All About the Desserts.....I mean Babies!

Wow I really might be the worst blogger ever! Some of it is laziness and some of it is using new recipes and then losing them! I promise to be better. In October I helped throw a baby shower for a very dear friend from college. It was wonderful because her mom, sister in law, mother in law and another college friend helped out but let me do all the desserts. I was a little nuts, what's new, and over baked way too much but everything came out great.  People asked if it was a job or a hobby, I wish it was a job but not even sure if they were that amazing. I am proud to say that not only did everything looked good but everything tasted amazing!!!!

First was Red Velvet Cupcakes with bright blue cream cheese (it's a boy!).

I also made them in mini size! Which were a big hit, less guilt and just as delicious!

I also made cheesecake pops that came out great except I did keep them in the freezer before hand so they defrosted at the party.   I made them once before with Daring Bakers but I used a different recipe this time. They were super impressive at the party and a great hit.  I stored them in large plastic cups in the freezer so this way they could stand up as they were drying.The recipe I used this time is below.                                                                                                                 

These are 3D solid chocolate baby bottles that I made out of a chocolate mold. They werent perfect but everyone loved them and I did too!

CHEESECAKE POPS
(Source: Allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS:

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
24 lollipop sticks
10 ounces white confectioners' coating
miniature semisweet chocolate chips toasted

DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

- Beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Mix in the sour cream and blend thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour, vanilla and salt and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, blending thoroughly before adding the next egg, but do not overbeat. Pour batter into a 9-inch springform pan.

- Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until the edges of the cake just begin to turn golden. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

- Use a small cookie scoop to scoop out round balls of cheesecake. Roll them into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Push a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Place the tray in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

- Melt the white confectioners' coating (or semi-sweet chocolate). Dip each cheesecake pop into the melted coating. Then dip into one of the toppings. Place on waxed paper until coating is set. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Store in refrigerator. (I store mine in the freezer)

Thankful for Desserts!

Thanks to traveling for work and visiting my family in NY I am a little behind. Also, I apologize for all the nice comments that were left for me that I didn't respond to yet....the past few weeks have been super hectic but nothing like baking to help me relax!

I made the desserts for Thanksgiving dinner and I made Cheesecake, correctly this time and it came out delicious!!! I also made an Apple Oatmeal Crisp, which I didn't try but it looked delicious and it wsa interesting because there is a crisp layer on the bottom and on the top! (Read the note below). I topped it off with some homemade whipped cream, which came out fantastic this year. I think it is because I made a huge batch, five times the amount!






It might not look pretty but it tasted fantastic!

APPLE OATMEAL CRISP
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan.
- In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, oats, flour and butter. Mix until crumbly.
- Place half of crumb mixture in pan. Spread the apples evenly over crumb mixture.
- Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and top with remaining crumb mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

NOTES

- I didn't think an 8 inch square pan would have been enough for Thanksgiving so I put it in a rectangle pan and used 6 apples and did all the ingredients at 1 1/2 times EXCEPT for the Sugar



WHIPPED CREAM
(Source: allrecipe.com)
I did the recipe times 5

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.

Tis the Season.........

Pumpkin season that is! I had an extra can of pumpkin in my cupboards and I know my officemate loves pumpkin so I found a delicious recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. I am not a huge pumpkin fan nor am I a big pecan fan and that is basically all this recipe is. I did not like these when they first came out of the oven BUT the next day when I was work they were taunting me all day and when I had one I was pleasantly surprised - they were pretty good. I found that pumpkin and non pumpkin fans both liked these - so that makes them a hit in my book!

I didn't have any allspice at home, it is one of those ingredients that I always think I have but never do, so instead I just used a little less then 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg and it tasted great. Also, when they came out of the oven the first time the edges were not lightly brown and I didn't let it cool off before I added the cheesecake filling but it still worked out well. It also took me longer then 35 minutes to bake these, I kept waiting for them to brown and set firmer but they didn't I think I might have actually had them in for an extra 20 minutes but after a nite in the refrigerator they came out perfect. Enjoy!!






PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE BARS
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
1 cup finely chopped pecans (I used pecan chips)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice

DIRECTIONS

- In a bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in pecans; set aside 3/4 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

- In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Beat in the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator.

Birthday Cheesecake!

My dad loves cheesecake and so when he came down I made it per special request for his birthday! I used a new recipe and it was delicious but of course in my haste I misread the directions and added a 1 1/4 C. sugar to the crust instead of 1/4 C., the word divided is very important! But it still came out great!!! I also used packages of Fat Free and Low Fat cream cheese instead of regular cream cheese and it tasted delicious! If possible I always use the light, low fat, or no fat ingredients.







CHEESECAKE
(Source: Kraftfoods.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 3/4 cups HONEY MAID Graham Cracker Crumbs (I used 2 coups)
1/3 cup margarine or butter, melted
1-1/4 cups sugar, divided
3 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Sour Cream
2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling

DIRECTIONS:

PREHEAT oven to 350°F if using a silver 8- or 9-inch springform pan (or to 325°F if using a dark nonstick 8- or 9-inch springform pan). Mix graham cracker crumbs, margarine and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Press firmly onto bottom and 2-1/2 inches up side of pan; set aside.

BEAT cream cheese and the remaining 1 cup sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour into crust.

BAKE 1 hour to 1 hour 10 min. or until center is almost set. Turn oven off. Open oven door slightly. Let cheesecake set in oven 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from oven; cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Loosen cheesecake from rim of pan; remove rim. Top cheesecake with pie filling just before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Cheesecake Pops - Daring Bakers Challenge

Part of the reason why I decided to do a blog was because of the Daring Bakers Challenge. Their challenge last month was Cheesecake Pops and this recipe intrigued me and although I wasn't officially part of the challenge I still made them and my office mates loved them......After the recipe are some of my thoughts about them! Enjoy!!







The Recipe


Makes 30 – 40 Pops
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionery coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional


Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.


Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.


Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.


When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.



When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.


Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.


Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.


Some Thoughts:

• I used a combination of reduced fat and 1/3 less fat cream cheese and it still came out delicious


• I could not find a 10 inch pan so I ended up using a 9 in. pan which meant I had left over batter - I poured the batter into a mini muffin pan and made a few mini cheesecakes - that were also delicious!


• I brought them to work and as they defrosted the sticks came out - I need to work on a way for the sticks to stay in better; however, the chocolate stayed hard so next time I might just do a bon bon form - which my office mates/guinea pigs said would be delicious as well!


• I made my chocolate in batches in the microwave - pretty easy just make sure that the chocolate doesn't burn!