Apple Dapple Cake

Along with this years Thanksgiving cheesecake (Skor – which was not awesome) I made Apple Dapple Cake.  To me Thanksgiving just screams apples and cinnamon, it seems to be a fall thing.  With my horrid past in pie making, I thought I would take a different approach with an apple dessert.

I found this recipe on Pinterst, it is from Southern Plate.  Great website, check it out. When I saw all the photos I knew I had to try it.

Adapted from Southern Plate

3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups raw
apples, peeled and chopped fine

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Prepare a bundt pan – I greased and floured

3. Mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla.

4. Sift together flour, salt, soda. **I added cinnamon – must have cinnamon with apples

5. Add to first mixture.

6. Fold in pecans and apples.

I have some people who can’t eat nuts so I did half and half

7. Bake in tube pan at 350 for 1 hour.

Sauce:

1 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup milk
¾ cup butter or margarine(1 -1/2 sticks)

1. Combine all ingredients

   

   2. Bring to a gentle boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

   

   3. Pour over hot cake while cake is still in pan.

   

   We tried the sauce once cooled a little from the pot. OMG! Forget the cake, just make the sauce and eat it with a spoon.  Heavenly!

   

   Slowly starts to soak in…

   

   

   Let cake cool completely before removing.

   

   Looks amazing

   

   

   

   

   Everyone said they liked it, but I didn’t.  I was quite disappointed, only finished a couple bites.  It was quite dry and flavourless. I thought it would be moist and almost gooey with all that sauce that soaked in.  Nope, heavy, dense, blah!

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S’more Cheesecake

This year for Christmas (yes, Christmas! Catching up on my posts) I tried a S’more Cheesecake.  As I mentioned in the past, it is hard to please everyone with a flavour, but I do try!  I figured, who doesn’t like a S’more? There was only one iffy person, who doesn’t like marshmallows, but they are easily picked off.

I did not follow any specific recipe or see this idea anywhere, I just kinda cake up with it on my own.  I used my classic go to cheesecake recipe and

Crust

Graham Crust

2 cups Graham Crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter

1. Combine sugar and Graham crumbs

2. Add melted butter and stir until combine

3. Pour into spring form pan and firmly press. Bake for 10 min and set aside to cool

 

Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice (When using chocolate I omit)
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
8 oz of Semi sweet Chocolate

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Using a double boiler melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg.

5. Add the cooled chocolate and stir

6. Add heavy cream and vanilla, blend until smooth and creamy.

 

7. Pour into your prepared pan

And this is where things went a rye.

I always  bake my cheesecake in a water bath.  Today I was in a rush, I wasn’t really focused and decided to just throw it in the oven, like others do.  Everyone tells me, ‘why bother, it’s just another step, it will be fine’…

8. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top.

Well, it fell and cracked!  Never again! Always a water bath!!!

After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve

Thank goodness I was covering the top, because this was one ugly cheesecake!

The next day..

1. Cut large marshmallows in half and cover the top of your cheesecake

2. Drizzle with melted chocolate

3. Top with Graham crackers

Looks pretty good!

This cheesecake was OK.  I would not make it again

Everyone said it was good, but they never say and different. (one day I wold like to completely ruin a recipe and not let on and see if anyone said anything, I don’t think they would)

It definitely was not as ooey and gooey as I had hoped.  See, it looks a little dry.

Oh well. Lessen learned!

Daring Bakers Do Tarte Tatin

For the March Daring bakers’ challenge, Korena from Korena in the Kitchen taught us that some treats are best enjoyed upside down. She  challenged us to make a tarte tatin from scratch.

I was very excited to see this months challenge, back to desserts!  The Tarte Tatin looked delicious!

As excited as I was that we were making a dessert this month, I can’t have it, blah!  It is Lent and I give up all junk, (sweets, desserts, chips, pop, fast food, pizza, etc.)  My baking has slowed down quite a bit over Lent, because it is all so tempting!

I didn’t want to miss this months. I decided to make a small one and if the reviews were good I would make a regular size one, when Lent was over.  I cut the recipe in a third of posted recipe.

Tarte Tatin

Rough Puff Pastry

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsalted butter, cold
¼ tsp fine salt
¼ cup (60 ml) ice cold water

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt.

2. Cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the flour. With a pastry blender (or two table knives) cut in the butter until the mixture in crumbly but even, with pea-sized pieces of butter.

3. Make a well in the middle and pour in the ice cold water.

4. Toss the flour/butter and water together with a fork until the dough starts to clump together.  Turn the dough out onto your work surface – don’t worry if there are still pockets of dry flour.

5. Gently knead and squeeze the mixture a few times just enough to bring it together into a square (a bench scraper is helpful for this). Be careful not to overwork the dough: there should be visible bits of butter and it should still look very rough.

6. Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin, and roll the dough out into a rectangle about 10” (25 cm) long.

7. Fold the bottom third of the dough up into the middle, and fold the top third down, like you are folding a letter. This is one fold. Turn the dough a one quarter turn so that one of the open edges is facing you, and roll out again into a 10” (25 cm) rectangle. Fold again – this is the second fold. Repeat the rolling and folding 3 more times, for 5 folds total. Your dough will get smoother and neater looking with each fold (the pictures show the first and fifth folds).

The dough looks lovely, and so easy!

If your kitchen is very warm and the dough gets too soft/sticky to do all the folds at once, chill it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes between folds. After the fifth fold, use your rolling pin to tap the dough into a neat square. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for a least 1 hour, or overnight.

 Filling

6 large or 7-8 medium-sized apples
Juice of half a lemon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (or use salted and skip the salt)
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar, divided
pinch salt
Rough Puff Pastry, above

 

1. Peel the apples and cut them into quarters. Remove the cores in such a way that each apple quarter has a flat inner side: when placed rounded-side-up, it should sit on a flat base.

2. Place the apples in a large bowl and toss with the lemon juice and 1/3 cup (80 ml) (2-1/2 oz) (65 gm) sugar. This will help draw out some of the moisture from the apples and prevent an overly runny caramel. Set aside for 15 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to moderately hot 375˚F

4. Melt the butter in a very heavy, 9” or 10” (23 cm or 24 cm) oven-proof saucepan over medium heat

5. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup sugar.

6. Stir with a whisk until the sugar melts and becomes a pale, smooth caramel. The sugar will seem dry and chunky at first, then will start to melt and smooth out. If the butter appears to separate out from the caramel, just keep whisking until it is a cohesive sauce. Remove from the heat.

And this is where the whole thing fell apart!!! 

I followed the directions to the letter.

Mine appeared to ‘foam’?

Then separate, as it recipe said it might, but keep whisking, so i did!

Looks awful…

I was excited it finally came together!

I added the apples and went to stir…

Something went wrong.  It’s not caramel, it’s rock hard toffee!

Into the garbage that went….

Attempt #2 – no better

Attempt #3 – worse

I am not sure what happened.  Maybe because I cut the recipe?  Did anyone else half or third the recipe and have success?

I still have the lovely dough in the fridge, I may give it another try in a day or so or try something new with it.

It is frustrating when a recipe does not go as it is supposed to, but oh well!  It is a challenge and I was pushed out of my comfort zone.

Thank you Korena, from Korena in the Kitchen , for the challenge.  I really want to try this, yours looked delicious!  Any suggestions?

 

Daring Bakers go Dutch

For the month of December, Andrea from 4pure took us on a trip to the Netherlands. She challenged us to take our taste buds on a joyride through the land of sugar and spice by baking three different types of Dutch sweet bread

 

I’m baaaaaaaaaack!  It’s been so long since I have participated, but I am back and committed to being challenged each month.

I was excited to try this months Daring Bakers challenge because it was something I had never heard of, a Dutch Sweet Bread.  I know a few people right from Holland, so I wanted to make it for them, memories from home.

I picked the second recipe.

Kruidkoek

Original recipe in metric. Servings: 12 slices

4 cups (500 gm) all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons (7 gm) baking powder
2½ cups (600 ml) (17-2/3 oz) (500 gm) brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons (10 gm) ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons (10 gm) ground nutmeg
2 cups (500 ml) milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F and line a 30cmx12 cm (12“x5“)  baking tin with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl

3. Put the milk in a small saucepan and warm until it almost comes to a boil. Remove from the heat

 

4. dd the sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.

5. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients whisk (by hand or using a machine) until the batter is totally smooth.

6. Pour into the baking tin and bake in a preheated moderate 350°F oven for 90 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean

The aroma coming from the kitchen while this was baking was amazing! I could hardly wait to try it!

