Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

When I brought home vanilla beans from our trip to Indonesia, I knew I would make a vanilla bean cheesecake for my husband's birthday. I didn't take the best pictures (note my baby's finger about to taste a sample) but this was honestly the best cheesecake recipe EVER. The texture was so light and creamy. I brought it to the restaurant to celebrate my husband's and my mom's birthdays and it tasted like it could have been on the dessert menu. I bought a really nice spring form pan from The Cook's Place on the Danforth and they had just about anything you could ever need to cook or bake with very knowledgeable staff. What an awesome store! Anyway...this recipe is pretty much guaranteed, so give it a shot if you want a texture-perfect cheesecake. I found the recipe on My Baking Addiction. The tips were so helpful!



Ingredients
Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cheesecake
3 packages Philadelphia cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
2 vanilla beans, (scraped innards only)
2 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream (I added this)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 if you have a light colored cheesecake pan, or 325 if your spring form pan is darker. Line the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper, and wrap the outside of the pan with aluminum foil to insure it is airtight.

In a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and vanilla and press lightly into the bottom of the spring form pan.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time ensuring each is incorporated fully.
Add heavy cream, vanilla bean innards and Bailey's and ensure the batter is smooth.

Pour cheesecake batter over the graham cracker crumb crust and place the pan into a larger pan. Pour boiling water into the larger pan so that the water comes halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. Carefully place into the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes. The cheesecake should be slightly wobbly but should hold together when finished. Do not over bake the cheesecake. To avoid cracks, turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to gradually cool in the oven for an hour or more. Once cool, carefully remove the cheesecake pan from the waterbath and chill in the fridge.

Oreo Truffles

I'm trying to get better at baking/making desserts. I feel like a good dessert is the finishing touch to a great meal.

I took a stab at making Oreo Truffles and they were a hit! Using Kraft's Easy Oreo Truffle recipe, I crushed nearly a whole bag of oreo cookies and mixed it well with fat free cream cheese. Then I made small little balls and set aside.

I melted an entire packet of Baker's Semi- sweet chocolate squares and using a spoon, dunked the balls in the chocolate.

I set them on parchment paper, topped each with sprinkles and refrigerated for an hour - et voila!

Banana Muffins

Ever since I've developed an allergy to bananas I've missed them terribly. I couldn't resist buying them when I saw them in the supermarket. LUCKILY, I can eat cooked bananas, so I let them ripen on my kitchen counter waiting to turn them into a delicious baked good. It was torturous waiting for them to turn brown. Does anyone know of a way to ripen them more quickly? Anyway, I decided to bake banana muffins since I had company coming over the weekend and also wanted to bring in a breakfast treat for my dance team.

Ingredients

3 large ripe bananas

1/4 cup butter

3-4 tbsp plain yogurt or sour cream

1 egg

1 tps vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Mix bananas, butter, egg, and vanilla with a fork or hand mixer.

2. Add flour sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir until just combined.

3. Spoon batter into 12 greased or paper lined muffin cups

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes in 350 degree oven until risen and firm to the touch.

5. Cool and top with icing if desired.

My friend Nicole had made LOTS of extra cream cheese icing at our house so I decided to make use of it. I added 2 tbsp peanut butter to a cup of icing and iced the muffins. Was so delicious!

Boston Cream Pie

Sharl and I were looking for something to do on Sunday afternoon and we were also craving some kind of dessert, so we decided to bake this cake! It was a lot of fun and easier with two people helping with all of the steps and trying to amuse a fussy baby. It turned out to be REALLY delicious. I got this recipe from this old Good Housekeeping Book that I swear has EVERYTHING you could possibly want to cook and bake.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 large eggs

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp butter

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups sugar

Pastry Cream (recipe to follow)

Chocolate Glaze (recipe to follow)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 8-inch round cake pans. LIne bottoms with parchment paper; grease and flour cake pans.

2. In large bowl, beat eggs until light and tripled in volume (about 5 mins with electric mixer on high)

3. Meanwhile in small pot, combine water and butter and heat to boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla

4. With mixer at high speed, gradually add sugar to eggs. Beat until thinck and lemon colored and mixture forms ribbon when beaters are lifted (5-8 mins). In two additions fold in flour baking powder and salt until just blended.

5. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean (20 mins). Run thin knife around layers to loosen from pans and invert to cool on wire racks. Remove parchment paper.

6. Meanwhile, prepare pastry cream.

7. When cake is cool, prepare chocolate glaze.

8. Place one cake layer, rounded side down on cake plate. Top with pastry cream. Top with second cake layer rounded side up. Pour glaze over top. Gently spread glaze evenly to edge allowing it to drip down side of cake. Let glaze set.

