Eggnog Cheesecake Bars

The holiday season is great for a lot of things... getting together with family and friends, eating, giving and receiving gifts, but more importantly (for my purposes here, anyways), trying new, festive recipes!

This year I needed a relatively simple dessert with a holiday flair but didn't want to make cookies for this particular get together. A Google search later and a few clicks around on the Martha Stewart site and whammo, eggnog cheese cake bars we on the menu.

Normally I'm not a huge fan of eggnog. I wouldn't want to try it homemade (raw egg... ew) and the store bought kinds are super sweet and cloying. If I mix in some brandy I can take the nog but if I have brandy, I'd be making Brandy Alexanders anyways. When I do drink eggnog, I drink the Silk brand, which is soy. It tastes SO good. All the egg-noggy goodness without that thick sweet coating in your mouth and that feeling like you've just poured motor oil down your throat. OK- maybe I'm exaggerating. Yeah, I'm definitely exaggerating. Still, the soy stuff is way good. Try it while it's still in season!

Check out Wikipedia for some theories on why they call it "eggnog". (*Spoiler* They don't really know why.)

I used the soy eggnog in this, but otherwise followed this recipe pretty much verbatim.


Ingredients

Vegetable oil cooking spray, for pan

12 graham crackers, finely ground (1 1/2 cups)

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar

2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

3/4 cup eggnog

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon brandy

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for dusting

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Crush up your grahams. I put them in a sealed sandwich bag and roll them with my rolling pin for some fast crushing action. You can use a food processor of course (I GOT ONE FOR X-MAS!) but that means more dishes. No thank you!

*I used to use my hands and punch the bag, but as fun as that was, it left my knuckles pretty sore. Using the rolling pin is a much better method.

Mix together your grahams, sugar and butter. Press down into a 9 x 9 baking pan (oops... I lied about the "followed it verbatim" part.... I used an 8 x 8 pan) and bake until just browned on the edges, 12-16 minutes. Let cool.

Time to make the delicious filling. Beat cream cheese on med-high until fluffy, for about 3 minutes.

Add sugar, eggs, yolk, eggnog, flour, vanilla, nutmeg and salt. (Phew.) Beat until smooth.

Pour the filling into the cooled crust, and place the tin in a roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with hot water until it comes about halfway up the baking pan. Carefully place in oven and cook at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until just set.

These bars are nice and creamy, so make sure not to overcook them, thinking they're under done.

Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Lightly sprinkle with nutmeg and serve.

Happy Holiday baking (and eating)!

Betty Crocker's Chocolate Bars

As  you can see, I'm continuing the recent chocolate trend. Betty Crocker's Cooky Book calls these bars Teen-Time Chocolate Nut Bars. I left out the nuts and, well, I'm almost 30, so I'm just calling these chocolate bars. Sorry, Betty.



I love trying Betty Crocker recipes, but knew pretty much nothing about her, and guess what? Betty Crocker isn't a "her"... it's just a brand name created by someone name Marjorie Husted (April 2, 1892 – December 23, 1986). I'm sort of disappointed about that, but there are more important things in life to worry about, right? Like what dessert to make next. Or maybe what sort of cheesey food I will have for dinner.

Here are a few fun facts about Betty Crocker, from Wikipedia.

• In 1945, Fortune magazine named Betty Crocker the second most popular American woman; Eleanor Roosevelt was named first.
• The current image of Betty Crocker, according to the corporation, is actually a combination of 75 real-life women of diverse backgrounds and ages.
• In 1950, the Betty Crocker Cookbook was published. It was written by Agnes White Tizard, a nutritionist and a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority.

On to the goodies...

Ingredients

1 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup butter
1/2 Cup milk (*I used soy)
1 1/4 Cups flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 Cup chocolate chips (*Or, 1 Cup chips and 1 Cup chopped nuts)


Preheat over to 350. 

