Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

I know what you all are thinking.... finally a new recipe!  Sorry to be holding back the bakery goodness.  Even though I only put recipes on this blog, I just might add an entry about what else has been distracting me.  Let just say it is some Steampunk goodness for the Halloween season! 

My Pumpkin Pie cheesecake caused me some irritation.  Probably the most frustration I have yet to encounter.  As a warning... caramel sauce is finky!  It tastes wonderful, but be prepared and have extra supplies on hand, just in case.

Now down to the good bits - the actual 'how to' portion!

Extras You'll Need: 

Pureed pumpkin -- Heavy Whipping Cream -- Crushed Pecans

Chocolate Pecan Crust

• 1 1/2 c. - ground pecans
• 1 c. - flour
• 1/3 c. - sugar
• 1/4 c. - melted butter
• 2 oz  - semi-sweet chocolate, melted

 Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pecans, sugar, flour, melted chocolate and butter. Pat into 9" spring-form pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

• 4 - 8 oz packages of Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 c. - sugar
• 1 - 15 oz can pumpkin
• 1 tsp - vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 5 tsp - cinnamon
• 2 1/2 tsp - ground ginger
•  2 1/2 tsp - ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 tsp - ground cloves

Beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until well blended. Add pumpkin, spice and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing slowly after each until just blended. Pour into crust. Bake for 1 hour 20 min to 1 hour 30 min or until center is almost set. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours.  

 Caramel Sauce 

•  1 c. - sugar
• 6 Tbsp - butter 
• 1/2 c. - heavy whipping cream

Have everything ready to go around pan.  Heat sugar on moderately high in non-stick 2-3 quart saucepan.  As sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with whisk or wooden spoon.  Once sugar comes to boil, stop stirring.  Once totally melted,  the liquid sugar should be a darker amber colour.  Immediately add butter to pan and whisk until butter has melted (beware: it will foam with addition of butter).  Once butter has melted, take pan off heat, count to three and slowly add cream.  Continue to whisk until incorporate (beware: it will foam).  Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth.  Let cool in pan for couple of minutes,  then pour into glass jar and let cool to room temperature.  Warm before serving.  -- Can be stored up for 2 weeks.   

Make it Pretty

Once caramel has cooled enough, pour the caramel over the cheesecake and sprinkle with crushed pecans.  

Enjoy!

Hello Pumpkin!

Fall is my absolutely favorite season, especially for baking, because I love pumpkin and cinnamon.  I recently found two recipes online, one for pumpkin spice whoopie pies and another for a Mexican brownie bottom cheesecake.  I'll get those up here soon.  Since only slightly modified them, I'll make sure to include the links to where I found the recipes. 

As to the future of the fall season baking.  My mum made me a pumpkin cake with cream cheese filling for my birthday - which has led to a new inspiration for me.  I've decided it time to make some pumpkin cheesecake.  Who knows where this desire to make cheesecake suddenly came from -- though if you went to Taste of St. Louis this past weekend and tried a slice of cheesecake from Hank's Cheesecakes you are probably obsessed also.    So on the docket to make this week will be chocolate crusted pumpkin cheesecake with caramel and pecans.  (I am also apparently digging into my southern roots...). 

As American as Apple Pie

Apparently road trips are great ways to think of cupcake ideas!  A drive through Arkansas provided me with the inspiration to create apple cinnamon cupcakes filled with caramel and topped with apple cream cheese frosting.  The camera cord is currently MIA, so this entry will also be photo-less.  This is turning into a not so positive trend. 

Anyway!  The friend I made these for proclaimed that they reminded her of her grandmother's apple cake and that the finished product was delicious.  So I hope you find them just as tantalizing! They are a little more time consuming because of the filling, probably budget about 3 hours.  Again though, you can do it in stages or adjust the recipe how you like.

What You'll Need:

If you do not already have cream cheese, powdered sugar, ground cinnamon, walnuts, caramel or apples you will want to purchase these for the cupcakes.  You will need 4 oz. of cream cheese, 2 cups of powdered sugar and about 3-4 apples. 

For the apples, you will want to locate sweet apples - such as Red Delicious or Golden Delicious.  For the garnish you will need to about 2 apples, these you will want to be semi-sweet, like Gala or Fuji.     