Pastry Cream

Heat 3/4 cup milk to boiling over medium heat.

In a large bowl, beat 2 large egg yolks with 6 tbsp milk and 1/3 cup sugar until smooth. Whisk in 2 Tbsp flour and 2 Tbsp cornstarch until combined. Gradually whisk hot milk into egg yolk mixture until blended.

Return mixture to saucepan; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture thickens and boils, about 4 mins. Reduce heat to low; cook, whisking constantly, 2 minutes.

Remove saucepan from heat; stir in 1 Tbsp butter and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Pour pastry cream into a pie dish. Press plastic wrap onto surface of pastry cream to keep skin from forming as it cools. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate 2 hours or up to overnight Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Chocolate Glaze

Heat 3 squares semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, 3 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp corn syrup and 1 Tbsp milk over low heat, until chocolate and butter melt and mixture is smooth. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Kahlua Cheesecake

I may be 9 months pregnant but it's still hard to keep me out of the kitchen!! For Sharl's and my mom's birthday, I decided to make a cheesecake. It was my first time baking a cheesecake, and I don't know why I was intimidated by it, it was rather easy! I got the recipe from my boss at work who brought this in for a potluck one time. So delicious! The next kitchen item I need to get for my new house is a springform pan!



Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Oreo crumbs
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup caramel sauce (I used a jar of the best stuff I could find)
3 pkgs Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature (DO use this brand)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup Kahlua
6 squares melted Baker's semi-sweet chocolate

Directions
Mix Oreo crumbs with melted butter and press lightly into a 9-inch springform pan. Pour caramel sauce over top.
Beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and mix until just blended. Stir in chocolate and Kahlua, and pour mixture into crust.
Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350 F or until the cake is set and slightly wobbly in the centre. Cool completely and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Garnish with caramel sauce and whipped cream if you like.

Pavlova

Dessert for tonight's home church meeting was pavlova. It's such an easy and yummy dessert. I first had it in Montreal made by one of my Grandma's friends who was from New Zealand. I'll never forget my first crusty chewy pillowy bite of the delicous merengue topped with cold whipped cream and fresh kiwis. I made the pavlova last night as the recipe said that it could relax all day in a dry oven. I got the recipe from Joy of Baking.

Sarah came over before home chruch and helped prepare and assemble the toppings.


Et voilà!


Since we have a lot of people at home church, I added an extra egg white and sugar from what the original recipe called for.

Ingredients
Pavlova:
5 large egg whites
1 1/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Topping:
1 cup whipped cream (could have used more)
1 pint each of strawberries and blueberries macerated with sugar and vanilla
4 kiwis, peeled and sliced

Directions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
Beat egg whites in a medium bowl until soft peaks form.
Slowly mix in the icing sugar 1 tbsp at a time until well blended.
Add vinegar and cornstarch and fold in with a spatula.
Put some parchment paper on a large baking sheet and mound mixture into the shape of a circle. I like to create a big well in the middle of the circle with the edges slightly higher to create a space for the whipped cream and fruit.
Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until the pavlova is slightly golden and crispy on the outside
Turn off oven, keep the oven door ajar and leave the pavlova inside to dry overnight.
(You can also remove from the oven and cool if you are serving sooner)

Once the pavlova has cooled, fill the well with whipped cream and fruit.

Epic Trifle

I love collaborating with Sarah for desserts to make for our home church. She's so much fun to cook with! Tonight it was an 'epic trifle' layered with homemade chocolate cake, custard, cream, strawberries, mangoes and kiwis.



Ingredients
Sarah's homemade chocolate cake cut into cubes
1 package of instant custard prepared (or you can use Jello instant vanilla pudding)
2 cups whipping cream, whipped with sugar and vanilla
2 pints strawberries sliced and macerated with sugar
5 kiwis sliced
1 can of mangoes in syrup (reserve syrup too!)

Directions
In a large glass bowl, create layers of chocolate cake, custard, fruit, syrup and whipped cream. Allow to soak in the fridge for at least an hour. Serve into bowls.

