A collection of home-grown recipes from my little kitchen to yours - mostly sweet, but some savory. Really whatever I've been mixing up...between family time, dirty diapers, tantrums, and cuddles...

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Pumpkin Cheesecake




In my family, the holidays mean big family dinners, tons of food.....and an upset stomach the next day from indulging so much. But I have to say, Thanksgiving and Christmas wouldn't be the same without the homemade pumpkin cheesecake - and my goodness I love pumpkin cheesecake! So, I hope my family's tradition can live on in your family too through this recipe.



Crust
- 1 box of vanilla wafers, crumbled to bread crumb consistency
- 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), melted
- 1/8 cup of sugar




 

For the crust, preheat your oven to 350. Combine crust ingredients and press into 10” springform pan. Put in oven and watch for around 10 minutes, just until the edges start getting a little bit of color and you smell the spices. Take out and reduce temperature to 325 while you prepare the filling.






Filling
- 4 8oz bricks of cream cheese
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tbs maple syrup
- 3 tbs brandy (I use Christian Brothers Brandy - pretty cheap)
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup cooked canned pumpkin (just pumpkin, no pumpkin mix or pie filling)




Beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy and light - this may take a few minutes. Add maple syrup, brandy, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend well, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Lastly, add heavy cream and pumpkin. Mix well - there shouldn't be any clumps and don't worry, because you cant over mix the filling.





Pour filling into prepared crust and bake for 45 minutes (at 325). Turn oven off and DON’T OPEN DOOR FOR 1 HR!!! Take out - center may be slightly jiggl-ee, but it will set fine with refrigeration. Edges should only be a little darkened, and don't sweat it if your cake cracked - it happens to the best of us and will be covered with the topping. Turn oven up to 375 for the topping.



Topping
- 2 cups sour cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbs maple syrup
- 1 tbs brandy
- 1/2 cup whole raw almonds, sauted in butter



For the topping, blend the sour cream and all other topping ingredients except almonds. Spread over cake evenly. Put in oven and cook for only 10 minutes. Top shouldn’t look baked or solidified (it hardens up a bit when it cools). Set the cheesecake on the counter and let it come to room temperature itself. Decorate the top with the sauted almonds and then chill for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator before serving.




Hope you enjoy this family recipe and experience the joy of spending the holidays with loved ones.


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Lemon-Lime Squares



A rendition of the classic lemon square, these bars have just enough lime in them to really bring new life to an old favorite.  These squares have a thick shortbread crust that is just firm enough to hold the creamy filling and just sweet enough to offset the tartness of the citrus. 

Crust
-1 cup butter, at room temperature
-½ cup granulated sugar
-¼ cup confectioners sugar
-2 cups flour
-1/8 teaspoon kosher salt


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust, combine all ingredients until just mixed (dough will get tougher the more you mix it so try to handle it as little as possible -  it’s ok if there are chunks of butter the size of peas).  Use the wrappers for the sticks of butter to grease a 9x13 pan.  Press crumbly dough into the pan to form the shortbread crust.

 
Bake the crust for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned.


Filling
-6 extra-large eggs
-3 cups granulated sugar
-¼ cup lemon juice
-¾ cup lime juice
-1 cup flour
-confectioners sugar, for dusting

For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon and lime juice, and flour until no lumps remain. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set and a slightly darkened "crust" has formed on the surface. Let cool to room temperature (this is important or the confectioners sugar will melt into a globby mess!) - expedite the process by placing in the fridge or freezer.

Once cooled, dust with confectioners sugar. Pucker up and enjoy!


Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Hummingbird Cake




So this is a great recipe I got from one of my favorite cook books.  After a few tweaks, I found this cake to be very similar to carrot cake - just without the carrot!  The combination of nuts, banana, and pineapple blends beautifully with the thick cream cheese frosting.  Hope you enjoy!

Cake
- 2 ¼ cup flour
- 1 ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup vegetable oil, plus some to grease pans with
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup chopped pecans, plus some to decorate
- 3 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
- 4 oz canned crushed pineapple, plus 4 tbsp juice from the can


Frosting
- 1 package/brick cream cheese
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups confectioners sugar



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use some oil to lightly grease two 9-inch layer cake pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper. 