For the caramel, you could purchase caramel candies and melt them or if possible caramel bits you add water or milk for melting.  If you want to make home-made caramel sauce I will include the recipe below.   

Ingredients:

2 cups - diced apples
1 1/4 tsp - ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp - apple juice
1 pkg. - french vanilla pudding
1 pkg. - white cake mix
    -- additionally you'll need the ingredients listed on the cake mix

Stir Up Some Goodness:

Prepare cake mix as directed on package.  Add pudding and cinnamon, mix well.  Stir in diced apples and apple juice.  Line cupcake pan with paper liners and fill with batter (about 3/4 full or more if you want a larger top).  Bake in oven at 350 degrees until golden brown, remove and let cool.

Caramel Sauce:

There are two choices - get a bag of caramels and melt them in 2 Tbsp of water (about two minutes) or you can make the sauce.

For the Sauce: 

1 1/2 cups - sugar
1/3 cup - water
1 1/4 cups - heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp - vanilla extract

Set out ingredients in easy to grab areas around the stove.  The process is very fast, slow moving could end with a burnt mess rather than caramel sauce.  Heat sugar and water in a saucepan on low heat until sugar dissolves.  Increase the heat and boil sugar until it turns medium-brown.  Watch the sugar carefully to ensure it doesn't burn as it reaches this point.  Gradually add the heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract.  *Watch that it doesn't spatter on you!*  Simmer until sauce becomes smooth and thick (about 2 min).   Let cool.

Fill the cupcakes!:

Using a melon baller, knife or other utensil, create hole in middle of cupcake - going about 1/2 to 2/3 the way down.  Fill a icing bag with cooled (room temp!) caramel and fill cupcakes.  (A helpful cheat here is to fill a ziplock bag with the caramel and cut off a small bit of the corner if you don't have icing bags).

Apple Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 tsp - apple juice
4 oz - cream cheese, softened
4 oz - butter, room temp
2 cups - powdered sugar

Blend cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time.  Stir in apple juice.  If your kitchen is warm and the frosting has gotten too soft to frost the cupcakes, let it cool in the refrigerator until firms up.  Top cupcakes with desired amount of frosting.

Garnish to Complete:
If you want to make the cupcakes look elegant you can add garnish.  Make up some cinnamon-sugar and sprinkle on top of the frosting.  Slice the semi-sweet apples (pretty thin) and place a slice or two on top of the cupcakes.  Add chopped walnuts to finish off!

Enjoy!   

Squirrel Bait Cookies -- or Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies

I have been holding off on entering this recipe until I could get the accompanying pictures downloaded so I could put them up with the entry.  Apparently though I have misplaced said pictures.... or at least can't remember which camera I took them with - I swear it was with my sister's camera - but since these are wonderful cookies, I don't want to continue holding off on this entry.  So for right now, it will be picture-less and when I finally discover the mystery camera that holds the elusive photographic evidence of cookie yummi-ness, I will put them up.

Betsy has affectionately given these cookies a name, which I have adapted to Squirrel Bait.  The origins of said name is due to the fruit and nut ingredients -- though whether squirrels eat cherries, I don't know. 

As a note: This recipe calls for Dark Chocolate Baking Cocoa.  Hershey's definitely makes this and I am sure it is possible to find organic.  My recommendation to locate it, would be to go to a mid-range priced grocery store or a organic store (like Dierbergs or Whole Foods).

Why is the Dark Chocolate Baking Cocoa so important?  Because it is amazing of course!  Also it is very dark, so it creates a beautiful cookie.  The flavour is also very different from normal baking cocoa.  If you have ever eaten Oreo's, this is the flavour I am talking about.  It is decadent. 

What You'll Need:

• Dark Chocolate Baking Cocoa -- vital
• Chopped cherries -- I used maraschino, but dried or fresh would be excellent also
• Slivered/Chopped almonds

The Ingredients:
2 cups - flour
3/4 cup - Dark Chocolate Baking Cocoa
1 tsp - Baking soda
1/2 tsp - salt
1 cup - margarine or butter, softened
2/3 cup - granulated sugar
2/3 cup - packed brown sugar
1 tsp - vanilla extract
2 eggs
2/3 cup - slivered/chopped almonds
3/4 cup - chopped cherries

Mix It!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking cocoa in a bowl and set aside.  Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl until creamy.  Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture until fully incorporated.  Stir in cherries and almonds.  Drop by spoonful on to an ungreased baking sheet and place in oven.

