Fluffy New York Style Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Sauce

In my medical School we do a PBL (problem based learning) curriculum. This means that we learn by going through real cases in small groups. Every 8 weeks, each student has to be "Quarterback" for one case, meaning that you lead the group. What this really means for me, is that I get a great excuse to make delicious unhealthy food that I can eat, and feed to other people (so I don't eat the entire cheesecake myself)!

Up until now, I had never made a cheesecake before. And considering it is one of my favorite desserts AND that I love to cook... that is pretty much just an atrocity! So I figured this was as good a time as any. I made a cheesecake for my group and it turned out AMAZING!!!!! OH MY GOSH BEST CHEESECAKE EVER!!!

I should preface, that I didn't pick a particularly easy cheesecake recipe, because I wanted it to be a great cheesecake. Go big or go home, right? So I didn't want one where you just mix together cream cheese and sugar and refrigerate it in a pre-made graham cracker crust. Don't get me wrong, those are still tasty, but I wanted to really do it right and make a real cheesecake.

I did run into my fair share of bumps in the road. Most of these were my fault, for not reading the recipe well  enough before I started making it, but I also had some bad luck tossed in there. For your amusement I have listed my mishaps in short:

1. The original recipe was in metric units. Bleh! Yeah, I am a sciency person, so I understand metric and can convert stuff... but that doesn't mean I have any clue how many cups is equal to 273 grams of flour... SO I had to convert all of that a few times to make sure it was correct.
2. The chocolate shortbread crust made WAY too much, so you were supposed to save half of it and toss out something like an additional fourth... something crazy. So I converted all of that into a normal amount of crust for one cheesecake. 
3. I didn't read the cheesecake recipe well enough, almost put the eggs in whole, before realizing they needed to be separated. Also didn't realize I was supposed to use a giant roasting pan, which I don't own, until it was time to bake the cake. Don't stop here, crisis averted, just made do with what I had (instructions below).
4. Worst of all: My mixer stopped working in the middle of whipping up the batter. You cannot make a cheesecake without a mixer!!! So I ended up having to go borrow a neighbors mixer at 10 PM, and re-paid them in left-over cheesecake!

However, many mishaps, crazy conversions, and one extremely messy kitchen later, the cheesecake was done. It was TOTALLY WORTH IT!!! 

Hopefully I have laid out the recipe well enough here with all of  my little tips that will help you not make the same mistakes I made. Let me know how it goes for you, and if you come up with any extra tips! One more time, in case you're intimidated by my crazy mistakes and mishaps.. it really is totally worth it, and it isn't a big scary recipe now that it's already converted and laid out step by step for you here, by yours truly!

Chocolate Shortbread Crust

• 6 and 2/3 Tbl. Butter, cold cubed small 
• 2 Tbl. Sugar
• 2/3 cup + 4 Tbl. Flour
• 4 tsp. Cocoa Powder

Preheat the oven to 350. Using a fork and your fingers, mix all the ingredients into a pebbly, sandy type  mixture. If you have a good food processor, this makes it even easier, but mine is a huge hassle to put together and clean, so I used a fork and fingers. Less fancy, worked great! Press the dough into the bottom of your 10 inch springform pan. Bake the dough for 35 min. Let it cool completely while you're mixing up your other stuff!

Cheesecake Batter

• 2 pounds Cream Cheese, softened 
• 1 stick Butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Creme Fraiche or Sour Cream
• 1 cup Sugar
• 5 Eggs 
• 3 Tbl. Flour
• Zest of one Lemon

Notes before you start: 

• I used half regular, and half reduced fat. By all means, feel free to use full fat!
• Eggs will need to be separated into yolks and whites for this recipe (just a heads up, I didn't realize until I was ready to put them in... could have been a major SNAFU)
• Don't get excited and try to start before the cream cheese and butter are fully softened, if you're tempted just set them both on the stove top while the crust bakes and walk away! It will get all lumpy, and you will have to clean your mixer out a bunch in a row... just wait. They will be soft soon enough.
• Another place I was unprepared... this recipe calls to bake the cheesecake in a water bath in a big roasting pan. I don't have a big roasting pan (you know, the whole student thing, limited kitchen space, a roasting pan never seemed like something I really needed... whoops!). BUT I made it work, and it turned out great, so don't fear if you end up in this situation. You don't have to go buy a roasting pan! Just see my notes below for what I actually did. 