Well, I am not sure if I did something wrong (I followed the recipe to a tee) or if it is supposed to be like this, but it was awful!  It looks nothing like the photo in the example.  Its texture reminded me of what it would be like to chew on the yellow part of those green and yellow scouring sponges. YUCK!

I have yet to get it to my Dutch friends, I see them January 1st.  I will update and let you know what they think, but as for me, not a fan.

Thank you Andrea for a great challenge! Looking forward to next month!

Caramel Sauce

Another recipe with Guest Baker Amy!  Amy was out making cheesecakes.  As the first one was in the oven, check it out here, we started the caramel sauce needed for the second cheesecake.

Being in an adventurous mood I thought we would try making homemade caramel sauce.  I read many recipes and watched several videos, it looked really easy.  Very few ingredients and very little work.  All the recipes seemed to be quite similar, but I decided to go with one from ‘A Teaspoon and A Pinch‘.

When purchasing all of our ingredients, I did get a jar or caramel sauce ‘just in case’ things went terribly wrong.  We were optimistic we wouldn’t need it though.

Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

1 c. sugar
1¼ c. heavy cream
¼ tsp. coarse salt or sea salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, optional

1. Measure out the heavy cream in a liquid measuring cup and add vanilla bean paste.  Microwave for one minute and set aside.

2. Spread the sugar in an even layer over the bottom of a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place over medium-low heat, watching carefully.

We both watched the pot of sugar quite curiously as we did not believe it would melt down.

 

3. When the sugar begins to liquify around the edges, use a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to gently stir it towards the center. Continue stirring very gently until all the sugar is melted, taking care not to over stir or allow sugar to clump up

I will admit we got very excited at the sight of liquid forming, we didn’t believe it would happen.

Mine did not liquify around the edge, it did so in the centre, then clumped.  This didn’t happen in any of the videos I watched!  I am thinking I am glad we bought the jar of sauce!

It stayed like this for quite some time before all the sugar melted

4. Once the caramel reaches a deep amber color, immediately remove the sauce pan from the heat.  We were optimistic, it was looking and smelling wonderful!

5. Carefully and quickly, stir in half of the heavy cream.

6. The mixture will steam and bubble violently. Stir until the cream is well incorporated

*this is when things start to go down hill rather quickly!

In the original recipe the author posts pictures and comments about what to do if the caramel hardens…

Of course mine did!! A giant clump of candy in a discoloured milky soup, mmmmm delicious!  Blah!

I followed the disaster directions which basically said to bring back to the heat and stir until the clump dissolved, which it did.  We are optimistic once again!

7. Stir in the remaining cream. Stir in the salt and optional butter. If any sugar has hardened, place the saucepan over low heat and whisk until smooth. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If needed, it can be rewarmed in the microwave or in a saucepan over low heat.  Makes 1 1/2 cups.

This looks nothing like the original recipe (or any other that I looked at)

 

It is grainy and gloopy,not runny at all.  IT was like lava, so we allow it to cool

 

When it had cooled enough to taste, I grabbed to spoons and we dug right in.

As I am tasting mine I glance over at Amy, she was wincing in pure disgust! It was quite funny.  It was horrible!  This time it is not just me being hard on myself wanting it to be perfect, it was awful!  Amy agreed.  Amy made a good point, she said usually you can eat a dessert maybe a comment about it being too dry, not sweet enough, but this is disgusting and inedible! (something to that effect anyway)

It went directly into the garbage! Ewww

Thank goodness I bought the backup jar of sauce 😉

Pie Crust – Attempt #1

Raisin Pie….Just like Gramma?

From past posts it is obvious that I am NOT a pie maker!  I can’t seem to make a nice crust.  To be honest, I am really not a pie fan, so I have not taken the time to learn how to make a good one.

Poppa has been asking for a raisin pie for a few months now, and the expert (Gramma) has not taken the bait.   I decide I would jump in with two feet and ATTEMPT a raisin pie, just like Gramma.  About a year ago I made raisin pie with Gramma, but she already had her amazing crust made, we just did the pie filling.

I love making new things but I am terrified about this one.  1) It’s for Poppa, 2) it’s Gramma’s recipe, hope I do it justice, 3) I don’t make pie!, every attempt prior to this I have been unhappy with.  People tell me it’s good, but I know it is not.  I would so much rather someone tell me it is not good, or they don’t like it, then them lie about it!