 



Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda into a large bowl.  Add eggs, oil, pecans, mashed bananas, pineapple, and pineapple juice.  Mix just till combined. 




Divide batter into both pans.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until firm to touch and golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temp (you can put them in the fridge or freezer on a rack if you are in a rush).

To make the frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth.  Add confectioner’s sugar and beat until creamy and spreadable.  If the frosting is too firm, add milk by tbsp until desired consistency is obtained.




Frost the cooled cakes with the cream cheese frosting, spreading more chopped pecans over top to decorate.


Enjoy!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Apple Crumble Bars



Here's a twist on a traditional concept for those of you who love apple pie, but want to shake it up a bit.  By cooking the apples on the stove prior to baking, they take on a very nice caramel flavor. 


Dough
-1 cup butter (2 sticks)
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-3 cup flour

-For dough, combine all dough ingredients until it has a crumbly texture, divide dough in two and press half of it into a greased 9x13 pan (or whatever you have around that size) and set the other half aside. 


Filling
-9ish apples, pink lady or granny smith work well
-1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
-1 cup brown sugar
-1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1 tbs cinnamon (or however much you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Peel, core and cut apples into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices.  Combine apples slices with other filling ingredients in a pot over medium heat on the stove (may seem like a lot of apples at first, but they reduce down quite a bit).  On medium heat, mix apples and sauce until some of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce becomes caramel-ly (although still somewhat liquid-y) and apples cook through, about 20 minutes.
 


Pour apple mixture into prepared pan with the pressed dough and spread evenly.  Take remaining dough and spread over the apples (if you take hand-fulls of the dough and squeeze it in your hand, you can form larger "chucks" to place on the apples...just a suggestion for a more crumbly top).  Bake for about 40 minutes until it's bubbling throughout and has turned golden brown on top.






Serve with  some vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Fruit Tart


Decided one day to shake things up a bit and make something less cake-like.  And thus the fruit tart was born.  Hope you enjoy!



Crust:
-1 box (ish) of crumbled Nilla Wafers
-1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), melted
-1/8 cup of sugar
-dash of cinnamon

Mix all crust ingredients with fork and press firmly into a tart pan, forming a firm bottom and sides for the tart.  Bake for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven, until you can smell it and its golden brown.  Set aside to cool, or pop it in the fridge or freezer to move things along faster..
In the mean time...

Topping:
-8 oz package of Neufantel cream cheese (it's less fat but tastes the same)
-1/4 cup low fat sour cream
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 cup of sugar (or to taste)
-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whisked to "whipping cream" consistency
-Fresh fruit, cut into smaller pieces to display on tart.  I used strawberries, raspberries, kiwi, and bananas.

Beat the cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and sugar together to a smooth consistency.  Fold in the whipping cream into the mixture using a spatula.



Spread the topping over the cooled tart and arrange fruit as desired.  Best if served immediately, but if not, sprinkle some lemon juice over fruit before arranging fruit over the tart - this helps the fruit (especially bananas) not brown with time.  Keep refrigerated.  Enjoy!



Thursday, October 14, 2010

Unexpected beginnings...

I love a lot of things: my husband, my family, my job as a nurse, my crazy-insane-but-really-cute puppy, spending time outdoors, getting together with friends.......but a huge one is......baking! I could have the most stressful day and when it comes down to it, baking sounds like the best thing to do. I don't know why I am wired the way I am, but baking relieves the tension that builds with doing errands or dealing with a crazy puppy or coming home from a sad and high-stress day of work at the hospital. Something about taking ingredients that taste awful by themselves (well, except sugar!.....and maybe butter - hehe), and making something wonderfully tasty, is just so appealing.



Anyhoo, I guess that's what's brought me to this blog. Personally, I've never been a fan of blogs. I've never thought I was witty enough, crafty enough, original enough, or (insert any word) enough, but I've come to realize that.....who cares! I am amazed that some people look at the things I bake and are like..."dude, I could never do this." And I just want to say, "dude, you totally can!" Hence, the blog! With a way way...w a y...future goal of opening up my own bakery, I thought this may be a fun place to start with made-up and family recipes to share. So here goes!