads I lay the burden of  hiring me a real life, everyday crush. Thank you.


Till then, peace, love and cookie dough cheesecake. 


Makes 12


Ingredients


For the cookie dough
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp icing sugar
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp chocolate chips


For the cheesecakes
12 Oreo cookies
227g cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg


Chocolate chips (to decorate)


1 - Preheat oven to 170C /Gas mark 3/ 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners and set aside
To make cookie dough:
2 - Place softened butter into a medium sized bowl. Stir in sugars until well incorporated
3 - Stir in vanilla, salt and flour. It may seem too dry at first but it should all mix in
4 - Once flour is no longer visible, mix the dough with your hand. The heat of your hands should help keep things sticking together. 
Mix in chocolate chips and form dough into a log with the same diameter as the Oreo cookies
5 - Score the top of the dough to get even pieces and then slice
6 - Place dough rounds on top of Oreo cookie and press down lightly to help it stick. If the dough circles are a little too big, just press the overlapping dough to be flush with the side of the cookie, and then smooth the top
7 - Place these into the prepared muffin tins and set aside
To make the cheesecake filling
8 - Whip cream cheese in a large bowl
9 - Slowly pour in sugar and flour. Scrape down sides and mix again briefly
10 - Whip in vanilla extract and egg until incorporated. Scrape sides and whip again
11 - Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of cheesecake mix over each cookie stack and spread on top and around cookie. (This recipe makes just enough cheesecake to cover these, so start with smaller amounts covering the tops and adding extra spoonfuls from there)
12 - Bake for 20 minutes or until cheesecake is set completely. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until completely chilled. Once ready to serve, remove paper liners and top with chocolate chips

Monday, 31 May 2010

SATC 2 and Pineapple Cheesecake with White Chocolate Sauce and Macadamias

It was my mum's birthday on Thursday and we decided to have a joint BBQ family dinner for my sister and her on the Saturday. On Friday, we went to see SATC2 on the first day of it's UK release. There was no way I'd wait a day or a couple of days to see it, it had to be on the actual day of its release; that's how much I love SATC!

But I came out of the cinema feeling deflated, disappointed, underwhelmed, unenthused and unimpressed ... ha ha, I'm sure you get the message! Don't get me wrong, I loved the fashion and the decadence of Abu Dhabi but not in place of actual story lines and the glamour of Manhattan! As my dad (who really dislikes all forms of chick flick my mum tries to drag him to) gleefully quoted from a review he'd heard on the radio, 'there was no sex (yup, it was weird to hear him say that) as only the one who normally gets lots of sex got some and even then; once??? and there was no city, only the desert'. As we came out, my brother in law who was dragged there against his will said, 'It was entertaining, but just really frivolous and superficial', and I had to agree but also clarify that Sex and the City might be frivolous and fun to watch but it usually also has substance! My friends and I reference their numerous dating and life dilemmas because they are so relevant. In conclusion, I'm really sad :( On the bright side, there were some fabulous dresses from Carrie (but who wears a dress with a train at home to watch TV????) and some laugh-out-loud moments so it's not all bad!

Okay, so I promise that there's a link between SATC and today's baking endeavour. Magnolia bakery - I made it a must stop on my last trip to NY after hearing about it on the show and now have two of their cookbooks. This and my next post are recipes from 'At Home with Magnolia' - which is the only one of their books which is not just a cake/desert book. It's also the only one of their books with lots of pictures which is usually a must for cookbooks for me ... so if you're reading Allysa Torey, please make sure all of your upcoming books (and I hope there'll be plenty) have lots of pictures of your beautiful cakes!

This was my sister's birthday cake and I'll post my mum's next. This recipe has been adapted as there are some things we just don't have in the UK (like graham crackers!) and I've changed all the measurements to g and ml from cups and ounces.

Ingredients

Crust
98g unsalted butter, melted
130g ginger nut biscuit crumbs
92g chopped toasted macadamia nuts (see note)
55g sugar

Filling
908g cream cheese (left at room temperature for a few hours to soften)
250g sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 x 227g tins of pineapple chunks, drained thoroughly! I drained them in the tins then drained small portions in my fist, using my fingers to cut them into smaller pieces before putting in the filling.
2 tablespoons double cream
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

White chocolate sauce
340g white chocolate, coarsely chopped
200ml double cream
90g coarsely chopped toasted macadamia nuts, for garnish (see note)

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas Mark 4

1 - To make the Crust: In a medium-size bowl, combine the butter, ginger nut crumbs, macadamia nuts, and sugar.
Press into the bottom of a 10-inch spring form pan.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Reduce the oven temperature to 165ºC/Gas Mark 3.
2 - To make the filling: In a large bowl, on the low speed of an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until very smooth. Gradually add the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time.
To ensure that the batter has no lumps and that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom of the bowl, stop the mixer several times and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Stir in the pineapple, double cream, and vanilla.
3 - Pour the filling over the crust and set the pan on a baking sheet.
Bake until the edges are set and the center moves only slightly when the pan is shaken, about 1 hour but it could take slightly longer.
At the end of the baking time, turn off the heat, and keeping the oven door slightly ajar, cool the cake in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to sit at room temperature for another hour. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, or overnight.
Note: my cake had a couple of cracks in the middle once it cooled but don't worry too much about that, the chocolate sauce is pretty thick and will cover any cracks.

4 - To make the white chocolate sauce: I recommend covering the cake in the white chocolate sauce a couple of hours before you serve it and returning it to the fridge until you serve.
In a small saucepan, over very low heat, combine the white chocolate with the heavy cream.
Stir until the white chocolate is completely melted and the sauce is smooth, 3-5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and transfer the sauce to a glass measuring cup. Allow to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Place cheesecake on your serving plate, remove from the tin (you might have to run a table knife round the edge to loosen it from the tin) and pour the sauce over the entire top of the cheesecake (letting it drip down the sides) and garnish with the macadamia nuts.

Note: To toast the macadamias, place on a baking sheet in a 180ºC/Gas Mark 4 oven for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant.

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes AKA (by me) Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

These are the first recipe I have tried from my new favourite cupcake book; 'Martha Stewart's Cupcakes'.


RECIPE - This recipe apparently makes 30, but I made half the recipe and only got 12.


Ingredients
42 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used 2 teaspoons for half the recipe, I love vanilla!)
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch salt


1 - Preheat oven to 275ºF (140ºC). Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.
2 - With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.
3 - Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

4 - Divide batter evenly among cookie-filled cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. I needed another 4 minutes baking time. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate (in tins) at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.


These were lovely and different but on a scale from 1-10 of my favourite things I have baked, I'd give them a 6. However, they are incredibly easy to make. My mixer was broken but a wooden spoon did the job just fine!




 I decorated them with little silver chocolate hearts but next time, I might decorate with a mini oreo per cupcake or sprinkle crushed oreos instead. The only slight complication with that is I'd have to decorate just before I served them or the cookies would get soft.