So I strike into the world wide web in search of a rich and flaky pie crust, there had to be a million, which one to choose? Many are similar with slight variations.  The one big debate I fond was whether to use butter or lard.  I read about both, watched a few YouTube videos and decided to go with butter, because what isn’t better with butter?  I settled on a recipe from the Smitten Kitchen.  I had tried a few of the recipes from that website in the past that were amazing!  This recipe gave many tips and explanations and it was also very simple, very few ingredients….now to see if it is as wonderful as said to be.

Pie Crust

From Smitten Kitchen

2 1/2 cups (315 grams) flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt
2 sticks (8 ounces, 225 grams tablespoons or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold

Directions:

1. Fill a 1 cup measure with water and add a few ice cubes or put in the freezer while you get the rest of your ingredients read

2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and salt

3. Cube butter and add to flour mixture.  Cut in with pastry cutter.  ( I had to go on the hunt for this, way back at the back of the drawer, again, I don’t make pie)

4. Cut until butter is pea size, you want visible butter

5. Start by drizzling 1/2 cup  of the cold water over the butter and flour mixture.

6. Using spatula, gather the dough together. You’ll probably need an additional 1/4 cup of cold water to bring it together, but add it a tablespoon as a time. Once you’re pulling large clumps with the spatula, take it out and get your hands in there .

7. Gather the disparate damp clumps together into one mound, kneading them gently together

8. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for at least 1 hour

9. 3 hours later. Roll out and prepare for your pie filling.  I followed my Gramma’s Raisin Pie Recipe that I made with her last year

Looks pretty good!

10. Bake until golden brown

Looks delicious!

At this point I am so excited!  The pie looks fantastic and smells even better.  I can hardly wait for it to cool for dessert.  When I brought the pie down to my parents for supper everyone was thrilled that I made pie, especially Poppa!  They all know my past problems with pie, by the looks of this one we were quite optimistic.

Mom cooked a fantastic supper, as always, but we all saved room for a piece of pie. Time for dessert!!! There were many ooohh’s, and ahhh’s when I brought the pie to the table……..and it all went down hill from there…..

The high point of this pie was the look of it.  Looks pretty good doesn’t it? Well, our eyes were the only things that were impressed!

I went to cut into the crust, it wouldn’t cut!!! after several attempts I resorted to a bread knife, FOR PIE!!  It was then that my heart sank, and we had a bit of a laugh about it.

Everyone gets a piece before me, as I am serving. Poppa is eating it up, Gramma is picking away at it, and says it is good.  Dad is eating it, says the inside is awesome but the crust is no good (finally someone is honest) and Mom said no good! I finally get my piece, awful!!!!  Worst. Crust. Ever!  I couldn’t even eat it!  Poppa was a trooper, he ate the whole thing, dunno how he did it.  We all agreed that the filling was fantastic!  I have definitely nailed Gramma’s raisin pie FILLING.  I don’t know what I did wrong, but this didn’t even taste like crust, it kind of reminded me of puff pastry, awful puffed pastry I might add.  I am glad others had success with this recipe but unfortunately I did not!

As Poppa said “don’t give up!” and I wont.  It did make for some good laughs and a story to remember.

So….Raisin Pie….not so much like Gramma’s

Anyone have a pie crust recipe to share???  PLEASE!!!

Banana Loaf

When bananas look like this there is only one thing to do with them….BAKE! I love bananas, I eat one every day.  This time of year, summer, I am having a hard time keeping them from ripening so fast.  It seems like as soon as I buy them, two days later they look like this.  Anyone have any tips to slow down the ripening process? Covering the stems with foil did not work. Separating each banana did not work and they taste funny if you put them in the fridge, not sure what else to try.  Anyways, having bananas like this is always a great excuse to bake, wouldn’t want them to go to waste.

I like banana bread/muffins, real banana muffins.  I hate when you think you have a beautiful homemade banana muffin and your first bite all you can taste is that imitation banana ‘flavour’, YUCK!  To be honest I have yet to make a banana loaf, I have made Banana Cake many, many times, but this time I wanted more of a dense loaf, not a cake.  I looked on-line and there are thousands, but which one to try?  I asked a few people and the one Jen (guest baker) showed me looked the best.  She says it is delicious, so I gave it a try.

