Red Velvet Cheesecake

We saw this cake on pinterest, but it had no link to a recipe or instructions on how to make it. So after looking at some other blogs and talking to eachother, I give you the Red Velvet Cheesecake! Warning: This is pretty time consuming and there are a lot of steps, but it IS easy!!

First, bake a cheesecake. If you have a recipe you like, great. If you need one, here is mine! Make sure it has NO crust. You will want to use a spring form pan, and line the whole thing with parchment paper, so it's easy to get out. Let it refrigerate overnight.

The next day, bake a red velvet cake, in a 9" pan. (Recipe below). You can either bake one layer, and cut it into 2, or for thicker layers, bake 2 layers, and just level them so they are flat and even. Set them in the freezer for a couple hours.

Oh- don't forget to save the shavings from your cake. You'll need them later.

When you are ready to assemble your cake, take your cheesecake, and unwrap it.

Place it upside-down, on top of your bottom layer of cake.

Then, take off the pan, and the parchment paper.

Then place the other layer of cake on top! At this point, my daughter said it looks like one giant oreo! Yup! I placed it in the freezer for another hour before I frosted it.

Frost it with the cream cheese frosting (again, recipe below)! You don't need to worry about the sides looking perfect, because you'll be covering it up with those cake crumbles you saved.

Just stick those crumbles right on the side, they'll stick good. You can press them down if they don't.

MMMMmmmmmmmmmmm.....

It looks yummy, doesn't it? It IS!

Here's a slice....oh wait- that one's for me! Yum!

Red Velvet Cheesecake

Cheesecake Recipe Here

Red Velvet Cake

• 1 Red Velvet Cake Mix (yes, that's how we roll)


• 1 small box instant vanilla pudding


• 4 eggs


• 1 3/4 cup water


• 1/4 cup flour


• 1/2 cup oil

Mix all together and beat well. Pour into 2 9" round pans. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 8 oz. cream cheese, softened


• 4 Tbsp. butter, softened


• 1 tsp. vanilla


• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Add vanilla and beat well. Then add powdered sugar. Add to your desired consistency. If it's too thick, you can add a little milk.

Cheesecake

I am a HUGE Cheesecake fan, and this is by far the best cheesecake I have ever had. Its baked (the way cheesecake should be made) and it is very creamy and tastes awesome.

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 pkg. graham crackers
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter

Filling:
2-8 oz. softened cream cheese (soften at room temp for 2-3 hours.)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp. melted butter
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325.
Combine crust ingredients in spring form pan, or pie plate.

Using a fork, mix together and shape into crust. Set aside.

In a blender, or food processor, combine all the filling ingredients until very smooth. No lumps people!

Pour the filling into the crust.

Bake at 325 for 35 minutes (or more) until cheesecake is set (doesn't wiggle in pan). No wiggling people. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Cannoli

I have always wanted to try cannoli, but finding the perfect recipe was hard. I searched on many sites and in many books, and took a lot of tips from different recipes and here is what I came up with.

Cannoli

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest
• 12 cannoli shells
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions:

Dip ends of cannoli shells into melted chocolate. Lay on parchment paper to dry.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Beat in ricotta, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and orange zest until well combined.

Place whipped cream filling into a piping bag and pipe mixture into shells. Lightly dust additional confectioners' sugar on top of cannoli (we forgot this step).

Makes 12 cannoli.

I think these were really yummy, but the filling was a little too thin. I think I may have added too much riccotta cheese. However, I did add more powdered sugar to try and thicken it, and it didn't seem to work. Still yummy though!

