Cheesecake? Yes, please!

I finally got my cheesecake made and O-M-G was it ever yummy!

I used to have a great cheesecake recipe and then lost it.  Ever since then, I have searched for a good recipe and have just had no luck finding one.  In desperation, I turned to one of my oldest and dearest friends, who I had seen post these fantastic looking cheesecakes on Facebook.  She was kind enough to share her basic cheesecake recipe with me, which she tells me she originally got from Kraft.

For my cheesecake, I used lowfat Nilla wafers for the crust and swapped out three packages of the cream cheese for the lower fat neufchatel cheese.  For a big, full cheesecake like this, a springform pan is a much.  Mine is from Pampered Chef and I have had it for ages.  If has different inserts for a bundt cake and a heart and star shaped form.  I think they have a new one now, one with a glass bottom, which is even better.

Cheesecake

Preheat Oven to 325

CRUST
1 cup Cracker or Cookie Crumbs
3 TBSP Sugar
3 TBSP Melted Butter
Mix all together, press into bottom of a springform pan and bake for 10 minutes 

FILLING
5 Packages of softened Cream Cheese (like I mentioned, I used 3 neufchatel cheese)
1 Cup of Sour Cream
3 TBSP Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
4 eggs

Mix cream cheese, flour and sugar until smooth. Add in sour cream and blend well. On low speed add 1 egg at a time until just blended. Pour over crust and bake (@325) for 55-60 minutes. The middle should wiggle just a little. Run a knife around the edge to loosen from spring form and let cool completely before putting in the fridge. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. 

My friend's recommended leaving it overnight to chill and that was totally my intention.  However, life got the best of me and I was unable to get it made the night before, so it had to settle for chilling for just about 4 hours in the fridge.  Despite that, it still got rave reviews from all my mama friends!


I finished it off with a little lemon curd and it was a perfect accompaniment.  The tartness of the lemon curd and the sweetness of the cheesecake played off of each other great.  In fact, I am counting down to my son's bedtime so I can have another slice!

Orange-Honey Muffins

Cheesecake tomorrow, muffins today! I have a playgroup coming over tomorrow and I'm making the cheesecake for the moms, these muffins are for the kiddos.  This is another recipe that has been sitting in my "I cut it out of a magazine" file for I don't even know how long.  The original recipe seems to have come from Florida's Natural Orange Juice.  This particular recipe doesn't seem to be on their site, although I did find a few others I'd like to try!  For this recipe, I made a few modifications.  I used raw Ukrainian honey, butter instead of margarine and 2 eggs instead of egg substitute.

Orange-Honey Muffins
1/2 cup Orange Juice
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup egg substitute
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.  In a small bowl, combine the honey, juice, margarine, egg and vanilla.  Whisk until smooth and stir into dry ingredients.
Line a muffin pan (mine is stoneware from Pampered Chef) with paper liners and fill each cup 2/3 full with batter (I actually filled them a little more that that).  Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.

The flavor of the raw honey definitely shone through in these muffins, but in a good way.  If you don't like raw honey, you'd probably want to use regular, store-bought honey.  But they came out very moist, buttery and light.  My little helper and I split one to test them out and we agreed that they were yummy! I think they'll be perfect for the kiddos tomorrow!

Mmmm...Cheesecake!

Later this week I am hosting a playgroup for some friends/moms and their little ones.  I've been dying to make a cheesecake and so my plan is to make one for our playgroup.  I still have half a jar of lemon curd left from last weekend, so I plan to make the cheesecake with a Nilla wafer crust and top it with the lemon curd.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

My plan is to make the cheesecake tomorrow morning!

