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.

Cherry Butter Cheesecake

To go to the gym, or not to go to the gym, that is the question. I will be honest I am feeling laaazzzy. It was a long day at work and I've sort of got a headache and I'm thinking staying home and cooking dinner sounds a lot more relaxing. On the other hand, I should be going and be more productive in my training. I wish you guys could send me motivation like you send email. Anywho, enough whining about exercise, I've got a cool cheesecake for you.

I love almost every type of cheesecake, except for plain, plain is just...well plain. One of the goodies that the other half brought back from his trip was this yummy cherry butter. I'm sure it could go great in cakes and frosting, but for me, cheesecake was the way to go. It's got the same texture and spices of apple butter just made with cherries instead. It's even great on toast!

If you're interested in buying some for yourself you can go visit the Pepper Palace's online store and order a jar. They have many other fruit butters that would be great to bake with.

Now lets talk cheesecake shall we, and more specifically a water bath. What is your take on this situation? I have always used a water bath because I thought I just had to, but it seems like the half that is in the water cooks slower than the part above the water. Does anyone else ever have this problem? A girlfriend of mine said she doesn't put the cheesecake in a water bath, but does put a pan of water in the oven underneath the cheesecake. What do you guys do? I've read so many different techniques and opinions, it looks like this girl has a lot more cheesecake experimenting to do.

Cherry Butter Cheesecake

Ingredients:
For Crust:
1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted

For Cheesecake:
4 (8oz) packages cream cheese
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
5 eggs
1 1/2 cherry butter
3/4 butter, melted

Directions:
1.  In medium bowl, combine crushed graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter and mix until moistened.

2.  Press the crust into a 10in spring form pan. (I use the bottom of my measuring cup to flatten)

3.  Bake the crust at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, and then let cool.

4.  In large bowl, mix cream cheese, cornstarch, and sugar until smooth. Add sour cream to the mixture, then beat in the eggs. Add the cherry butter and melted butter, and beat until smooth.

5.  Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and bake in a water bath for about 2 hours.


Recipe adapted from this one on Allrecipes.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

I've got an easy one for you.

(Didn't get the best photos, took it to work so photos are snapped
 from there, but it doesn't make it any less delicious.)

The first time I ever heard of sopapilla cheesecake was this last year at the other half's company Christmas party. They had a dessert contest where this dessert won. By the time I had made my way to the dessert table there was none of it left for me to try. (I know, you think I'd be there first one there, but I was in public, I couldn't just run over like a crazed five year old trying to get her sugar fix). Of course the one that won was one of those super easy desserts, not the complicated recipes that takes hours to make. All the better, right? It's got a light pastry crust, then the creamy cheesecake layer, then a crispier pastry top that is topped with cinnamon sugar. Yum, yummy!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese

2 cans crescent dough roll sheet

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon)

Directions:

1.  Using a 9 x 13 baking pan, unroll one package crescent roll dough and line the bottom of the pan.

2.  Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and extract and spread over the crescent roll dough.

3.  Unroll the other can of crescent roll dough and place on top of cream cheese mixture.

4.  Pour one stick of melted butter over the top and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

5.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.


It's a Pillsbury recipe. See the original recipe here!

Mini Biscoff White Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes

Hey, hey! I know I'm a little late, but I hope everyone had a great super bowl and weekend and all that good stuff. I have great news to share. The other half that I refer to often, my boyfriend of almost 6 years, just popped the question last week. So yeah I'm good, being newly engaged and having a pretty ring to look down at would make anybody's day better. :) I really can't stop looking at it. (He did good!) I am so excited and can't wait to start trying on wedding dresses. Any tips you girls have, send them my way! The stress of planning and "buying" is starting to creep up on me a little. Usually I bake to relieve stress which I guess I need to do more, but I've got to watch the figure too so I can get a pretty skinny dress. You know it's hard to bake and not eat it yourself.

That being said....

