Mmmm - Cheesecake

Let me tell you how much I love cheesecake.

Cheesecake can make me happy after a horrible day. Cheesecake can make me smile while I'm crying. Cheesecake makes me feel loved. There. I said it. Eating cheesecake makes me feel loved. So, it is only right that I love it back, right?

Well, no matter which side of the fence you're on for that one, I'm sure you'll love this:

Peanut Butter Swirl Cheesecake

This, my friends, is like eating a little (or giant, either way is fine with me) piece of Heaven! Now, as much as I love cheesecake....I love peanut butter, too. Putting the two together is, well, I'm at a loss for words, honestly. It was just fabulous!

*Just a small note from me: The recipe called for 2 cups of peanut butter for the swirls. I followed it exactly and ended up with close to 1 cup of it left over. So, the next time I make this particular recipe, I'll be cutting that part in half. Otherwise I think it would be way too overpowering, but that's just me.*

Not to mention....did you notice that there is not a "normal" cheesecake crust on that baby? Nope, that is SPONGE CAKE for the base! Yeah, I thought that might be a little weird, too, but NOPE! Delicious! Really.

All that topped with whipped cream, drizzled with peanut butter topping, and sprinkled with some milk chocolate chips. Absolutely delightful. Mmmmm.

I came across this book: Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook and had to buy it! Well, I have some seriously fabulous news for all of you.....I love this book so much that I want you to have it, too! (Well, at least one of you)

So, here is another giveaway for all my wonderfully gorgeous (yeah, I don't mind a little butt-kissing every now and then) readers, my friends. There are 50 To-Die-For Recipes for New York-Style Cheesecake found in this book. Awesome.

From the Peanut Butter Swirl to Pumpkin Swirl. From Key Lime Mousse Cheesecake to Creme de Menthe Cheesecake. Even Tiramisu Cheesecake!

Alright, alright....I know you're sitting on the edge of your chair wondering how you're going to get to enter this giveaway, right? Well, here ya go:

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Thanks!

1 - Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite kind of cheesecake is (mandatory)

2 - Follow my blog (or just post if you're already a follower)

3 - Follow me on Twitter (see right-hand column for a button)

4 - Twitter about this giveaway (leave me either a permalink or your user name)

5 - Blog about this giveaway (leave me a link)

*You can tweet once daily and post each time you do for extra entries*

Please be sure to leave your e-mail address or that your profile has your e-mail address accessible. Thanks!

Comments for the giveaway will be accepted through May 31st at 8 PM Eastern. Winner will be announced shortly there after.

For now, I leave you with a nibble:


Enjoy!
-Erica

PS) I'll post the recipe soon for those of you who'll be wanting to try this out!

Chocolate Almond Kahlua Cheesecake

It is that time again, my friends! The Daring Bakers have been busy in April........creating CHEESECAKE! Cheesecake of all kinds, sweet and savory. Glorious cheesecake. I was excited! I love cheesecake!

Me? I went for something different than I've ever made before....and it was yummy!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

So, we pretty much had tons of freedom on this challenge. We could add flavors, change crust, etc. Which was fun....and interesting. To see what the other Daring Bakers came up with (and there are some truly phenominal creations), go here.

So, I started with the basic recipe and added 1/4 C of cocoa powder. For the vanilla, I substituted almond extract and for the liquer, I used French Vanilla Kahlua. YUMMY!

Once I had the crust ready, I sprinkled white chocolate chips over it. Then covered it with the cheesecake mixture.



Once it was set and ready....I covered it with a chocolate almond ganache. So delightful, really. Then, for just one more OOMPH! I sprinkled more white chocolate chips on top of the ganache (before it had set, of course).



This recipe is fantastic! The cheesecake is creamy....sets perfectly....and did you notice....NO CRACKS! I have been using a "water-bath-like" method for a long time to prevent cracks in my cheesecakes. I did it the same way this time.....just put a pan of hot water on the shelf below my cheesecake....BUT I put the pan of water in as soon as I turn the oven on for pre-heat. That way it gets the oven ready for my cheesecake. I find this to be a great method.

One last beautiful shot:


Here is the recipe we used (you should try it and get creative on your own!)