Once the butter and cream cheese are fully softened, cream these together and add the sugar, lemon zest, and sour cream. Mix these together until just combined. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and mix in until combined. This is my first cheesecake to make, so I'm no expert, but I hear if you over-mix them they get lots of air in them and crack open in the middle when you bake them. So I made sure to just mix it until it was all combined and creamy.

Now you are ready for your separated eggs. Add in the egg yolks one at a time and combine with the creamy mixture. In a separate bowel whip the egg whites until stiff. Once stiff peaks have formed, fold the egg whites into the batter until it all comes together in a big fluffy batter!

Pour the batter in the springform pan, over your baked, cooled, crust. 

Wrap the bottom of your springform pan in aluminium foil to keep water out while you bake it in the water bath. If you have a large roasting pan, you will put the cheesecake in it and and add enough hot water to come halfway up the side of the pan. 

Here's where if you don't have a large roasting pan you can improvise like I did. I tested all my cake pans, and dishes to see if they were big enough. Of course they weren't. So I used a cookie sheet with edges to set the cheesecake down in and filled water up to the rim of the cookie sheet. This will at least keep the bottom from burning on the metal racks, and made sure it cooked evenly with the water. Then I took a big 9x13 cake pan and filled it with water and put it on the bottom rack, below the cheesecake, and this did a great job of helping to steam up the oven and cook it all evenly. 

I'm sure if you have a roasting pan that is slightly superior, but this cheesecake turned out great, so I really don't know how much of a difference it makes. 

Bake the cake at 325 for 1 hour 30 min. Then turn the oven off and open the door just a crack and let your cake cool in the oven for 30 more minutes. Once it has cooled, Remove the cake from the oven and refrigerate for at least a few hours, or overnight if possible!

Salted Caramel Sauce

• 1 cup + 4 tsp. Sugar
• 1/3 cup Water
• 1/2 cup Salted Butter
• 2/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Let me just begin by saying that this stuff is money! You will probably have left overs after the cheesecake, so it would be awesome on ice cream, or marbled into brownie batter, or by the spoonful, or on asparagus...ok, maybe that is going a little far. But, you get the point!

So in a small-medium sized sauce pan over low heat combine the sugar and water and stir. Heat this over low heat until the sugar fully dissolves in the water. At this point add the butter. Melt it in and stir to mix it all together. Let it come to a boil and cook until it reaches a golden caramel color. You may have to turn the heat up to about a low-medium for this, but keep it pretty, low temperature still. Once the mixture is a nice caramel color, remove it from the heat and add in the cream. Whisk it to combine and put it back on the stove. Once more, let the mixture come to a boil over low heat and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes until it is at a good creamy consistency.

A couple things about the sauce (other than it's delicious-ness). The recipe says to cook until a golden caramel color. This will not happen quickly. It will need to cook off almost all of the water before it starts changing colors, and will get a little clumpy and not look like a sauce (this will fix when you add the cream, though). Take a book with you when you make this, I get nervous when making caramel and want to stir it every 2 seconds, but it will be fine, it won't boil over, and it's kind of hard to burn if you keep it on low heat, so don't hover over it waiting for it to turn colors like I did. It will likely take nearly an hour for the right color to happen (well worth the wait, though).

Once you add the cream, though you only need to cook for a bit longer to get the nice saucy texture. The spoon-test method works great for this. If you're not familiar with the spoon test, you dip a spoon into the sauce and pull it out. Run your finger down the back of the spoon with the sauce. If it runs back together over your finger mark, keep cooking it. If it stays on separate sides of your finger mark, it's done.

