Blog Archives

Bits & Pieces No Bake Cheesecake - A Creative Process

5/25/2020

Today is Memorial Day. I’d like to give a heartfelt remembrance to all of the brave souls who have lost their life serving our country.

Sadly, we also must recognize the 97K + loved ones lost to Covid-19. It’s hard to wrap your head around that number. I pray for those souls and their families who are no doubt suffering from such an immense loss.

Finally, I’d also like to honor the strength and courage of those on the frontline during this crisis. They have kept our country going, saved lives and continue to put themselves in harm’s way. Thank you!

I whipped this dessert up to honor the day. I call this “Bits & Pieces No Bake Cheesecake”. The reference to “Bits & Pieces” means I’ve used up the small quantities of ingredients I had in my fridge, freezer and pantry. This is more of a process than a recipe and you can easily replicate this and take it in a whole different flavor direction.

The Crust

Make a crust just like you’d make a graham cracker crust – crumbs + melted butter. I used over-baked signature Tinsel & Sugar Lemon cookies that were tucked away in my freezer. Today they became a delicious lemon crust for this dessert. It was about 2 cups of crumbs (half gallon bag of cookies) and 3 Tablespoons of melted unsalted butter.
Buzz up the cookies in the food processor to a small crumb, add melted butter and give it a couple of pulses until the mixture resembles damp sand.
Press into an even layer in your pie dish. Put it in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

The Filling

I had a handful of frozen blueberries, a small handful of sad fresh blueberries, and some beautifully ripe strawberries. All got buzzed up in the food processor and then strained to remove the seeds and pulp. Set aside.
To complete the filling, I had one brick of reduced fat cream cheese, ½ brick regular cream cheese and ½ cup of mascarpone cheese. All of the cheeses got buzzed up in the food processor along with a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk, juice of one small lemon and a tablespoon of vanilla. After a couple of pulses, I added in the fruit puree and gave it a couple more pulses until smooth.
Pour the filling into the pie crust, smooth out the top with a spatula and then decorate as you wish. Pop it in the refrigerator to let it set, preferably overnight.

The Result

My cheesecake only set up for about 6 hours, so it would have been firmer if I’d let it go longer.
My recommendation is to use 2 bricks of regular cream cheese as I believe it would give the cheesecake a firmer texture. Having said that, we enjoyed the cake and I got the satisfaction of using up what I had on hand vs. heading to the grocery store.

Happy Memorial Day!

1 Comment

Comfort Coffee Cake from the Baking Dispatcher

5/8/2020

0 Comments

You caught me - I ate some cake before snapping the pic:)

My daughter has become my "Baking Dispatcher"! During this Covid time, she likes to say "Hey, can we make some chocolate chip cookies?" Let's break this down ...1) there is no WE in this, this is her way of saying...Mom, rassle up some chocolate chip cookies and 2) she usually asks for these sweet treats at 8:30 PM at night when I've put in a full day of cooking already. Case in point, this past week, at the dinner table, she says "Hey Mom, can you make me some Naan bread?" Sigh....I am not a Naan whisperer at all but I continue to persevere. Kiddo has been struggling lately with the "new normal" so I started the oven with my pizza stone and got to work. We were all enjoying Show Me The Curry's Naan bread warm at 9 PM with some room temperature butter
Show Me The Curry Naan Recipe
Not a bad way to end the evening!
I guess, since that went so well, my daughter levied her baking desires again at 9 PM on Wednesday...."Hey Mom, can you make me some coffee cake? or an Apple Clafoutis?" I respond..."Are you kidding me, it's 9 PM! I'm getting ready for my slumber!" The next day I set out to make my kid happy and hey, coffee cake does sound really good! I reach out to my good friend and colleague,
Anne Blankenship @ Designed Cuisine
for a tried and true coffee cake recipe. She gave me the perfect coffee cake recipe - easy to make, completely traditional and you can just taste the homemade difference! Fortunately, Anne nabbed this recipe from the Dallas Morning News Taste section back in 2007.
It's a winner! Check it out!

Coffee Cake Exceptionale
2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 TSP Salt
2 TSP Cinnamon, divided
1/4 TSP Ginger, ground
1 Cup Brown Sugar, firmly packed
3/4 Cup Sugar, granulated
3/4 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Walnuts or Pecans, chopped
1 TSP Baking Soda
1 TSP Baking Powder
1 Egg, Large, beaten
1 Cup Buttermilk

How To
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking pan. (I used a Pyrex)

In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, ginger, both sugars and oil.

Remove 3/4 cup of the sugar mixture and add it to the nuts & remaining teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix well & set aside to use as the topping. (I used walnuts).

In separate bowl, combine buttermilk, egg, baking soda & baking powder. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Small lumps in batter are OK.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle topping mixture evenly over the surface & bake for 40-45 mins. (My cake took 40 min, it's ready when the toothpick/skewer comes out clean).

Yield: 12- 16 servings

No Buttermilk, No Problem: Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup milk. Let sit for 10 minutes and give it a stir. You'll note that the milk has thickened from the acid and will look like buttermilk. When I made this recipe, I didn't have buttermilk and used this workaround. I use it all of the time - works like a charm!

0 Comments

MAKE THIS!
Recipes To Savor Your Time

Bits & Pieces No Bake Cheesecake - A Creative Process

Comfort Coffee Cake from the Baking Dispatcher

Author

Archives

Categories

MAKE THIS!Recipes To Savor Your Time

Bits & Pieces No Bake Cheesecake - A Creative Process

Comfort Coffee Cake from the Baking Dispatcher

Author

Archives

Categories

MAKE THIS!
Recipes To Savor Your Time