Banana Nut Bread

We're pretty picky about bananas.  For me, they need to be slightly green.  Once they're completely ripe, they're too ripe for me.  For my son, they can't have any brown spots, and they can't have any green.  And for my husband, they can't have any green, but they can have a few spots.  But we're all in agreement that once they turn mostly brown, the only thing they are good for is banana bread or muffins. But sometimes I only have 1 or 2, and that's not enough, so I will peel them, toss them in a freezer bag and freeze them for later.  Then, when I have 3 (which is how many my banana bread recipe calls for) and the time and inclination, I will take them out and thaw them and make banana bread.

My banana bread recipe is my mom's.  I have no idea where she got it, but it's the one we have both been using for years.  I have tried others, just for the heck of it, and in my opinion, they just don't compare.  Of course, I'm biased.

My Mother's Banana Bread

This recipe makes enough for a very full loaf or 1 dozen very full muffins.  You could probably do smaller muffins and stretch it to 18.  I love to take a slice and put in in a frying pan and kind of grill it that way and then butter it.  I'm drooling thinking about it now.  Or cut a muffin in half and fry it the same way. I also love to make french toast with it.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup shortening (I use crisco sticks)

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 bananas

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sour milk or cream

1 cup chopped walnuts

To sour the milk or cream, add 1 tsp white vinegar and let sit for 5-10 minutes.  Mash bananas and set aside.

Mix shortening, sugar and eggs.  Add bananas to mixture, the the mixed dry ingredients alternately with the sour sour milk.  Add in nuts last, if desired (it's just as yummy without them!) Pour into a loaf pan.

Bake at 350F for 1 hour (depending on climate, it may need longer.  I've had to bake it up to 1 hour 20 minutes before)

Enjoy!

St Patrick's Day Meringues

Sunday's lemon curd left me with six orphaned egg whites.  I thought about making an angel food cake, but then a friend suggested making meringues.  I haven't made them in ages,  but thought that it sounded like a good idea.  Meringues are so light and airy and they practically melt in your mouth.  If made correctly, the outsides are crisp and the insides are soft.  The recipe I used comes from The Joy Of Baking but they are all pretty similar.  And since St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, I tinted them green.

Yum!

The recipe is pretty straightforward.  And I used double the amounts of everything because I had 6 egg whites to use and they were all in a bowl together.  So I now have a LOT of meringues.

Meringue Cookies:

3 large eggwhites 

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup superfine or caster sugar (if you don't have superfine sugar simply take granulated white sugar and process it for about 30 seconds in a food processor)

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. You can form the cookies with a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) plain tip, or just use two spoons to make the cookies.  To get the textured look on mine, I used a zip type storage bag, snipped a hole and added a large star tip.

A stand mixer is easiest for this, since it takes a while to whip the egg whites.  In the bowl of the electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat until the meringue holds very stiff peaks. Beat in the vanilla extract.  

Note: The meringue is done when it holds stiff peaks and when you rub a little between your thumb and index finger it does not feel gritty. If it feels gritty the sugar has not fully dissolved so keep beating until it feels smooth between your fingers.

Notice how it's standing up all on it's own?  That's a stiff peak.

Before placing the cookies on the cookie sheet, place a little of the meringue on the underside of each corner of the parchment paper. This will prevent the paper from sliding.  Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch tip. Pipe 2 1/2 inch rounds of meringue in rows on the prepared baking sheet.

My little helper

Bake the meringues for approximately 1 1/2 to1 3/4 hours, rotating the baking sheet from front to back (about half way through) to ensure even baking.  If the weather is damp, they may need a little longer in the oven.  The meringues are done when they are pale in color and fairly crisp. Turn off the oven, open the door a crack, and leave the meringues in the oven to finish drying overnight.

Ideally, they should be on one rack only, but I made a double batch and needed to get them all in the oven.

My almost 4 year old kept asking, all evening, can I have a cookie? Can I have a cookie?  He did manage to get his fair share of tastes of the meringue from the bowl, though.  These came out great and got the "kid stamp of approval" from him and the neighborhood kids.

I used the vanilla extract called for in the recipe, but I was thinking while I was making these how they would taste with other flavored extracts, like mint or almond.