Banana Bread

from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

2. Mash bananas in a large bowl

3. With a wooden spoon, mix melted butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

4. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.

5. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

6. Add the flour, mix.

7. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan.

8. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

This bread smelt so good while it was baking.  It tasted ok, not  a whole lot of flavour.  I must say I was not fussy on the texture, it was kind of spongy/rubbery.  Don’t think I’ll make this one again.

Happy Canada Day!!!

Today is Canada’s 146th Birthday.  Despite being the brunt of many jokes (no, it really isn’t like the movie Strange Brew) I am truly proud to be Canadian.

This year I wanted to make a Canada Day Dessert.  I thought about doing something truly Canadian such as Nanaimo Bars, Butter Tarts or Beaver tails, but I decided to go with something that was Red and White.  I didn’t want to do the same old Red Velvet Cake I had made 14 of, two years ago for my friend’s wedding (Happy Anniversary Jen!), I wanted something different.  Then I remembered a recipe I saw quite a few months ago that I knew would be perfect!

I found this recipe on the back of a Heinz Ketchup bottle.  Yes, really, on the back of a Ketchup bottle! I am a huge ketchup fan, and it can ONLY be Heinz, as they say, “Heinz, there are no other kinds”.  Anyways, The recipe is called “Great Canadian Ketchup Cake”.  I am sure your face shriveled all up, did a bit of a head twist and thought ewwwwwwww!  I was optimistic, I envisioned it tasting like a cake my aunt makes with tomato soup in it, it reminds me of spice cake.  With a name like Great Canadian….I knew it was what I would make, and it was perfect, Red and White.

Great Canadian Ketchup Cake

Adapted from heinzitup.com

2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 Teaspoons cinnamon
1 Teaspoons baking soda
1/2 Teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 Cups Heinz Tomato Ketchup
1/2 Cups water
2 Tablespoons red food colouring
3/4 Cups butter, softened
1 1/2 Cups packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease two 9-inch

1. Stir the flour with the baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and ginger into a bowl, set aside.

2. Stir the ketchup, water and colouring in a separate bowl. Set aside.

This is where I start to get a little worried. This bowl looks like blood but the thickness of Chinese food red sauce and has a STRONG aroma of Ketchup.  I stay optimistic and proceed

3. Beat the butter and blend in the sugar in a large bowl until smooth.

4. Beat in the eggs.

5. Add the flour mixture and ketchup mixture. Beat on low, scraping down the bowl as needed, until combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 1 minute.

Same colour as the mixer

Looks just like my Red Velvet batter

6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. (it was very thick)

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until the centre springs back when touched lightly.

**This is when I know things are going down hill and quickly.  As optimistic as I was this cake smelled horrible!  Normally anything baking smells delicious, not this cake.  My house reeked of a what smelled like hot Ketchup and vinegar, it kind of took your breath away.  Nowhere did I smell the cinnamon or nutmeg, ewww!

8. Cool the cakes for 15 minutes before turning onto a rack to cool completely.

**Normally as the cake is cooling I would make the icing so it is ready when the cake has cooled.  This time I held off, I thought I would try the cake first before making the icing.  I didn’t want to waste all the good butter and cream cheese if the cake was not good.  

After it cooled, I tried a piece, i figured if it was good I would fill the hole with icing….

All I can say is “EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW” this was horrible!  No amount of Cream Cheese Icing was going to make this cake taste good.  I was quite disappointed.  Though I am glad I tried it, I will never make it again, nor would I recommend you try it.  Sorry Heinz, but I will stick to using huge amounts of Ketchup as a condiment, not for baking!

This is where the cake ended up…

Crazy Cooking Challenge – Cheesecake!

I am very excited, as I have joined another baking group!  This is my first month as a Crazy Cook!  This months challenge was Cheesecake.  We had to choose a new cheesecake recipe, we were not to use a recipe that we had already posted about.  This was hard for me because I really, really wanted to use my ‘go to‘ cheesecake recipe.  It is my all time favourite and have not tasted a cheesecake as good since I first made it.  So, in sticking with the rules I hunted for a new recipe!  I searched and searched, which one to try??