Pour it into a jar and refrigerate until you are ready to use it. When you're ready just microwave it or re-warm it on the stove!

Pumpkin Cake with Spiced Apple Glaze

  

The easiest cake you will ever make, and it is dense and moist so it is the perfect last minute fall dessert!

Pumpkin Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 15 oz can of pumpkin

Using a hand mixer mix together the cake mix and the can of pumpkin. It will come together in a thick creamy batter. Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 28-35 min until toothpick comes out clean.

Apple Spiced Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbl Apple juice (or apple cider)
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix all of the glaze ingredients together pour over the cake while it is still warm. If you want it to be extra gooey and moist poke some toothpick holes all over the top before you cover it with the glaze. I like to pour a little bit over the whole thing and let it soak in before I add another layer of glaze and do the same thing again. Usually 3 times is enough, just making sure it is all covered and soaked in the spiced glaze!

Girls Night Dessert!

I have wanted to make chocolate cups since I saw this post on bakerella, I just needed an event to make them for! So when we had a girls night dinner for Christmas, last year, I finally had the excuse I needed! I made two types of mousse to fill the cups with: peanut butter mousse and chocolate mousse. With a big group of girls, I think it's needless to say that they were a pretty big hit!

Chocolate Cup
Semi-sweet chocolate chips melted
Chocolate Almond Bark
Water balloons filled with air to the size you want your cups

Melt the chocolate mixture for dipping the balloons, blow up the balloons to the size you want, get a cookie sheet with parchment and put a little dollop of chocolate on the parchment paper for a base for the balloons to sit on. Dip the balloons in the chocolate and set it on the chocolate base. Let the chocolate cool.

 There will probably be thin spots from dipping where the chocolate layer is not even thickness. Take a basting brush or the back of a spoon and fill in the thin spots so that the bowl will be full thickness. If you try to pop the balloon with thin spots, the chocolate will tear instead of holding its shape.

When the chocolate has all hardened, pop the balloon and pull out the rubber from the shell! Voila, chocolate cups!

I used regular balloons, but since I only blew them up half way, when I popped them, they weren't super stretched out, so I had to pull the rubber out of the cup. I would recommend water balloons, they will be a bit more taught!

One awesome tip about dipping chocolate: whether it is strawberries or chocolate cups, I find that mixing half chocolate pieces and half chocolate almond bark (or even just 1/3 almond bark) keep the same taste while hardening harder and having a nice shiny coat when it cools!

Peanut Butter Mousse
1 cup cream cheese (softened)

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

4 T sugar

3/4 c. whipping cream

(whip to soft peaks and fold in)

With an electric mixer blend together the cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar. In a separate bowl whip the cream into soft peaks. Once soft peaks have formed, fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture!

Chocolate Mousse
2 packages of instant chocolate pudding mix

4 cups half and half

Follow the directions on the back of the pudding box for the amount of cream and pudding, using the half and half instead of milk. Now stop following the directions and use mine. Using electric mixer, beat together the pudding mix and half and half about 5 minutes until mousse forms. This is the absolute easiest chocolate mousse ever, but it is thick and rich! It's even thicker and creamier if you use cream instead of half and half... but that seemed just a little too indulgent for me with everything else we were eating at this particular girls night.

Once all the components are finished, layer the two mousse types into the chocolate cups and garnish with chocolate shards or curls! Pretty and delicious!

If anyone else tries this let me know how it turns out, for you!

Apple Pie with Crumble Topping

So, Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is approaching quickly. When I think of the fall holidays, I think Apple Pie! I am not a huge fan of pie in general... but Apple Pie is a different story. This is my favorite apple pie recipe and I hope it will be one of yours too!

When making the filling, I like to use a combination of different kinds of apples. I usually use 3 Gala and 3 Jonathan apples. These apples are firm enough that they don't get mushy when you cook them, but they are tangy enough to stand up to the sweetness of the filling.

