Double Chocolate Cheesecake

If you have read any of my blog posts so far, you know one thing about me: I love cheesecake. And I love chocolate. So together? Absolutely amazing... which results in this recipe: Double Chocolate Cheesecake, enrobed in a Dark Chocolate Ganche.

Theres no way around it: making cheesecake is tricky. It involves using a springform pan, which has a removable bottom, and sides with a latch on it. This allows you to let the cheesecake set, then take away the sides so it stands alone, but leaving the bottom for support. But I am jumping ahead, lets start at the beginning....

The crust! You can buy a pre-made graham crust, but its so much better to make you own. I used a box of chocolate wafers, and crushed them into a fine paste. This is alot easier if you use a food processor, but I like the old-fashioned way. And I don't have a food processor :)

Anyway, after you crush the cookies, I mixed them with one Tablespoon of sugar, and melted butter......

then pressed it into the bottom of the springform pan, after buttering-and-flouring the springform pan to prevent the sides from sticking. I baked in for about 5 minutes so it would set, and while I did that I started the filling.

The filling is basically cream cheese, more cream cheese than you could possibly fathom would fit in a pan- 24 oz. Thats 4 packages of cream cheese! This cake is delicious, but it is in no way a low calorie snack :) I mixed that with sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, and eggs to make the first part of the filling in my KitchenAid.

Then I mixed that with melted chocolate, and smoothed it on top of the cookie crumb crust, then baked it for about an hour, until the middle is just set.

When its done, it should look like this! Its ok if the top cracks a bit, because the topping will cover any mishaps or bumps.

Refrigerate the cheesecake for a few hours, or over night like I did. The cake will naturally deflate a bit, and cracks might develop. But now its time for the topping! You can top the cheesecake however you want, with any garnish. I decided to use a dark chocolate ganache, which is just a thick chocolate coating, to finish my cheesecake!

To make this ganache, I mixed dark chocolate, sugar and heavy whipping cream, and heated it until it formed a smooth chocolate paste.

Before using the ganache, its a good time to take the cake out of the springform pan. This should be done carefully, as the pan is what is holding the sides up. First slip a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the sides, then undo the latch, and gently wiggle the pan off the sides of the cake. Its ok if it doesn't look perfect, just smooth down any perfections and add the topping!

Then, after cooling the ganache a bit, I poured it on top of the cheesecake, smoothed it over the sides, treating the ganache like frosting.

Then, I topped the cheesecake with fresh raspberries, and chilled it over night.

Delicious! This was a perfect ending to a perfect Senior Project. And as I sit here eating a piece of this chocolate-y cheesecake, my only thought is: What do I bake next? :)

Coconut Rum Bread Pudding

This pudding reminds me of a trip to the Bahamas, where my family and I ate the richest coconut bread, fresh from a bakery in Nassau, then combined it with the only other ingredients we had in the house to create this easy-going, tropical dessert.

To start, I grabbed the three most important ingredients for the pudding: bread, coconut milk, and coconut rum. With this pudding, unlike other recipes, it's more than fine to experiment with ingredients, and amounts. This is why a bread pudding is so fun! I adapted a common bread pudding recipe to this tropical variation, and included cinnamon and vanilla, to balance out the added coconut flavor.

Now a little history about how bread pudding came to be: In the olden days, when the loaf of bread in the kitchen got stale, cooks would take the hard stale loaf, and soak it in eggs and cream to reuse the old bread, creating this creamy pudding dish.

To replicate this method, you take take your fresh loaf of bread and cut into generous slices of bread, and toast in in the oven at 200 degrees, for about 10 minutes.

Then, take the bread out of the oven, and slather it with butter, then cube it into one inch pieces.

You can cut the crust off the toast if you want a smoother texture, or leave them on, like i did.

Meanwhile, mix the liquid part of the pudding, which is eggs, coconut milk, sugar, cinnamon, coconut rum, and salt. Whisk it until smooth, then combine the bread cubes into the pudding, and once that is throughly coated, add dried baking coconut to the pudding, then gently transfer into a greased baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees until the pudding is set, about 30 minutes- however if you use a different pan the baking time can vary greatly.

So I wasn't tempted to eat it all myself (and I was!), I brought it to school to share with some friends. They approved, and their only suggestions? Double the recipe :)

Mmmm, Chocolate and Peanut Butter

There is nothing better than the combination of Chocolate and Peanut Butter. Or more specifically, the combination of those two ingredients in these Chocolate Cheesecake Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies!

When you have an icky week, nothing sounds better than something this rich and chocolate-y, but be warned, once you start eating these brownies, which taste like a sophisticated Reese's Cup, you might not be able to stop....

To start, you need semi-sweet baking chocolate, and peanut butter- for baking, make sure to use peanut butter that is made with only peanuts and salt, and make sure its the creamy variety, for the right texture!

This recipe is pretty straight forward: a chocolate brownie layer, topped by a cheesecake layer. The chocolate brownie layer can hardly be called brownie-like though, because it is mostly all chocolate! After melting your chocolate and butter together in a saucepan, being careful to stir consistantly so it does not scorch, combine your chocolate with flour, sugar, eggs and vanilla with a mixer, until the brownies batter is formed. Pour in bottom of a well greased brownie pan.

Now it's time for the cheesecake layer! Mix the peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream. Spread it over the brownie layer, reserve 1/3 cup of the cheesecake batter.

Because this dessert isn't rich enough, mix the reserved batter with 2 oz of melted chocolate, and add by heaping spoonful to the top of the pan.

