Cheesecake Day

Since July 30 (today) is Cheesecake Day I thought I'd share a mini cheesecake recipe that I absolutely love. It is unbelieveably quick and easy and tastes great. I found the recipe on the Tasty Kitchen - a website that is quickly becoming a favorite for finding new things to whip up.

Anyhow here is what you'll need for the cheesecake:

16 oz Cream Cheese (generally this will be two packages)

1/2 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Cupcake liners

Optional: toppings (details to follow)

And the instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything together in a bowl until smooth. Spoon mixture into cupcake pan. Cook.

Seriously how beautiful is that? Okay okay I'm sure you'd like a few more details but I just wanted to illustrate how beautifully easy this recipe is. As regards the mixing thing this will work better if you leave the cream cheese out on the counter for a couple of hours first to help it soften up. I've done it straight out of the

fridge before but it's not quite as easy. As regards the cooking the recipe says fifteen mintues but I think it took a little longer than that for me. The things I look for most to tell that their done is 1) when there are some good cracks on top of a number of the cheesecakes, 2) a touch of color on top of the cheesecake (light brown to a soft golden usually) 3) they smell done. (Yeah sorry about number three - it's just how I've been cooking lately so I keep forgetting to even set a timer anymore.) There will be a great cheesecake aroma wafting through the house though so it's a decent indicator. As regards a crust well you can make up the one that goes with the recipe if you want to but I prefer vanilla wafers to it - they are more subtle and let you really enjoy the cheesecake. These also taste great without any crust at all so if you don't want to bother (or are allergic to wheat) don't worry about doing a crust at all.

The fun thing about these is the topping - options abound. You really can do anything you want to them. I've done a can of cherry filling (as pictured above) as well as just a bit of caramel sauce (I used a jar I picked up from the ice cream aisle at the store). My favorite so far has been melted chocolate with chopped nuts. Ideas I still want to try include other berries, toffee chips or chopped up candy bars (like Snickers). These are even great topless (how often can I say that on this blog ;).

I look forward to reading about how each of you celebrated your cheesecake day - the topping you enjoyed (or not) so come back and leave a comment.

And a friendly reminder to all of you who couldn't believe I didn't share the information sooner last year Ice Cream Sandwich Day is coming up on Aug. 2.

My Kind of Math

Take this

plus this:

plus this:

divide by 40 to equal:

Who said math isn't fun?

(On that note I messed up middle layer due to an utter inability to add...thankfully I had another pan of brownies handy - and how often can you say that happens?)

Recipe:

One 9x13 pan of brownies (the recipe calls for a brownie mix and I used one this time around - I think I'm going to get bold and do completely homemade brownies next time...and trust me there will be a next time...) all baked up and cooling.  Just a suggestion I would go for the cake-like brownies when you make these - the peanut butter filling is rich enough that richer brownies might be overload. But I'm a cakelike brownie kind of gal anyway.

Filling: (otherwise know as the the best way to eat peanut butter...okay that might not be true but it is an awfully good way to eat peanut butter.)

1/2 cup butter, softened (that would have been where I made my mathematical mistake...doubled the butter and kept everything else single. Funnily enough when I took a little taste before spreading on the brownie base I thought 'hmm...a little too buttery for my taste - for the next pan I'll do less butter and more peanut butter and sugar.' And then I realized my mistake and thought 'hey...I could taste I added too much butter...maybe someday I will be able to cut it as a decent cook.' Of course I had doubled to double the butter to get that distinction but still on the road right?)

Okay so that was really long side note - so for the sake of not making this too confusing I'll start the filling recipe over again:

1/2 cup butter (just one half a cup butter...not two half cups butter...that would have been my mistake.)

softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (though I don't think it would really hurt anything if it where chunky...or natural...you know whatever you like)

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons milk

In a medium bowl beat filling ingredients with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread evenly over brownie base.

Topping:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

Now if you are anything like me I was thinking 'semisweet? really?' because I'm all about my milk chocolate chips. But I happen to have a really big bag of semisweet chips (who doesn't? just kidding they were an incredible price at the store so I had to pick some up) so I used them and the slightly more bitter flavor of the semisweet didn't seem out of place or too strong at all. I think milk chocolate would probably be fine but semisweet was actually quite good.

Microwave chocolate chips and butter in a small bowl on high for thirty to sixty seconds. Stir until smooth. Cool for 10 minutes then spread over the filling.

Refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until set. (Yes this does make it alot easier to cut and if you have limited 'fridge space you can totally do it on the counter just plan on it taking several hours). Set is when the chocolate chip layer is back to it's solid state...not getting the knife all goopy when you go to cut. (Because that would be the fillings job...)

The directions say to cut in 9 rows by 4 rows but it didn't really fit that way for me - I ended up with 8 rows by 5 rows. Whatever floats your boat I'm sure...though I can see problems with getting it out if you simple make one get and split this bad boy into two...though if you decide to try let me know how that goes. I'd love to hear.

I just saw on the directions that it says to store covered in refrigerator...oops didn't do that the first time. Of course they only spend about two days out but they seemed to have survived the ordeal just fine. (okay they didn't survive at all...but I did and I ate enough that I'm not going to put a number on it.

I'll let you know how the made-from-scratch brownies work out for me next time. ;)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Due to popular demand (two out of five consistent posters...that's pretty popular right?) I'm posting the chocolate chip cookie recipe I featured not too long ago:
1/2 cup rolled oats (regular or quick)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 eggs
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used half and half dark and milk one time and a mixture of dark, semi and milk another...I think it's just up to personal preference. However 3 cups does seem to be a bit much and I've been scaling back a little. They were find with 2 1/2 cups and I'm going to try 2 next time...will tell you how it turns out.)
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (or other preferred nut, I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper (I only used one and just cooked in batches.) Place rolled oats in blender or food processor and process until finely ground. (I used a little extra rolled oats and liked them better as it made them a little fluffier...maybe an extra 1/4 cup but I'll measure next time I make them and let you know.) Combine ground oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.

In another bowl, cream butter, sugars, vanilla and lemon juice together using an electric mixer. Add eggs and beat until fluffy.

Stir the flour mixture into egg mixture, blending well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts to the dough and mix well. Using 1/4 cup of dough for each cookie, scoop round balls with an ice-cream scoop (I used a measuring cup...) and place 2 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.

Bake until cookies are lightly browned, 16-18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a sealed container to keep them soft and chewy. (As if some of you will even have to worry about that part... ;) )

Anybody who tries them let me know how they work out for you. In the meantime I think I'm off to make some cookies!