When it comes to the crust. If you have a really great crust recipe, by all means use it. I, however, like the Pillsbury pre-made pie crusts. They are so quick and easy and they taste great! Grease your pie plate and lay your crust inside. After mixing the filling, plop it inside the crust, and top it with the

For the filling:
6 apples cored, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinimon

For the topping:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

1 stick butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake at this temperature for 7 minutes then turn the temperature down to 350 and continue to bake for another 35-45 minutes until golden brown and the juices are bubbling.

Heaven on a Plate

This dessert has given me a very hard time while I was trying to come up with a name or any kind of short description for it. This dish is kind of a combination between a coffee cake, gooey butter cake, and a sophisticated, elegant dessert! Although the name I gave does not exactly explain what it is, it most certainly explains the absolute decadence of this invention!

Well since I don't have a better description at this time, I'll just start with how I made it! Originally this recipe was supposed to be some sort of Paula Dean orange flavored brownie, but my version resembles that in no way, shape, or form....don't lose faith yet...Here it goes!

Almond White Chocolate Blondie's with Cream Cheese Icing (best name so far):

For the Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white chocolate chips

Beat together the butter and sugar. Add the dry ingredients then mix in the eggs 1 at a time. When it comes together stir in the vanilla and almond extract with a spatula. Stir in the white chocolate chips.

I have heard that if you coat the chocolate chips with flour it helps them stay suspended in the cake... DO NOT DO THIS ON THIS RECIPE! The best part about this invention is that when you bake it the white chocolate chips sink to the bottom forming a crispy white chocolate crust! Believe me, you don't want to miss out on that!

Pour the batter in a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake at 325 for approximately 45 min or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean... Don't overcook! You want the toothpick to come clean, but just barely! It will fall when cooling...don't fret, falling leaves it and moist.

While the cake is baking whip up the irresistible almond flavored cream cheese icing.

For the Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese
4 tablespoon butter
1 lb. powdered sugar (about 2 1/2 cups)
milk to thin (1-2 tablespoons)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

 As soon as the cake comes out of the oven poke lots of little holes in it using your toothpick and spread a thin layer of the cream cheese icing over the top. The icing will melt down into the cake to help make it even more flavorful and moist! Once it cools, add more icing on top!

This cream cheese icing is great but the recipe makes way more than necessary. You could probably cut it in half if you wanted to.... but who doesn't love a little extra cream cheese icing hanging around in the fridge to dip gram crackers, Nilla wafers, or fingers?!

I was hoping that by the end of writing this I would come up with a better name for this dish, but the perfect description still eludes me. Since I don't have a great explanation of the dessert I would love for you to try it out and let me know what you think I should call it! When I made it for my family, we at it as a dessert, and as breakfast with coffee so it can be a multifaceted recipe!

I also want to say: I promise that I really do eat much more healthily than my blog is so far leading you all to believe with all of these baked goods and desserts! However, I did have a disclaimer that my weaknesses were chocolate and cheese so not completely unwarranted! I promise more healthy recipes to come!

Frozen Key Lime Pie

As summer winds down to a close I MUST get this recipe out there before it gets to be chilly and fall. This frozen pie is not officially "key lime" as it is way to simple to be such and includes no such ingredient! It is simple, refreshing, tangy, and quite delicious! It always reminds me of summer and is one of my mother's few treats that always wins rave reviews! It's so simple and refreshing it's a must have at least once every year before the leaves start falling!

4 simple ingredients:

• 1 can frozen limeade concentrate
• 8 oz frozen whipped topping
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• pre-made chocolate oreo crust
• 3 drops of green food coloring (not a true ingredient)

I promised simple and simple I will deliver: thaw the ingredients (if the whipped topping is not fully thawed it will not mix and it will be clumpy), mixing the limeade and sweetened condensed milk together with a spatula, and fold in the whipped cream. Pour into the pre-made crust, and after four short hours (or overnight) in the freezer... voila! Delish!