Now take a skewer, or chopstick (like me!) and swirl the chocolate into a figure eight pattern into the batter.

Now bake until the edges are golden , and middle is set. Chill the cheesecake brownies in a fridge for at least an hour, or overnight as I did, so the cheesecake is firm enough to cut.

Because I made these brownies for my friend Kelsey, I brought them to school to see what she, and my other friends though. Verdict?

We all like them! Even after I made them pose for awkward pictures. Success!

Cinnamon Log

A cross between a loaf of bread and a cinnamon roll, this breakfast item is sweet without being sugary, thick without being dense, and the perfect accompaniment to a Sunday morning....

The key part of a cinnamon log is using yeast.

For those who haven't used it before, it can be tricky to get your bread to rise while using it. To activate the yeast, you need to add it to warm water, before adding it to you bread mixture.

For this recipe, I boiled butter, sugar, milk and salt, and added that to the yeast to create the liquid part of the bread mix. The heat from the initial yeast and water, followed by the butter mixture, causes the yeast to react the way we want it to!

After that, I mixed both whole wheat and white flour, and an egg to the liquid mixture. I also added golden raisins, which will compliment the cinnamon that will be added to the bread later. Then, its time to knead the dough! Kneading helps create the structure of the bread, and turns a lumpy mix like this.....

into this.....

Then its time to let the dough rise. This is where the yeast comes in, creating a reaction within the dough to make the dough double in size. Since yeast reacts to heat, letting the dough rise in a warm place, like a low-temperature oven, helps the reaction take place. I set my oven to 150 degrees, and let the dough rise in a covered, greased bowl for an hour.

Now its time to turn normal bread dough into a cinnamon log!

After rolling out the dough into a large rectangle, I sprinkled a mixture of white and brown sugar, with loads of cinnamon all over the dough.

Then, I rolled it up, starting at the narrow end, to create the log shape.

Now if you wanted to make this recipe more like a traditional bread, you could let it rise for another hour, letting it double once more in size. I wanted mine to be a bit denser than that, so I went right ahead and baked the cinnamon log in a 350 degree oven for about a half an hour.

When its done, just slice the cinnamon loaf into pieces, and try not to eat them all in one sitting :)

Cream Puffs and Pie, Oh My!

For most people, Valentine's day weekend means chocolate, flowers and cards. But for me, it also means baking! I made two recipes this weekend, Pies (mixed berry and key lime) and Cream Puffs!

I'll start with the pies. My friend Lanie and wanted to bake some pies for our guys (yes, i like to rhyme!). So i invited her over to show her how its done.

For pie crust, I use a recipe that my Godmother Peppy taught me years ago. I have been baking with Peppy since I was about five. I would stand in the kitchen with her as she would whip up cakes and tarts, and finally, she let me in on the secret to her amazing pie crust. Light, not too flaky or buttery, perfect for any type of pie. Now this recipe is a secret, so I can't share, but trust me its delicious! It starts with a roux of sorts, which starts in a mug, like the picture above! This is added to a flour mixture, then mixed with your hand to get the perfect consistency- yes, mixing with your hands is messy, but worth it!

After the crust is mixed, separate it into 2 balls and chill. Any pie recipe will work for these pies, so use your own!

Now time for the filling. For my pie, I went Mixed Berry: I used frozen berries (Blackberries, Strawberries, Blueberries and Raspberries), and to counteract the juices melting all over the pie (no one likes a runny pie!) I mixed the berries with sugar and cornstarch, which thickens up the mixture perfectly.

Lanie wanted to make a Key Lime Pie, which involves making a basic custard, and adding fresh limes.

Now that the filling is done, time to roll out the dough! The Key Lime Pie will have a meringue topping, so we only need to add a top crust to my pie. Check out how I transfer the delicate crust from the cutting board to the pie without breaking it in the video below.

Now the pies are ready to go into the oven! While they are baking, it is the perfect time to whip up the meringue for the Key Lime Pie (literally! haha).

In the KitchenAid, I mixed up egg whites, sugar, cornstarch and a pinch of salt.

This will become stiff, and you can

shape it into those distinctive peaks.

And then our pies are done!

Now onto Part Two: Cream Puffs!

I made these Cream Puffs adapted from 3 different recipes, but the basic structure is always the same: A choux pastry, filled with a vanilla creme center.

To make the choux, you boil a butter and water mixture (with sugar and salt), and then shift flour into the boiling liquid. This creates a light and flexible dough.

Then eggs are added, one by one, to make the mixture more pliable and hold its shape better.

Now its time to pipe the dough and bake it. Because you want your cream puff to be in a circular shape, the best way to bake them is by piping them with a pastry bad onto your baking sheet. This ensures a smooth, even puff and even size between the batch. If you don't have a pasty bag, spooning the dough into a large Ziploc bag and cutting off the tip.

When the puffs come out of the oven,

you have to preserve the shell of the puff by removing the soft, gooey inside of the puff.

The easiest way to do this is by cutting the puff in half with a serrated knife, then scooping out the inside.

Then pop the scooped-out shells in the oven to crisp them up just a bit more. While they are in the oven, you can start to make the pastry creme. I used instant vanilla pudding, with whipped cream and sugar to create a creme that was both light and rich.

After chilling the creme, and letting the puff shells cool, it is time to assemble the cream puffs!

Using the same piping technique I used for the pastry, I pipe about a one inch circle of creme onto each puff, then replace the top.

Repeat about 20 times, then dust with powdered sugar for a sweet- yes that was a pun :)- finish!