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Some variations from the recipe creator:

** Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool)

** Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).

** Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.

** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.

** Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Some variations from Jenny (from JennyBakes):

**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.

**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.

Enjoy!
-Erica

Creme de Menthe Cheesecake

Ok - can we all say (together now) - YUMMY!!!

This was one of the best cheesecakes I have ever tasted! :)

A friend of mine, Mike DiDomenico, is a Pampered Chef Consultant. We were having a party at my house over this past weekend and he made this dessert for us! Needless to say, we were one bunch of HAPPY women that day! LOL

I will make this myself in the upcoming months....so be on the lookout for another post on this baby with "behind the scenes" pictures to accompany!


Here is the recipe:
A layer of crème de menthe candies in the center of the cheesecake gives this dessert a minty surprise.

Ingredients:
Crust and Filling
14-16 creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (1 1/4 cups/300 mL finely crushed)
4 pkg (8 oz or 250 g) cream cheese, softened
1 cup (250 mL) sugar
4 tbsp (60 mL) all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 tsp (2 mL) Double-Strength Vanilla
4 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup (125 mL) sour cream
8-12 drops green food coloring (optional)
2 pkg (4.67 oz each) crème de menthe chocolate candies, unwrapped, divided (about 56 candies total)

Topping
3/4 cup (175 mL) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) thawed frozen whipped topping
7 crème de menthe chocolate candies (reserved from filling)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). For crust, lightly spray sides of Springform Pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line sides of pan with two 3 x 15-in. (7.5 x 38-cm) pieces of Parchment Paper. Press cookie crumbs onto bottom and slightly up sides of pan. Bake 8 minutes. Remove pan from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack.
2. For filling, place cream cheese, sugar, 3 tbsp (45 mL) of the flour and vanilla into Stainless (4-qt./4-L) Mixing Bowl; beat on medium speed of electric hand mixer 3 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs; mix on low speed 2 minutes. Add sour cream and food coloring, if desired; mix until smooth.
3. Set aside seven of the candies for topping. Cut remaining candies in half crosswise and toss with remaining 1 tbsp (15 mL) flour. Pour half of the filling into crust. Arrange candies, slightly overlapping, over filling; gently spoon remaining filling on top. Bake 55-60 minutes or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken (center will firm as it cools). Remove from oven to cooling rack; cool completely, about 3 hours.
4. For topping, place chocolate morsels, whipped topping and reserved candies into Small Micro-Cooker®. Microwave on HIGH 1 1/2-2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring after each 30-second interval. Spread topping over center of cheesecake using Small Spreader. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
Yield: 16 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 500, Total Fat 34 g, Saturated Fat 22 g, Cholesterol 120 mg, Carbohydrate 41 g, Protein 8 g, Sodium 250 mg, Fiber 2 g

U.S. Diabetic exchanges per serving: 2½ starch, 7 fat (2½ carb)

Cook's Tips: To make a cheesecake with the creamiest texture, bring ingredients to room temperature before beginning the recipe.

Arrange candies slightly overlapping over bottom layer of filling. Gently spoon remaining filling over candies, being careful not to disturb candies.

To prevent overbaking, check cheesecake at minimum baking time given. When done, a center area about 1 in. (2.5 cm) in diameter will still jiggle slightly. The center will firm as it cools.

To freeze cheesecake, wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. To thaw, place covered cheesecake in refrigerator for 24 hours.


Here is a picture (not a great one, though) of the whole thing....which didn't survive long! LOL



I do believe that the original recipe is from Pampered Chef...so THANKS! :)

Enjoy!
-Erica

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

This delectable treat is sure to be a crowd pleaser. This cheesecake doesn't have a traditional crust, either - it has a cinnamon-spicy crust that adds even more flavor! YUMMY!

This recipe is a snap! I don't think I've ever seen such a large cheesecake, though - made in a 9 X 13 pan. Die-hard cheesecake lovers rejoice - there is plenty to go around!

*TIP* When baking cheesecake, I always put a pan of water one rack down in the oven. Years ago someone (wish I could remember who now, so I could give credit....LOL) told me that so I'd stop cracking the tops - VIOLA! It works! :)

I love cheesecake! :)
-Erica