A Berry Peachy Breakfast (or dessert)

I am not a huge breakfast eater on most days, I like the grab and go method with granola bars and morning coffee. Don't get me wrong, when my mom makes waffles and my dad fries up bacon and sausage with scrambled eggs I will eat until my heart's content. However, that is not the typical day for me.

I have gotten tired of the boring chewy granola bars every morning ...and in the summer, especially, I love fresh fruit. These raspberry, blackberry, peach breakfast bars were a great combo of fresh summer berries and peaches with the easy "grab and go" method I spoke of before!

These would also make a great dessert! You could serve it warm with some vanilla or cinimon flavored ice cream on top... almost like a makeshift apple crisp or fruit tart. (They also make a great afternoon snack)

Berry-Peach Breakfast Bars

Crust and Crumble Topping

1 c. flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
dash of salt
1 stick of butter (room temp and soft, but not melted)
2 1/2 c. oats
splash of orange juice (~2 Tbl.)
drizzle of honey for the top

Fruit Filling
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 Tbl. white granulated sugar
2 Tbl. flour
4 1/2 cups fresh berries or other fruit
splash of lemon juice (about a tablespoon)

To mix the crust and topping add the flour, brown sugar, and salt to the butter and mash with fork until small crumbs form. Combine with the oats and mix until incorporated. Set aside about 1/4 of the mixture to use as the topping. To the crust portion, add the splash of orange juice (apple juice or other flavors work as well... I used orange mango peach) just to moisten.

Now it's time to get your hands dirty! Combine and press down into the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch pan... I recommend using the fingers. Some people might opt for the bottom of a measuring cup... but the mess makes it more fun, and tasty!

For the filling, mix together all of the ingredients and stir so that fruit is coated with the mixture. You can use whatever kind of fruit combination you would like... I used raspberries, blackberries and peaches! Depending on your preference you can leave the berries whole or cut them into smaller chunks. I cut the peaches into cubes but you could cut and leave them in thin slices if you prefer... all up to you! Pour the fruit filling on top of the crust so the fruit is evenly spread in one layer.

Take the crumb topping you set aside earlier and crumble over the top of the filling! Bake the dish at 375 for 30 minutes. When the time is up take it out and drizzle some honey over the top. Little-bitty thin strings of honey over the topping adds a little extra natural sweetness! Back in the oven for 5 more minutes, or until the top is golden and crispy!


If you intend to eat these for breakfast, allow them to cool for a couple of hours and then cut them into squares and store them in some tupperware in the refrigerator.

If, however, you intend to eat these for dessert, let them cool for only a few minutes, cut them and serve them warm with ice cream over the top... depending on the type of fruit you used, there could be many different flavors of ice cream... but if in doubt, you can't go wrong with plain old, classic vanilla!

Carol Brownies

These brownies are my all time favorites! My aunt, Carol (whom I'm named after), used to make them all of the time, and when I was young she taught me the recipe and her technique. I don't think I appreciated the simplicity of the recipe until much later down the road, but the fact that you only need one bowl, one measuring cup, and a few ingredients that I always have on hand!

These brownies only take about 5 minutes to put together...easy and fast!

Carol Brownies:
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 squares Unsweetened baking chocolate
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla (2 tsp is better!)

Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave (or stove, but microwave is easier) just until all of the butter is melted. With a spatula stir the chocolate butter mixture until the chocolate is completely dissolved in the butter. If you heat the mixture too long to try and melt all of the chocolate, the butter will burn. Just melt the butter and use the residual heat to melt the chocolate completely. When you finish the mixture will be a silky chocolate liquid! A great beginning to any dessert.


After the mixture is completely melted stir in the sugar, followed by the flour so you have a thick chocolate mixture in your bowl. Next follow by the addition of one egg at a time. Stir in completely. Stir in the vanilla until completely incorporated and pour into a 9x9 inch pan.

Bake the brownies at 325 for 20-30 min. On my oven, 22 minutes is perfect!