Bake for 9-11 minutes.  Let cookies cool and enjoy!

Nutella Oatmeal Cookies

After a plea for something easy to make, here is a cookie recipe.  Small time committment indeed!

Nutella really is the best thing on Earth, so why not combine it with another wonderful treat -- oatmeal cookies! 

It is possible to make these gluten-free if you use Quaker old-fashion oats.  Bypass the rolled oats, because those have gluten in them.  For flour I'd recommend Pamela's baking mix or King Arthur's flour mix.  Both taste really good without the grainy side effects. 
What You'll Need:

• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup - Nutella
• 3 cups - Old-fashion oats
• 1 tsp - Ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 cups - Flour
• 1/2 cup - Granulated sugar
• 1 cup - Brown sugar
• 1 tsp - Baking soda
• 1 cup - Butter (2 sticks)
• 1 tsp - Vanilla
• 1 tsp - salt (optional)

Mix it Up!

Beat butter, sugar and brown sugar until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla until smooth.  Gradually add in flour, baking soda and cinnamon until incorporated.  Stir in oats and then nutella. 

Set oven at 350 degrees and bake cookies for 8 to 9 minutes or until slighlty golden. 

NOTE:  If you are making the cookies gluten-free it is recommend you bake them on the bottom rack.  Oatmeal cookies spread badly when they are gluten-free, the only way to ensure they bake thicker is to have them as far from the top heat.  

Enjoy!

T.G.I.F.

In celebration of Friday's I have a wonderful cupcake worthy of any celebration -- and not to worry, it is safe for kids to consume, the alcohol is either baked off or in such small quantities it does not have any lasting affects.  You could alter the recipe to create a more significant affect if you wanted to, your choice there!

The T.G.I.F. cupcakes are a chocolate & Irish cream liqueur chocolate cupcake with a Kirschwasser ganache filling with an Irish cream buttercream.  This lovely confection came about one Thursday afternoon as I was making lunch and considering baking a treat for a weekend out with a friend.

What you'll need:
Time - these cupcakes can be very time consuming, if you don't have a couple of hours to spend  I'd suggest either making them in phases (bake the cupcakes, do the ganache the next time and finish off with icing some other time) or wait. 
Irish Cream, Chocolate liqueur, and a whiskey or schnapps - you don't need a lot, but you'll need to have a least a cup of Irish cream and chocolate liqueur and a couple of tablespoons of the schnapps/whiskey hanging around.  Kirschwasser is just a cherry brandy
Piping bag/couplers/tips - okay so you might have your own way of inserting the filling, but I find it easiest to use icing tips and bags to fill the cupcakes and to frost them.  It makes for quick work. 

As a note: I do have a cake recipe, but I'm lazy and always grab a cake mix.  If you want the recipe, let me know, I'll give it out.

Irish Cream/Chocolate Liqueur Cupcakes
1 - chocolate cake mix
1 - package chocolate pudding
1/2 cup - chocolate liqueur
1/2 cup - Irish cream liqueur

Follow the recipe on the back of the box to make cake.  Stir in chocolate pudding mix after fully incorporating cake ingredients.  Add liqueur and stir.   Using 1/4 cup (or 1/3 cup if using 6 cupcake pan) place batter into cupcake pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into middle of a cupcake comes out clean.  Cool to room temperature.

Kirschwasser Ganache Filling
8 ounces - bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup - heavy cream
2 Tbsp - butter, room temperature
3 tsp - Kirschwasser (or any kind of schnapps/whiskey of your choosing) -- optional

Chop the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl.  Heat the cream until simmering and pour over the chocolate.  Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth.  Add the butter and liqueur and stir until combined. 

To fill the cupcakes, let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.  Using a round cookie cutter, apple corer or vegetable peeler, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes.  Go about half to 2/3 down.  Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes  in each cupcake to the top.   To add a little extra 'uomph' you can spread a thin layer of the filling on top (careful though, because it will be rich to taste!).