Mmmmm...Biscoff. If you haven't tried this yet it is sooo yummy. Biscoff is a spread that is made out of cookies, it's about the same consistency as peanut butter. I just want to put it on everything. I actually had it on a piece of toast for my breakfast this morning. See, you can have cookies for breakfast! I made these little treats for super bowl so everyone could just grab one as they're walking by and they were a big hit! The crust, which is made out of Biscoff cookies, is sweet and buttery and the cheesecake is nice and creamy with white chocolate chips studded throughout.

Mini Biscoff White Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes 

Makes 18

For the crust:
Ingredients: 
1 1/2 Biscoff cookie crumbs
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a bowl of a food processor combine cookies and sugar and pulse into fine crumbs.

Then pour melted butter and pulse until all the ingredients are moistened

Press cookie mixture into the bottom of cupcake liners. (I used a small glass ramekin to pat crumbs down, but you can use anything you can find that will fit)

Bake until the crust is set, 6 minutes. Then set aside to cool while working on the cheesecake mixture.

For the cheesecake:
Ingredients: 
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup Biscoff spread
White chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup) 
Pinch of salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 275° F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth.

Gradually add the sugar, and beat until combined.

Beat in the vanilla.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add in Biscoff spread and salt, beat to combine.

Then place a few white chocolate chips into the prepared cups then cover with a spoonful of cheesecake mixture, then add a few more white chocolate chips and then fill with cheesecake mixture. (Now I did it like this so I would get the same amount of white chocolate chips it every cheesecake, but you can surely just mix them into your cheesecake batter if you don’t want to fuss with it.)

Bake about 22 to 26 minutes.

Transfer the muffins tins to a wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate (in the muffin tins) at least 4 hours.

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Just in case you guys would like to see what has been distracting me.....

Just perfect :)

Oreo Cheesecakes

Who doesn’t love cookies and cream? A few weirdos out there I’m sure, right along side the kooks that don’t like chocolate. (I mean that in the nicest way possible :D) I can understand the peeps that don’t really care for cheesecake because it’s so easy to obtain a bad one, sour, clumpy, that’s no good. You just have to make sure that when you are making cheesecake you’re using room temperature items and creaming the cream cheese real well before you proceed. I really like this recipe because it's relatively easy and you don’t have to use a water bath. (Which can get tricky to take out of the oven) Plus you don’t even have to make a crust, how easy is that!? This is also another one of those recipes that you could play around with and try out different flavors. A good fall variation would be golden Oreo’s with a little pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice added to the batter, it would be yummy! 

Oreo Cheesecakes 

Makes 15 

Ingredients: 

21 Oreo, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, 15 left whole and 6 chopped 

1 pounds cream cheese (two 8oz packages), room temperature 

1/2 cup sugar 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten 

1/2 cup sour cream 

Pinch of salt 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 275° F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole Oreo cookie in the bottom of each lined muffin cup. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in the vanilla. 

Drizzle in eggs, a little at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add in sour cream and salt, beat to combine. Using a large spatula, fold in the chopped Oreo cookies. 

Divide batter evenly among the cookie-filled muffin cups, fill each cup almost to the top. Bake, rotating muffin tins halfway through, until the filling is set, about 22 to 28 minutes. 

Transfer the muffins tins to a wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate (in the muffin tins) at least 4 hours (or overnight). Remove from tins just before serving. 

I found this beautiful recipe on La Mia Vita Dolce which she got from one of Martha Stewart’s cookbooks. I halved the recipe.

Strawberry Cheesecake

I received a request at work to make a strawberry cheesecake. I found this beautiful cheesecake on a fellow blog, and it looked gorgeous. This little recipe did end up giving me some trouble though. First of all I had to convert it from grams, which was a first for me so I was a little worried about the outcome. Then when it came to the technique of swirling the colors, well let’s just say my technique was a little lacking. It was swirled inside, but not on top so it ended up looking totally different than the one I was trying to recreate. Now to be honest this wasn’t my favorite cheesecake, but strawberry cheesecake is not my favorite and I’m a chocoholic and think that chocolate should always be involved with cheesecake. The coworkers did seem to enjoy it though.