If you must...you can add pecans to these. I like nut-less brownies because I can focus on the chocolaty deliciousness more that way without interruption... but i completely understand if you feel the desire to add some nuts. However, the first time, I would try at least half the pan nut-free to give them a fair shot!

Once the batter is in the oven, lick the bowl clean using spoon, spatula, fingers, tongue... any means of getting every last drop!

I have been known to eat the entire bowl of batter with a spoon (regretting it later)... If you are going to take the spoon method, I would recommend baking and then, if desired, take the spoon to the warm brownies before they completely set. Most likely you wont eat the entire batch this way, and then once they cool a bit more you still have some great brownies to eat the next few days (if they last that long...)

I usually double the recipe if my family is around because a single batch wont last more than a day... a double batch usually lasts about two.



Note: Do not ruin these brownies by using an electric mixer... my mom tried that once and took away all possible fudgy, moist properties these brownies had...

Chocolate Madness Cashew Cookies

I LOVE chocolate! Since I don't always have a ton just lying around (because i have eaten it all) I have to get creative as to what form I should make my chocolate. I also like adapting recipes and trying to improve upon them when baking to make things more interesting. This cookie was a combination of boredom, chocolate needing, and recipe searching!

I found a very generic recipe for chocolate cookies using cocoa. Looked at what I had around the apartment... low and behold.... chocolate liqueur! I had previously made an alcoholic chocolate cake for a friends 21st birthday with a raspberry rum glaze, chocolate liqueur icing, and a Bailey's cream cheese filling (it was delicious, but that's for another day).

So I decided to try and adapt to make some rich chocolaty cookies. I also found some cashews and figured those would work in nicely! I think almonds macadamia would work better in the future though. Don't get me wrong, the cashews were great, but I love cashews so much on their own, it didn't to the nut justice in such a fantastic, rich cookie!

As you might remember, I don't measure things often, so I used this basic recipe and made the following additions:

Basic Chocolate Cookie:

• 1 c. Butter
• 1 1/2 c. Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 t. Vanilla
• 2 c. Flour
• 1/2 t. Baking Soda
• 1/2 t. Salt
• 2/3 c. Cocoa Powder

My additions:

• 1/2 t. Baking Soda
• 2 T. Chocolate Liqueur (I used Godiva)
• 1 T. Irish Cream Liqueur (such as Baileys)
• 2 c. White Chocolate Chips
• 1 C. Cashews (roughly chopped)

In case that was confusing....

Overall Chocolate Madness Cashew Cookie:

• 1 c. Butter
• 1 1/2 c. Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 t. Vanilla
• 2 c. Flour
• 1 t. Baking Soda
• 1/2 t. Salt
• 2/3 c. Cocoa Powder
• 3 T. Chocolate Liqueur (I used Godiva)
• 1 T. Irish Cream Liqueur (such as Baileys)
• 2 c. White Chocolate Chunks
• 1 C. Cashews (roughly chopped)

Refrigerate the dough for a couple hours before baking the cookies! Bake these cookies at 350 for 10-14 minutes.

These cookies would definitely be great with Dark Chocolate Chunks, Walnuts, Macadamia Nuts... the possibilities are endless to a delicious chocolate cookie!

If you're a person who (like me) normally rounds up on the salt in recipes because you love the salty-sweet combo... don't do it in this if you're using both salted butter and salted cashews. If they are unsalted nuts, however, you probably will need a little extra salt because the liqueur makes the dough really sweet!

I made these cookies just like I would any other! Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time, mix dry ingredients, add slowly to the wet, fold in nuts and chips.... dollop and bake!

My cookies were fudgy because I didn't use a mixer (out of laziness) but they ended up great anyway! If you want fluffier cookies rather than fudgy, sift the flower mixture and then beat in the flour mixture vigorously with the mixer after each addition.

WARNING: WTHESE COOKIES ARE YUMMY AND DELICIOUS AND SHOULD NOT BE MADE IF YOU ARE ON A DIET, BECAUSE YOU WILL EAT THEM ALL.