Mini Amaretto Peach Pecan Honey Butter Cheesecake

Hello hello :) So the other half and I recently took a trip to Seattle and Portland and I loved it there. I could totally see us moving there and hopefully we will someday. It's such a beautiful part of the country and it wasn't really as rainy as I thought it would be. We ate and drank our way through both cities trying to explore as much as we could. When we vacation we walk and ride public transportation to get around the city trying to find the local spots, and for the most part avoiding the touristy places. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Here are a few photos from our little adventure.

Moving right along to the cheesecake. I had a few ingredients that I had been wanting to use and finally brought them together. First, I had a jar of Amaretto Peach Pecan Honey Butter that my girlfriend had given me because she knows I love that sort of thing and I have been trying to come up with the perfect treat to use it in. Then I also decided to go with a shortbread cookie as a crust because the other half sucks at picking out girl scout cookies. They have been sitting around the house since "girl scout cookie season" (you guys know what I mean) unopened and they just had to be put to good use. His excuse for acquiring said girl scout cookies...he believes that the girl scout cookie selling operation is like the mafia. You see they put these cute little girls in pigtails as a front. They smile sweetly and ask if you'd like to buy some cookies, when it's really the mom's that are behind it. Their icy stare, judging you (like how dare you say no to a little girl), with the look in their eyes that say, (you better buy some cookies or I'll break your freakin legs.) My technique is to not make eye contact, but the other half, he just doesn't have it down yet. So while feeling coerced into buying cookies he goes and picks the most plain, boring cookie they've got. (No offence to you shortbread cookie lovers) I think they go great with a creamy, rich cheesecake though.

Amaretto Peach Pecan Honey Butter Cheesecake

Ingredients: 
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 heavy cream
1/2 cup Amaretto Peach Pecan Honey Butter
Pinch of salt
12 shortbread cookies for crust

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 325° and line a muffin tin with liners and then place one shortbread cookie in the bottom of each tin.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, brown sugar and flour until smooth.

3.  Then add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated.

4.  Then stir in the amaretto peach pecan honey butter, heavy cream, and vanilla. Pour into tins.

5.  Bake for 25 minutes. (I place a pyrex baking dish full of hot water underneath the muffin tin; I do this for all of my cheesecakes instead of a water bath) Turn off oven and leave cheesecake in oven with the door closed for 30 minutes.

6.  Remove from oven. Let cool. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Truffle Stuffed Amaretto Peanut Butter Cookies

So...I was going to lay off the alcohol for awhile...to you know save calories and give my liver a good rest...

Then Monday came along...

I think they might have invented alcohol for Mondays just to make them worth being a day of the week. Plus it's blowing like 50 mph chilly winds today...no kidding...so what's better than a nice glass of red wine to warm your cockles. Oh and good for your heart! Right?

Anyway...lets talk cookies. These will make your Monday worth it too.

These cookies are chewy and amaretto-y and peanut buttery, and chocolatey, and positively scrumptious. I made these cookies with an amaretto peanut butter and stuffed them with an amaretto truffle. I love amaretto and my girlfriend, Randi, knows this and got me a few treats, including this amaretto peanut butter, she's the greatest!

And I just realized that I was supposed to save one for her...and I didn't...I forgot...and they're all gone...I'm a horrible friend.

Guess I'll be making another batch soon...must save one for Randi...must save one for Randi. :)

Truffle Stuffed Amaretto Peanut Butter Cookies

For the Amaretto Truffle
Ingredients:
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp heavy cream
3 ounces dark chocolate coarsely chopped
3 ounces milk chocolate coarsely chopped
1/4 cup amaretto

Directions:
1. Place the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until scalding; it will just start to bubble around the sides.

2. Place the chopped chocolate into a heat proof bowl and pour the hot milk over the chocolate and add the amaretto, let sit for 2 minutes and whisk until smooth.

3. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for two hours or until set. Then form into balls. For the cookies I made them a little smaller and I left the truffles without any coating but I did roll a few extra in cocoa. Chill in fridge for another 30 minutes.

For the Cookies
Ingredients:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup amaretto peanut butter
1 egg
1 tbsp amaretto
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat liner.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream together the sugars and butter until lighter in color and fluffy.

3. Beat in egg and peanut butter until smooth and stir in amaretto.

4. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix on low until all ingredients are combined. Then chill dough in fridge for 30 mins.

5. Now to assemble the cookies I used a small cookie scoop I used two scoops and smashed one down with a fork to give it the traditional peanut butter cookie look and then I just smashed the other down with the palm of my hand and wrapped them around one of the amaretto truffles and pinched the sides together to seal.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes and then let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Amaretto Sandwich Cookies

I have a baking unrelated story to share today, so if you don't care you can just skip on down to bottom of the post. :)

I was abruptly awoken this morning by the other half, flying into the bedroom flipping on all the lights and yelling that his car was stolen. He was right, the car was gone, and I hadn't even gotten to ride in it yet being that he had just purchased it on Friday and had gone out of town for the weekend. So I had to start my day with phone calls to credit cards and such because he had already put his gym bag in the trunk with his wallet in it, all of this before even having my first cup of coffee. Whoa. The officer ended up showing up to make the police report while we were left to figure out what to do with him being carless. Insurance takes care of a rental car so we were soon on our way to pick up a rental car until they either found his car or he bought another. Of course we found out after waiting for 15 minutes that he couldn't rent a car without a valid id, duh! what were we thinking? So off to the good ol' dps we went to get him his temporary id. After about a lovely hour long stay there we were back on our way to the friendly rental car place, that's when they called us. The SAPD had already found the car and they wanted us to meet them to pick it up, luckily for us it had a lojack system on it. We met them at a rundown apartment complex on a questionable side of town, where we found the car's steering column all broken off and believe it or not the sun shade up. You know, you’ve got to have a cool car to joy ride in, even the car thieves have to beat the Texas heat. Back in the trunk where his gym bag was everything was rifled through, all but the one pocket that contained his wallet. We couldn't believe it, everything was still there, cash and all! Whew, what a day.

Now to get back on topic....I love love love the smell of almond extract. I remember back when I was too young to drink, before I had a palate for wine or beer, I loved amaretto. That sweet nutty flavor was delicious and I put it in everything. Even though now it's a little too sweet for my taste to go and order an amaretto sour, I still love the smell and flavor, especially in baked goods. So this is an ode to one of my favorite flavors. What's your favorite flavor?

The cookie is soft and chewy, and with amaretto and almond extract in the batter it really shines though. The filling is a smooth buttercream spiked with amaretto, and for a little texture I added some of the almond flour (finely ground almonds), which I think gives it a little more of a nutty kick.

Amaretto Sandwich Cookies

Cookies

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tbsp amaretto

2 tsp almond extract

Directions

1.  In a large bowl sift together all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then whisk in almond flour.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy.

3.  Beat in eggs one at a time until incorporated, and then add almond extract and amaretto. Add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

4.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper. Place a tablespoon of dough 2in apart.

5.  Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 13 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Amaretto Buttercream

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp almond flour (which is finely ground almonds)

3 tbsp amaretto

2 tsp vanilla

Pinch salt

Directions

1.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, cream butter until smooth.

2.  Add powdered sugar and almond flour a little at a time until combined.

3.  Then add salt, amaretto, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.