Irish Cream Buttercream
3 3/4 cups - powdered sugar 
1/2 cup (1 stick) - butter, at room temperature
4 Tbsp - Irish cream (or milk or non-alcoholic Irish cream, if prefer)

In a large bowl, whip the butter for several minutes until light and fluffy.  Slowly add the powdered sugar, letting it incorporate, until the butter becomes thicker and stiff.  Slowly drizzle the Irish cream (or substitute) and whip until combined.  If still too stiff, add additional tablespoon as necessary.  Using piping bag and  prefered tip, ice the cupcakes.


You can add a little extra flair and decorate the cupcakes with items of your preferences.  I added almond slivers, dark chocolate curls and a cherry on mine.  An extra bonus is that the cherry picks up the Irish cream flavour! 

Lime-olada Cupcakes

Here they are!

As mentioned in the previous post, Coconut Lime cupcakes were the order of the day.  After a quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on supplies (you'd be surprised how quickly the coconut extract goes with this recipe!) I arrived home from work and got down to business.  

I decided to change up my recipe slightly by adding a lime zest whip cream filling to add a little more summer flair to the cupcakes.  My little sister and I had great fun making a huge mess in the kitchen to make these delicious cakes.  They do take a bit of effort, as my sister loves to point out, because zesting is a process (which I always heft off to someone else, much to every one's irritation).  Luckily, she grinned and bore the pain!   

These cupcakes are gluten free (yay!) and because of that it is really easiest to use a cake mix.  Gluten-free flour is something I am still working at, I've run into many not so tasty flour mixes and am still playing with blends.  Someday, I'll walk without the crutches!  Until then, cake mixes it is.  I would recommend the Betty Crocker Gluten Free cake mixes.  Pamela's is also quite good.  Bob's Red Mill is my least favourite by far, however, the garbanzo bean flour used is a strong flavour.  To make the cake more moist and to add a little extra flavour I add pudding mixes, but it isn't necessary. 

 

To make 'em:

Cake:

1 - vanilla cake mix

1 - pkg. coconut cream pudding

7 tsp - lime juice

3 tsp - coconut extract

3 Tbsp - coconut milk

1 tsp - lime zest

Prepare cake mix according to directions, subbing vanilla extract for coconut extract.  Add pudding mix, lime juice, zest, and coconut milk and mix well.  Let cupcakes completely cool.  Create a hole for filling in middle of cupcake (I use a vegetable peeler).  

Whipping cream filling:

2 tsp - lime zest

1 c. - heavy whipping cream

2 Tbsp - powdered sugar

Combine heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and zest in bowl.  Using an electric whisk, blend until thick and fluffy.  Fill cupcakes with whip cream once cupcakes are cool.  

Coconut Milk Buttercream

3 3/4 c. - powdered sugar

1/2 c. - butter (room temperature)

4 Tbsp - coconut milk

3 tsp - coconut extract

In bowl cream butter.  Gradually add powdered sugar until fully incorporated with butter.  Add the coconut extract and mix.  Add coconut milk Tbsp by Tbsp until buttercream is creamy but still slightly stiff.  Ice cupcakes. 

Lime Curd:

1 c. - sugar

2/3 c. - lime juice

2 tsp - lime zest

2 eggs

2 Tbsp -  butter

 

Combine sugar, lime juice and zest in a sauce pan using wire whisk.  Add eggs and butter.  Stir constantly over medium heat for about eight minutes - until mixture thickens and coats back of spoon.  Do not let boil.  Cool and drizzle over cupcakes. 

 

The cupcakes can be topped with coconut flakes, nuts or anything of your choosing.  They also taste great without any other additions.  

I would recommend refrigerating the cupcakes, since the butter in the icing can get soft and because of the whip cream filling. 

Enjoy!

Put de Lime in de Coconut

Inspired by an episode of Bones, I decided to make Coconut Lime cupcakes.  The flavour isn't original by any means, but they are a wonderful summer treat.  Considering the coconut and lime enthusiasts I know, they were pretty popular.   For the benefit of some long distance friends I'm taking up the task again!  I haven't decided yet if I am going to alter the recipe.  Either way the recipe and pictures will make their way on here, so you can make your own!

Until later enjoy a little mood music: Harry Nilsson - Coconut