The recipe I chose was Tall and Creamy Cheesecake from Smells Like home.  Let me explaine why I chose this recipe.  While searching, many of the reicpes that were coming up were the same ‘base recipe’ I use, as it was a Daring Bakers Challenge a few years ago.  As  I was reading this one post the blogger mentioned how she really didn’t like the cheesecake and liked her ‘go to’ recipe much better.  What? a cheesecake better then my favourite? I knew I had to try it!

Next big decision? What flavour will I make? I usually sturggle with this one.  Most people like cheesecake, but not everyone like the same flavours.  It is hard to please everyone but this time I tried.  Instead of making one cheesecake I made many, many individual cheesecakes, this way I could make several different flavours.

Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

Adapted from Smells Like Home

Crusts

I made 3 different crusts, grahm crumb, Oreo crumb and Oreo Cookies.

Grahm Crumb Crust

1 cup Grahm crumbs

3 T Sugar

3 T butter melted

Directions

1. Combine crumbs, sugar and butter – Stir and set aside

Oreo Cookie Crust

1 cup cookie crumbs

3 T sugar

2 T butter melted

Directions

1. Combine crumbs, sugar and butter – stri

Preparing the cursts

1. Spoon a generous tablespoon of prepared crust into lined muffin tins

2. Press frimly to create the base – I found a glass that worked perfect

3. For remainder place an Oreo Cookie in the cup

4.  Set aside to prepare Cheesecake

Cheesecake

• 4 pkgs cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two
• 24 Oreo Cookies, 12 whole and 12 chopped
• 2 Skor Bars
• 2 pkg of mini Rolo’s

Directions:

1. Working with a stand mixer (I strongly recomend using a stand mixer, as a last resort an electric beater, but dont even attemt it with a whisk, your arm will fall off, there is alot of mixing), preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at a medium speed until soft and creamy; about 4 minutes.

2. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat for another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light.

3. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition – you want a well-aerated batter.

5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

Look at that! So creamy and light.  It looks like a dream!

6. Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula , just to make sure that there is nothing left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl

7. Scoop the plain batter into the cups filled with Grahm crumb crust

At this point I notice that there is A LOT of batter still left, I didn’t even look like I used any.  I ended up making 12 plain and started dividing the batter into 2 other batches

8. Chop and crush remining 12 Oreo cookies

9. I crushed some (wacked them with a frying pan) and roughly chopped some – Stir to combine

10. Scoop onto the Oreo Cookie “crust’

11. Melt 5 oz of semi sweet chocolate allow to cool and add to remaining batter

12. I then divided the batter again.  One half chopped Skor Bar, other half chopped Mini Rolo’s

13 Stir and scoop into prepared cookie crumb crust

14. Bake at 325 F they are done when the centers are just about firm and only a tiny bit jiggly.

NOW DISASTER STRIKES!

I was so excited! The batter came together like a dream, so fluffy and creamy, it looked heavenly! I could not wait to try one of these little cheesecakes (who am I kidding? I wanted to try them all!)

I put them in the oven for their bake…

Everything seemed to be going perfectly.  They had a slight rise, as the recipe suggested.  The aroma in the kitchen was delightfully tangy and sweet.

Then………..They ALL FELL!!

I was devistated! Keep in mind they were still baking.  It’s not like I took them out too early and they were under cooked.

They Look more like Tart Shells than cheesecakes

The Oreo one’s survived the best

Skor

Rolo

What can I say? I was very disapointed! I really don’t know what went wrong.  They tasted ok… but, I like my recipe better. They were very dence, which I was not expecing from the fluffy and airy batter. Chalk this one up as a (very expensive) learning experience.

This was my first Crazy Cooks  Challenge and now I find out that this was the LAST challenge! They will no longer be running.   I guess I will have to search for another monthly baking group.  Anyone know of any?

 

Daring Bakers do Candy

I learned something doing this challenge. I learned that I hate making candy.  To me baking involves the oven, not hours of standing in front of the stove!  I have made candy twice now, my first and last!  Initially when I first saw the Challenge I was thrilled, it sounded wonderful!  Everyone was sharing their photo’s and ideas which all looked delicious.

I apologize right now to our wonderful hosts for my shenanigans.  This challenge was just not for me!

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

So this months Daring bakers Challenge was making Candy, any kind.  We were to make 2 kinds, one of which had to be chocolate.  So, I guess I really didn’t complete the challenge because I was not able to make a chocolate one.

