recipes

The Love Chef Web Site – Recipes – Desserts

PUMPKIN WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKEWITH GINGERSNAP CRUSTMONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2003 — DESSERT COMPETITIONDanette Randall – Denver, CO — WINNERCRUST:            2 cups gingersnaps whole            6 tablespoons butter            1 ½ tablespoons brown sugarFILLING:            Three 8 oz. packages cream cheese room temperature            ¾ cup pumpkin            ¾ cup melted white chocolate            1 cup sugar            3 eggs            1 teaspoon vanilla            ¼ teaspoon nutmeg            1 teaspoon cinnnamonTOPPING:            ½ cup almonds            1 teaspoon sugar            2 tablespoons butterPre-heat oven to 350° F.Wrap outside of pan with foil. In processor, grind gingersnaps, add sugar, melted butter and press into 9″ springform pan. Bake 5 to 7 minutes. Take out and keep oven at temperature.Mix cream cheese and sugar in processor until smooth, add the rest of the ingredients and process until completely mixed and smooth.Pour mixture into prepared crust and bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, until cheesecake starts to crack.While cooling, process almonds, butter, and sugar in processor; spread the mixture evenly on cookie sheet and put in oven for 6-7 minutes until it starts to toast. Spread evenly on top of cheesecake and cool 4 to 5 hours. Remove ring of pan and serve.

via The Love Chef Web Site – Recipes – Desserts .

This is the basis of the cake I’m making for Zack’s birthday tomorrow.

Russian Cake for Mother's Day

I’m going to try making this Simple Cake with Sour Cream Frosting for Mother’s Day. I like it because I can still do my decorating idea on top, not using the crumbs as they do in the recipe but my own plan. Plus, it is an overnight cake, the kind that you put in the fridge overnight and it is even better for having the extra time to meld and merge ingredients.

Ingredients:

Cake:
3.5oz of butter. melted
2 eggs
14 oz of sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
0.5 cup of all purpose flour
1-1.5 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
White vinegar, about 1 tablespoon

Frosting:
20-25oz of original sour cream
0.3 cup of sugar

Add eggs to melted butter in a mixer bowl and beat together on slow speed with wire attachement, just until mixed, then slowly add melted butter cooled till room temperature.
Continue mixing until well incorporated.
Mix in sweetened condensed milk.
Turn mixer off. Put a teaspoon of baking sode into bigger tablespoon and sprinkle with white vinegar, then fast pour bubbled soda to the batter.
If there is still soda powder left in the spoon repeat sprinkling it with vinegar until it is all done.
Start mixer on slow speed and slowly mix in all flour, spoon by spoon. Continue mixing until batter is homogenous.
Preheat oven till 350F. Pour about half of batter to the springform greased with butter.
Put springform to oven and bake for 15-20 minutes (start checking it with a wooden toothpick at about 15th minute: pierce it till the bottom, if toothpick comes out clean then light cake layer is ready).
Take springform from the oven (but don’t turn heat off, you will need it again), let it cool a bit, then carefully get light cake layer put and put a side to cool down.
While springform is cooling down, mix about 1 table spoon of cocoa powder to the rest of batter in mixer bowl until well incorporated.
Clean springform with paper towel and grease it again with butter; pour there all of the batter and put springform to the oven.
Bake dark cake layer for 15-20 mins on 350F until ready (again try with wooden toothpick). Then remove springform from the oven and remove cake from the springform; set it aside and let it cool down till room temperature. Now you can turn heat in oven off.
Then cut both cakes in equal halves using a long knife.
Now it is time to prepare frosting. For this pour sour cream into deep bowl and add sugar.
Mix them together until sugar dissolves completely.
Arrange bottom part of dark cake in the middle of the cake stand or big flat plate.
Spread sour cream on the cake layer using frosting spatula.
Piece bottom part of light cake layer with a fork in several places from both sides.
Arrange it over the black layer on the cake stand.
Spread a layer of sour cream on top.
Pierce left part of black cake with a fork the same way you did before with white one.
Put it on top,
And again cover with a layer of sour cream.
Pierce last part of white cake with a fork from both sides and put it on top.
Cover with layer of sour cream again.
Using spatula spread sour cream on the sides of the cake. Remove redundant cream from the bottom of the stand with spoon, wipe stand with paper towel if needed.
Put cake to the fridge for several hours, 6-8 hours are good for layers to soak sour cream. After that is ready, slice it up and enjoy.