YUM!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Sharl was reading over my shoulder as I was reading through my blog list, when he saw this recipe on Canadian Baker, he begged me to make it. I didn't use the frosting recipe from the recipe because my brother had given me his leftover cream cheese icing that he made a TON of. I used 1 cup of the cream cheese icing and mixed in 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter. It was heavenly.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Ingredients
6 oz (175 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 oz (125 g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup (75 mL) butter 1/3 cup (75 mL) natural peanut butter, at room temperature
2 cups (500 mL) granulated sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
4 eggs
1-2/3 cups (400 mL) all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 mL) chopped unsalted peanuts
Pinch salt

Frosting:
1/3 cup (75 mL) butter, softened
1/4 cup (50 mL) natural peanut butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla 2 cups (500 mL) icing sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) milk
3 oz (90 g) bittersweet chocolate, melted

Preparation: Line 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) metal cake pan with parchment paper or grease. In saucepan, melt bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate, butter and peanut butter over medium-low heat; let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk in sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each. Stir in flour, peanuts and salt. Spread in prepared pan. Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out with just a few moist crumbs clinging, about 25 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack.
Frosting: In bowl, beat butter, peanut butter and vanilla until creamy. Beat in icing sugar in 2 additions; beat in milk. Spread over brownies. Drizzle with chocolate. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour. (Make-ahead: Remove from pan; wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Or overwrap in heavy-duty foil; freeze for up to 1 month.) Cut into bars. Makes 60 bars.

Dinner & Dessert Crepes

Today Sarah and I got together before home church and made a batch of crepes. We made savoury crepes for ourselves for dinner and then served sweet crepes to our home church for dessert.

It was a lot of fun cooking together, and since Sarah is an experienced professional pastry chef, she was able to delicately flip the crepes easily with her fingertips! I almost burned myself twice, but she made me try it anyway! I love how she is so tactile with her food. There is something much more loving about using your hands instead of utensils as much as possible when cooking (and eating!)



Ingredients
1 cup flour
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter

Directions
Put all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides occasionally.
Strain the batter through a sieve to remove any lumps.
Let batter rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Heat a non-stick skillet on medium heat and pour a small amount of batter in the centre and swirl around to coat the skillet.
When the crepes start to get golden around the edges, carefully flip the crepe.
Stack crepes on a plate and cover with foil to warm in the oven until ready to serve.
Top with your favourite ingredients...either savoury or sweet.



Ham, Asparagus, Mushroom and Havarti Cheese Filling

Ingredients (for 3 crepes):
1/2 small onion diced
9 small button mushrooms sliced
9 asparagus spears cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp butter
1/4 tsp dried thyme
9 slices of Havarti cheese
3 slices of smoked ham

Directions
Saute diced onion, mushrooms and asparagus spears in butter until softened. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.
Put filling in centre of crepe, top with smoked ham and Havarti cheese, and roll.

For an extra French twist, you can top the crepes with a simple bechamel sauce, but we ate our crepes just as shown below (but rolled up) and they were still delicious!



We tried to make some smaller crepes for dessert, but it was difficult to swirl in such a large pan, so we ended up with 'abstract shaped artistic crepes.'


For the dessert crepes we topped them with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, dulce de leche, sliced strawberries and bananas.

As you can see...our home church really loved them!

Teddy Bear Mille Feuille

Having grown up in Montreal, I have developed quite the healthy sweet tooth. One of my favourite French desserts is called Mille Feuille, which translates to 'thousand sheets.' It is a delicate and delicious layered dessert of puff pastry, custard and whipped cream...sometimes with strawberries mixed in. My Grandma had an easy casual no-bake version of this recipe made with graham crackers, custard and whipped cream topped with chocolate striped vanilla glaze. She used to make this for New Years Day.

Sharl and I had a craving for an easy homemade dessert last night, and once we crave something there's no stopping us. We didn't want to drive to a supermarket or stray further than the convenience store or Kitchen Table down the street to pick up ingredients.
I cannot believe that we couldn't find graham crackers anywhere!! We did find teddy grahams though, so we made our own version of my grandma's mille feuille.






Ingredients
1 box of teddy grahams
1 package of instant Jello vanilla pudding
250 ml whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp icing sugar

Directions
1. Prepare pudding according to directions
2. Whip the cream with electric beaters until soft peaks form (about 2 mins). Add vanilla and sugar to the whipping cream and give one last quick beat.
3. Line teddy grahams at the bottom of a square baking dish (Sharl called this the 'teddy bear death camp' LOL!)
4. Pour vanilla pudding over the teddy grahams.
5. Layer the whipped cream over the pudding.
6. Top with another layer of teddy grahams.
7. Refrigerate for an hour or more so that the cookies become soft and the pudding sets.

We couldn't wait an hour so we ate this with the cookies still crunchy and it was still so delicious. I didn't bother to add the icing because the teddy bears looked so cute on top! Enjoy!