The Tale of Erica’s Candy Making

As soon as I saw the recipe for the Pate de Fruits I knew that I was going to make them.  They looked delicious! I decided to use a berry mixture that I had in the freezer (maybe my first mistake), blackberry, blueberry and raspberries. I then followed the recipe for the Strawberry Pate de Fruits (perhaps mistake #2).  Because I thought they would be so wonderful I thought it would be a fantastic idea to double the recipe! (mistake #3, you can see where this is going)

Berry Pate de Fruits

Ingredients:
3 cups (16 oz/450 gm) Strawberries, fresh or defrosted from frozen
1 tablespoon (15 ml) Lemon juice, fresh
2 cups (16 oz/ 450 gm) Granulated White Sugar
2½ tablespoons (38 ml) Liquid Pectin

Directions:

1. Prepare an 9”x13” (20cmx20xm) pan by lining it with aluminium foil or parchment paper and spraying it with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place the berries in a blender or food processor and process until very well pureed.

So far so good…..

3. Pour them through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan, discarding any remaining fruit chunks.

Here starts another problem.  My strainer was too big and seeds and skin was getting though

I had the bright idea that I should strain it through cheesecloth! (mistake #4).  It was too thick to just strain though.  I had to squeeze the heck out of it.  When you squeeze cheesecloth the juice does not just drip down, no no, it squirts everywhere!!! I looked like I had just murdered someone, there was dark red juice everywhere, all over me, the counter and my hands were stained for 3 days!

The remains

What I managed to get into the pot

4. Stir in the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar, place the pan over medium-high heat, and insert a candy thermometer.

5. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it is hot, around 140°F/60°C. Add the remaining 1.5 cups of sugar and the liquid pectin, and lower the heat to medium.

Disaster strikes here!  No where did it say use a Large pot, now granted I doubled the recipe (refer back to mistake #3) so I used a medium pot (mistake #5)

stirring away, thinking I was doing pretty good I notice the level rising

Panic sets in “Oh MY GOD its going to bubble over”

Frantically, I turn the heat off and remove it from heat (mistake #6) and throwing the pots out of the cupboard to find a big one (yep I literally threw them, it was a noisy few seconds).  I quickly poured the bubbling bloody mess into a big cold pot (mistake #7, that can’t be good).

ok, back in action

6. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture registers 200°F/93°C.

At which point I drop the stirring spoon into the bubbling hot bloody mess (mistake #8)

Now all I can do is laugh, REALLY?!?! can anything else go wrong? Yep!

7. At 200 F  turn the heat to low and hold it at 200°F/93°C for 2-3 minutes.

8. After this, return the heat to medium and bring it up to 225°F/107°C. This process will take some time, especially with the heat on medium, so have patience and be diligent in stirring frequently so the bottom doesn’t scorch.

Take time! they were not kidding, an hour and forty minutes later, the liquid still fairly runny but I think burnt on the bottom (mistake #9) it finally hits 225 F

9. Once the fruit paste reaches 225°F/107°C, turn the heat to low and keep it at that temperature for an additional 2-minutes.
10. Remove the pan from the heat and pour into the prepared pan, smoothing it into an even layer. ( no need to smooth, still quite runny (mistake #10)

–Looks pretty good!

Thought I would spread a think layer on parchment paper and make homemade fruit roll-ups! (you guessed it mistake #11)

11. Allow the pate de fruit mixture to set at room temperature for several hours, until completely cool and firm. Use a sharp knife to cut it into very small squares, and roll the individual pieces in granulated sugar.

After all that I am still positive it will be good.  Looks tasty!  But now we wait, and wait! 5 hours later I went to cut it, still not firm, but cooled so I put them in the fridge until morning.

Day 2:

First thing in the morning I make a cup of tea and get out the try to try my candy.

Well….

1. It didn’t set, was like thick jam

2. Couldn’t cut them, had to use a spoon

3.  They tasted horrible! like really terrible. and I quote from a tester “that is the worst thing you have ever made!

At this point I through it all in the garbage , no photos, no sugar rolling, nothing!

Candy totally defeated me. I wanted to make some filled chocolate candies but just wasn’t in the budget 😦 I do hope to try that sometime.

I think I will stick to oven baking!

Thank you to our hosts for this challenge, I just wish I had better luck.