Toffee Lace Cups

While reading Alton Brown's book, "Gear For Your Kitchen" the other night, I came across a recipe for Lace Cups. I was intrigued. They sounded fancy, but pretty simple, so they were moved to the topish portion of my "to try" list. I tried to locate the recipe online so I could bookmark it, but instead came across a different variation - Toffee Lace Cups - and decided I had no choice but to make them right away. Late at night. On a Saturday. Anyway, I made them and they turned out great. We've just been breaking them up and eating the toffee pieces. So good! But the real success was last night when I made Alton's homemade vanilla ice cream (which consequently is the best homemade ice cream recipe I've ever tried), spiked it with crushed candy cane pieces, and served it inside the cups. Successful indeed. Which was a relief since I've had so many unsuccesses as of late. Made that word up I think. So, uh, here's a picture (speaking of unsuccesses...):

Recipe adapted from Foodnetwork.com by Alton Brown

Ingredients:

1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 TBSP dark corn syrup (2.5 fluid ounces)
Pinch of kosher salt
A few drops of lemon juice
1/2 cup flour

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except flour in a small, heavy saucepan over med-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Once mixture is at a boil, stir constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and sift in flour a little at a time, stirring to combine each addition before adding the next. Cool to room temperature or refrigerate for later use. (If refrigerated, allow mixture to come up to room temperature before cooking.) Mixture will thicken a lot as it sits.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper and spoon out mixture with a metal soup spoon or a small cookie disher. Cookies will spread out like crazy, so place dollops 6 to 8 inches apart. Bake 17-18 minutes or until deep mahogany brown.

Once out of the oven, allow disks to sit for roughly 30 seconds before removing from the pan, otherwise they will be too soft to transfer. Use a metal spatula to transfer the hot candy disks to the bottoms of inverted custard cups or small drinking cups, depending on how deep you want the bowls to be. (Have a cup for each disk, or the disks will set before you can get through them all.) Work quickly and the disks will conform to the shape of the cups. Remove when cool. Store wrapped with paper towel inside resealable plastic bags. Makes approximately 14 cups.

Variation: While hot, disks can be cut into shapes with a pizza cutter or broken by hand when cool and used to garnish other desserts. Or do as the Pioneer Woman would do and give this a try, which I plan to do asap.

Baklava Minis

Here's the thing about baklava: it's freaking amazing.

So, traditional baklava is made in a cake pan and is beastly to cut and dish out and all that jazz, and since I have an affinity for all things mini, I found this recipe that works perfectly for me. So without further ado I present to you, baklava minis:

Ingredients:

Recipe adapted from FoodNetwork.com by Giada De Laurentiis

Baklava

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup plain bread crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of salt

7 tablespoons butter, melted, divided

3 tablespoons honey
12 sheets phyllo dough

Sauce

1/4 cup water

1/8 cup sugar

1/8 cup honey

Directions:

(If you've never worked with phyllo before, click here)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the almonds, walnuts, bread crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt in a food processor. Run the machine until the mixture is very finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and the honey and stir to combine.

On a dry work surface place 1 sheet of phyllo. Using a pastry brush and the remaining melted butter, lightly cover the entire sheet of phyllo with melted butter. Cover the first sheet with a second sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Continue until there is a stack of 6 sheets of phyllo. Comprende? Good then.

Using a pizza cutter, cut the stacked phyllo rectangle into 12 equal pieces (Cut lengthwise into 4 pieces and widthwise into 3 pieces.)

Gently press each cut stack of phyllo into mini-muffin tin cups. Press 1 tablespoon of the nut mixture into each of the phyllo cups.

Gather the ends of each of the phyllo squares and twist to make a sachet shape.

Repeat with remaining phyllo until you have 24 baklava minis, and then brush the tops with any remaining melted butter. Why? Because thou shalt never waste good butter. It's written somewhere...

Bake until the edges of the phyllo are golden, about 18-23 minutes.

Meanwhile, begin making the sauce. In a small saucepan over medium heat add the water, sugar, and honey and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until reduced and slightly thickened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Pour 1 teaspoon syrup into each cup and allow it to soak in.

When cool enough to handle, remove the baklava minis and transfer to a serving plate. Or, you know, just eat it all right then and there so you don't have to dirty another plate. Either way.

Well done, Greek people. Well done.