Cinnamon Bun Cookies

I want to try these. I need to get stocked up on butter and I’m nearly out of milk too. But, don’t these make you crave cinnamon buns? Take a look at the photos on Claudia’s blog.

Would it really be too much to dip these in chocolate? Maybe it the chocolate isn’t overly sweet. It would look pretty good.

Cinnabon Cookie Recipe
From Claudia’s kitchen @What’s Cookin Italian Cuisine
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectionery sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cinnamon Mixture :( 2 cups sugar
mixed with 5 3/4 teaspoons cinnamon)

Mix all ingredients in a heavy duty mixing bowl, until a soft ball forms.
On a floured board, roll into short 3 inch ropes, roll the ropes into a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Roll the rope into rounded circles, bake at 350 degree oven, till brown. Frost them by making a thin frosting.
Frosting
2 cups confectionery sugar
milk to make a thin consistency
1 tablespoon of softened butter
In a bowl mix sugar butter and a little milk beat till smooth, continue adding milk for spreading consistency to be thin. Place cookies on wax paper, spoon a teaspoon of frosting on each cookie. Dry.

German Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup

The buttermilk syrup caught my attention. I’ve never thought of anything but maple syrup, traditional for Canadians. But, buttermilk is one of my favourite things. This is something I’d like to try. No flour on hand at the moment, I used it up making buttermilk pancakes.

German Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup

Ingredients

6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
BUTTERMILK SYRUP:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Place the eggs, milk, flour and salt in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour the butter into an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish; add the batter. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the first five syrup ingredients; bring to a boil. Boil for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Dust pancake with confectioners’ sugar; serve immediately with the syrup.

Chili Chocolate Cookies

I added pepper to my recipe for icebox cookies one year. It was surprisingly good. Not a lot of extra taste but they did have an extra something.

Makes About 20 Chili Chocolate Cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 42 minutes
Ingredients:
1/3 cup dried currants
2 tablespoons Kahlua
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the currants and Kahlua in small saucepan and place over low heat. When the Kahlua begins to bubble, turn off the heat, stir and set aside.

Combine the chocolates and butter in a metal bowl. Place over a saucepan containing an inch of water. Place over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove and set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, black pepper and cayenne in a medium mixing bowl. Stir and set aside.

Using a whisk or electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale yellow in color, about 5 minutes. Add, vanilla and melted chocolate mixture, and stir until combined. Fold in the flour, and then fold in the currants/Kahlua and chocolate chips to form a very loose cookie dough.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto silicone-lined cookies sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, until the tops are shiny and the cookies have risen very slightly. Allow to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely before serving.

Old Fudge Recipe

My Aunt Alvena had a fudge recipe she would not share with anyone. Now she is gone. I sometimes wonder about her recipe. They say it was exceptionally good fudge. She would keep it all to herself (as much as she could) when she made it. I heard this from my Aunt Emma, her younger sister.

Anyway, I was reading a blog, Thrifty Creativity . There were posts copied from an old recipe book, candy making recipes. Fudge recipes were included. I wonder if this recipe is something like my Aunt Alvena’s fudge. If I post it here to find it again, maybe I will give it a try over this Summer when we get into baking.

BIRTHDAY BOX FUDGE
Saucepan
Measuring cup
Wooden spoon
Tablespoon
Teaspoon
Knife
Square tin

1 1/2 cupfuls of granulated sugar
1/3 cupful of Karo corn syrup
1/2 cupful of cream or top of milk
3 ounces (squares) of chocolate
or
3/4 cupful of cocoa
1 tablespoonful of butter
1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Cut the chocolate in fine pieces and place at one side.

Measure the sugar, Karo corn syrup and cream into a saucepan and cook slowly over a moderate fire.
Stir until the sugar dissolves.
Add the finely cut chocolate. You need only stir the candy a little now, just enough to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

After you have let the candy cook about ten minutes, you may begin to test it. When it
forms a soft ball in cold water, or when the candy thermometer registers 236° F., it is time to take the candy from the stove, first stirring in the butter until it is melted.

Add one teaspoon of vanilla, stirring it in.

Beat the candy with a wooden spoon until it begins to show fine grains. Then, quickly pour it into a buttered tin.

Mark in squares as soon as the candy is firm.