Crust
Ingredients:
10 graham crackers
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 C superfine sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F and wrap the outside of a 9in spring form pan three times with foil, making sure to alternate direction. Wrap it tightly as without tight foil barrier, water can seep through the pan.

Combine graham crackers, melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse until it all mixed together well and moistened.

Press mixture into spring form pan. Make sure you pack it together solid so the cheesecake mixture doesn’t leak through to the bottom.

Cheesecake
Ingredients:
3 (8oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 C superfine sugar
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
16oz bag frozen strawberries, thawed and drained (of course you can use fresh here if you’d like)
3 drops red food coloring

Directions:
Place 2 1/2 blocks of cream cheese in a food processor along with the lemon juice, vanilla and sugar and process till the mixture is completely smooth. Scrape down the sides, add the eggs and egg yolks then process again till smooth and well combined.

Remove about 2/3 of the cheesecake mixture and set aside, then add the berries, remaining 1/2 block of cream cheese and food dye to the 1/3 cheesecake mixture remaining in the processor and blitz till the berries are smoothly incorporated. The food dye is optional, but will help make the layers more striking once baked.

Pour the white and strawberry cheesecake mixtures into the pan, alternating flavors and trying to keep each addition fairly even. Once all the mixture has been added, drag a skewer from the edges to the middle to make a pattern. At this stage, you can also add a little natural strawberry preserve or roasted strawberries to be found as little surprises in each slice.

Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes – 1 hour, or till the top of the cheesecake feels set to the touch. (I baked mine for 45 minutes and checked it and it felt set, but it was a little too soft when I served it the next day, it should have baked a little while longer) Once the cake is baked, chill overnight in the fridge to allow it to set completely, then slice and serve.

Recipe by the Kitchen Wench (Re-printed and converted with a few changes)

Vanilla Bean Mascarpone Cheesecake with a Cashew Crust and Passion Fruit Caramel

(I have to apologize for the bad photo, I took this cheesecake

to a BBQ before taking any pictures and only had this meager

paper plate to work with, plus I only have a point and shoot camera.)

I have been craving cheesecake and I know the richness of mascarpone would definitely put it over the top.  We've all had that slice of cheesecake that is just a little too tart. In fact, for the longest time I didn't even think I liked cheesecake after getting too many just that way. If you haven’t tried mascarpone cheese yet, try it, it’s amazing. It’s the same consistency of cream cheese, but tastes like fresh cream, it’s so rich, and no tartness, so I knew I wanted to include it in my next cheesecake. To add to that, I’ve decided that my new favorite frosting is Cupcake Project’s, Vanilla Bean Buttercream, it tastes like melted vanilla ice cream, and you really could just eat it right of the spoon. So I thought I’d try a Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, hoping for the same result. In searching for a recipe I happened upon a new blog that I now frequent, Spache the Spatula, I found this delicious recipe there, which she adapted from Epicurious. If you’d like to see a better photo of this cheesecake, head over to her blog, she has beautiful photography. This recipe is a re-print from her blog.

This cheesecake is amazing.  It's so creamy and smooth, and that little spice in the crust is just perfect.  I think this would be a great base for all cheesecakes.  The passion fruit caramel took a little longer to caramelize for me, but it was so worth it.  You can taste a hint of tartness from the topical fruit.  My mom, who was over while I was baking, enjoyed liking the bowl she thought it was so good.  Happy baking guys.

Key Lime Cheesecake

So for another reason to bake I decided to start making birthday desserts for all my coworkers. The most recent birthday boy told me his favorite desserts were cheesecake and key lime pie. I knew right away that I would want to combine the two. I finally decided on this highly rated recipe on Epicurious. It's a graham cracker crust, of course, filled with three layers. The first being a tart lime custard, then a smooth cheesecake filling, and then topped off with a sweetened sour cream topping. Even though there are a few steps to this it was still relatively easy to make and the results were scrumptious! The minute it touches your tongue the tartness hits you, but is then smoothed out by the creamy cheesecake. Yummy.