Pumpkin Cheesecake

For a work pot luck, I made an oh-so-delicious pumpkin cheesecake! It turned out beautiful! Here is the delicious recipe:

1 cup crushed ginger snaps

2 Tbl melted butter

3 8 oz pkgs cream cheese at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground allspice

2 cups sour cream

3 Tbl sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350* F. Mix ginger snap crumbs with melted butter. Press evenly into springform pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce oven to 300* F. Beat cream cheese with 1 cup sugar and the salt. Add 3 of the eggs and the 2 tsp of vanilla and mix until well incorporated. Pour half the mix into the pan.

Stir in pumpkin, spices, and remaining egg into the rest of the batter. Spread over the regular cheesecake batter. Bake for 60 minutes or until set in the center.

During the last couple minutes of baking, beat together sour cream, remaining sugar and remaining vanilla. Once you remove the cheesecake from the over, spread this mixture over the baked cheesecake. Bake for 10 more minutes.

Lunch

Today for lunch I'm having homemade roasted vegetable soup, homemade whole wheat sunflower seed bread, and a diet pepsi. Ok, so a little unbalanced. But here are the delicious, delicious recipes!

Whole Wheat Sunflower Seed Bread:

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tsp yeast

2 cups white flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp sea salt

2 Tbl Powdered milk

1/2 cup sunflower seeds, finely chopped

4 Tbl extra virgin olive oil

4 Tbl honey

Dissolve yeast in water and let sit for 5 minutes

In large bowl stir together white flour, whole wheat flour, salt, powdered milk, and sunflower seeds until completely incorporated. Add olive oil, honey and yeast water until dough forms. If it is too sticky, add flour a tablespoon at a time. If too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time.

Turn onto floured surface or use a kitchen aid mixer to knead for 2-3 minutes until dough springs back when touched. Shape dough into a loaf and place into a greased bread pan. Let bread rise for an hour in warm place until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375* F. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until bread sounds hollow when tapped and is golden brown. Cover the top with butter.

Roasted Vegetable Soup:

Serves 10

3 sweet potatoes

4 potatoes

1 lb carrots

3 red peppers

1 yellow pepper

1 stalk celery

6-8 cups beef broth (or any other broth or stock)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Cut all vegetables into bite size pieces. Coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in 350* oven for about 45 minutes.

Puree 3/4 of the vegetables and thin out with the broth until a good consistency. Flavor with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the other vegetables and bring back up to a simmer.

Holiday Baking

One of my favorite things about the holidays is making candy and doing all the holiday baking! When I was younger, my mom and grandma would do demonstrations at the Festival of Trees on how to make Christmas Candy, specifically making and dipping chocolates, and us young kids would be the hired help.

Last night I made two of my favorite holiday treats and sent some with Tom to his work and brought some in to my work. I had many people request the recipes because they are pretty much the most delicious things ever! The fudge recipe has been handed down from my great-grandpa, so you know it's good!

Kartchner Fudge

12 oz chocolate chips

1/2 lb butter or margarine

chopped nuts

4 cups sugar

1 can evaporated milk

30 marshmallows

Put chocolate chips, butter, and nuts in a glass bowl. Set aside. Bring the sugar and canned milk to a boil, stirring constantly, until it reaches 242*. At the last minute, stir in the 30 marshmallows and continue to stir until melted. Pour into the first bowl until the chocolate chips and butter are melted. Pour the fudge into a buttered 9x13 pan and allow to set up.

Soda Cracker Toffee

Saltine crackers

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup REAL butter (if you use margarine, it will not be crunchy, it will be soft and won't be nearly as delightful)

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with non-stick spray. Put 1 layer of saltine crackers. Boil together the butter and brown sugar for 2 minutes. Spoon over the saltines. Bake at 350* for 5 minutes. Take out of oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crackers. Let sit for 2 minutes and spread chocolate across the top. Allow to cool completely in fridge and break into pieces to serve.

Croquembouche

May's challenge for the Daring Bakers was a Piece Montée or Croquembouche. I have always heard them called Croqembouche, so that is what I am going to call it. A classic Croquembouche is a pyramid or cone of basically custard filled puff pastries glued together with caramel, decorated with spun sugar, flowers, or chocolate. It is what is used as the traditional wedding cake in France. I have always thought they looked so beautiful and have always wanted to try my hand at it so I was excited to do it!

Making the Pate a Choux (puff pastry) from scratch turned out to be a struggle for me. My first batch was waaaayyyy too runny and turned into egg flavored disks. My second batch turned out perfectly though. I forgot to brush the egg wash over them before they cooked but they still browned nicely, so that is good.

I ran out of the custard before all the cream puffs were filled, but I did have some chocolate whipped cream in the fridge. I ended up using that to fill the rest and they were just as good if not better than the custard filled ones.

Here is what a traditional Croquembouche is supposed to look like:

And here is what mine looked like:

Soooooo.... not quite the same. But it was still delicious! And was more than enough for 7 people for dessert with leftovers.

Here is the recipe as given to us by Little Miss Cupcake:

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

For Mother's Day this year, my family gave my mom a day of service, working in the yard. While the fam was hard at work outside, I stayed in my element and made cinnamon rolls for a big Mother's Day brunch. They ended up quite ridiculously tasty, if I may say so myself! I had some requests for the recipe so I thought I would share it with anyone who was so inclined.

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe from Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur

Rolls

1 package active dry yeast (¼ oz size)

1 cup warm milk (105-110° F)

½ cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup margarine

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

4 cups all purpose flour

Filling

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 ½ Tbl cinnamon

1/3 cup margarine, softened

Icing

8 Tbl margarine, softened

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

¼ cup (2 oz) cream cheese

½ tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

1. For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.

2. Mix together the sugar, margarine, salt and eggs. Add flour, and mix well.

3. Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Put in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until dough has doubled in size.

4. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough flat until it is approximately 21 inches long and 16 inches wide. It should be about ¼ inch thick.

5. Preheat oven to 400°F.

6. For the filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened margarine evenly over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar evenly over the surface.

7. Working carefully from the top (a 21-inch side), roll the dough down to the bottom edge.

8. Cut the rolled dough into 1 ¾ inch slices and place 6 at a time evenly spaced, in a lightly greased baking pan. Let the rolls rise again until double in size (about 30 minutes). Bake for 10 minutes, or until light brown on top.

9. While the rolls bake, combine the icing ingredients. Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy. When the rolls come out of the oven, coat each generously with icing.