Sunday, November 24, 2013

Vanilla Cheesecake (S'mores Cheesecake)

Ingredients:

For The Crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups (4 1/2 oz/140 g) graham cracker crumbs
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing 
For The Filling:
  • 4 packages (8 oz/250 g each) cream cheese at room temperature
  • 2 table spoons plain all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/4 cups (8 3/4 oz/270 g) sugar
  • 1/2 cup (4 oz/125 g) sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1 package mini marshmallows (optional)
  • 1 Hershey's milk chocolate bar (optional)
Directions:

Gather ingredients


To make the crust, preheat the oven to 400F (200C).


Lightly grease a 9-inch (23-cm) springform pan. In a bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Stir until the mixture is well blended and the crumb are evenly moist. Pour into the springform pan and press evenly onto the bottom and about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) up the sides of the pan. bake until lightly golden and set, about 10 minutes. Let cool on rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 300F (150C) The crust may seem like it isn't moist enough, but it is. You can use a cup or a mug to press the crumbs into the bottom, and up the sides of the pan. Don't worry about the circles it makes, you are going to cover it with the filling anyways.

To make the filling, in a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, flour and salt. Using a mixer in medium-high speed, beat until very smooth and fluffy, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently. Add the sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat well until blended, again scraping down the sides frequently. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour into the crust. It is important that the cream cheese is room temperature because it is much easier to mix when it has been left out for a bit. Scraping down the sides often is also very important. 


Bake the cheesecake until the filling is set but the center still jiggles slightly when the pan is gently shaken and the edges are slightly puffed, 60-70 minutes. The filling will firm as it cools. Let cool on rack to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled (over night is best). I baked mine for about 65 minutes, but the middle didn't set all the way, so I sugget a little longer than what I did.


I wanted to spice up my cheesecake a little bit, so I decided to roast some marshmallows and grate some chocolate over it. You will need a blow torch to do this.

What you do is put some marshmallows on the center of the cheese cake, this can cover any cracks in the top, or add something to the pain cheesecake. 


Next, you use a baking torch to roast the marshmallows, trying not to get the flame too close to the cheesecake until golden brown. Then you can use the small side of a grater to grate chocolate over the marshmallows, and there you go!



My Experience:
This was my first time making cheesecake. It wasn't so bad. I didn't bake my cheesecake long enough, and I didn't let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating over night. The only problem was the middle didn't set up right, but it was still good. I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone! It's pretty easy, and delicious! 

Enjoy! xx






Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Pound Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup (6 3/4 oz/205 g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup (6 oz/185 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
  • 1 cup (7 oz/220 g) sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (4 oz/125 g) sour cream, at room temperature
Directions:

Gather ingredients.


Preheat the oven to 325F (165C).


Lightly grease a 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch (21.5-by-11.5-cm) loaf pan and dust with flour. my pan was a little bit bigger than it should have been, but it still came out perfect.



In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt until blended. In another bowl, using a mixer on medium to medium high speed, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until just blended. Sprinkle half the of the flour over the egg mixture and stir until both are just incorporated. Stir in the sour cream, then sprinkle with the remaining flour mixture and stir until evenly distributed. The flour tends to get everywhere if you turn up the mixture so I recommend scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, while its on medium-low speed. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap gently on the counter to even out and settle the ingredients. You only have to tap it a few times, just to get out any air bubbles inside of the mixture. 


Bake until a toothpick inserted to the center comes out clean, about 70 minutes, or longer if using a metal pan. let cool on rack for 15 minutes. My cake baked all the way perfectly for 70 minutes exactly. 



Run a knife around the inside of the pan. Place the cake onto a wire rack, and lift off pan. place the cake on one of it's sides and continue cooling. Serve warm or at room temperature. I usually run the knife around the pan right after it comes out of the oven and it turns out fine. 

I didn't want to serve it as just plain cake so I put strawberries and whipped cream on top of it and made strawberry shortcake. You simply cut up a bit of strawberries, put a little bit of sugar on them, then mix until the strawberries are coated with sugar, whip up some heavy whipping cream, and sugar (to taste) until it forms stiff peaks and put it on slices of the pound cake! Easy as that.


My Experience:
This was probably one of my favourite things that I have made for this blog, it was so simple and there are so many different things you could do with it. The possibilities are endless. My cake turned out really well, it was soft in the middle and it wasn't dry at all. It was good plain, but the strawberries and whipped cream really made it good! 

Enjoy! xx
























Thursday, November 7, 2013

Pistachio Truffles

Ingredients:

  • 4 oz (125 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1/3 cup (3 fl oz/80 ml) heavy (double) cream
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 4 equal pieces
  • 1 tablespoon sour cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup (4 oz/125 g) medium-fine chopped unsalted pistachios
  • Confectioners' sugar for garnish (optional)
Directions:

Gather ingredients.


In the top of a double boiler, combine the chopped chocolate and cream. 


Set over barely simmering water and melt the chocolate, then whisk until the mixture is glossy and smooth. The chocolate to mix with the cream and melt all the way, but it will eventually melt.


Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the butter pieces, stirring until smooth and well blended. Let cool, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate just holds its shape when dropped from a spoon, about 40 minutes. It took exactly 40 minutes for the mixture to take cool to the correct consistency. 

Line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Fit a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch (12-mm) plain tip. Fill the pastry bag with with the chocolate mixture and pipe into 1-inch (2.5-cm) mounds on the prepared baking sheet. Tap down any pointed tips with a dampened finger tip. 


Freeze truffles until very firm, about 1 1/2 hours.


Put the chopped pistachios in a small bowl. Remove a few truffles from the freezer. Roll each truffle in the nuts, pressing to coat. Serve slightly chilled. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. 

If desired, sift a light dusting of confectioners' sugar over the truffles just before serving.

My Experience:
This was one of the easier truffle recipes I have seen. Unfortunately I do not have a pastry bag, but I substituted it for a gallon sized Ziploc bag. It worked out pretty well. I didn't really have any other difficulties. It was a really fun experience, and a great recipe.