In a sauce pan, combine the butter, sugar and milk. Bring to a slight boil, stirring constantly. Transfer to your mixer's bowl and let cool for 5-10 minutes.







In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt.

After the butter mixture has cooled, add eggs. Mix well.

Gradually add flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl well. Mix until completely combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Evenly spread the batter into a greased and floured oblong cake pan (13" x 9 1/2").

Bake for 25 minutes, rotating halfway through.

Allow to cool and cut into bars.

Happy baking!

City Girl Smores

Smores aren't just for around the campfire. I have memories of roasting marshmallows over the stove with my Mom- letting them cook until they were black and burnt, eating that layer off and repeating, one marshmallow after another, until I felt sick to my stomach.

Although I generally stop eating them before I feel sick, I do still occasionally roast marshmallows using my stove. I made what I'm calling "City Girl Smores", because they're slighly fancier than the traditional ones, but still super, SUPER easy and fast. Oh, and freaking delicious.

Ingredients

Graham Crackers
Peanut or sunflowerseed butter
Nutella
Marshmallows

Spread one set of grahams with the peanut butter and the other halves with nutella.

Be messy. Slop it on. This is nature's cooking at its best.

Roasted your mallows and transfer to the grahams.

Burn, baby, burn. (Mallow inferno!)

Eat.

Smores always remind me of The Sandlot. "You're killing me, Smalls!"

Happy eating, campfire-style, in the city.

Chocolate Silk Pie

I've been craving sweets more often lately than I usually do. Generally, salt, cheese and butter are what do it for me. Give me some cheesy pasta, crackers and cheese, homemade popcorn or some buttery mashed potatoes and I'm one damn happy girl. Still, there's a lot to be said for sweets. (Especially sea salt chocolate caramels from Trader Joe's which offer the best of both worlds but they always sell out and this is the SECOND YEAR they sold out before I could buy ANY and they were gone before THANKSGIVING.... but I digress.)

Part of why I'm not a huge fan of rich sweets, namely chocolate, is that I'm a bit of a sweets snob. When I want sweets, I want the good stuff. Homemade or expensive are usually the two ways that will mean I'm going to really enjoy it, and let's be honest. If I'm going to eat 500 calories in about 10 seconds, I want to really enjoy it, right?


Enter Thanksgiving menu planning.

Each year I make the green bean casserole, fancy style. I add sauteed mushrooms and use portabella mushroom soup instead of the boring old Campbell's one. Throw in some extra fried onions and voila! Delish.

Usually, I also make a dessert on holidays. It's rare for my family to have anything chocolate for dessert on these days. Instead, we enjoy fruit pies and other sorts of goodies. This year I wanted something rich and decadent, so I made this chocolate silk pie. Think chocolate mousse but way better. Unfortunately, I messed up on the crust, BUT, if you're going to mess up the crust, this is a good pie to do it with. The filling is good enough to eat on it's own. (And really, let's face it. After a Thanksgiving meal, you're fighting to get that dessert down anyways, right?)

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream, chilled
3 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 tbsp. water
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened and cut into 8 pieces
1 9 in. pie crust, fully baked.

To begin, whip the heavy cream. This is the FIRST TIME I have successfully done this! Cream and I never got along- now we do. The tip my Mom gave me that made this whipping a success was to chill the metal bowl and metal beaters before starting. (I put them in the freezer for about 25 minutes.) Beat the cream on high for several minutes with these and really, it works. No more sloppy, watery whipped cream for me, thanks! Transfer the cream to a small bowl and refrigerate.

Combine eggs, sugar and water in a heatproof bowl (I used my mixer's bowl) and set over a pot of boiling water, so that the bowl isn't touching the water.  Beat until the egg mixture is thickened and reads 160˚ F on an instant read thermometer, about 7-10 minutes. I don't have a hand mixer (that I am aware of... maybe in my basement of treasures?) so I manually did it with a whisk which worked just fine. Arm workout for my flabby arms!

Remove the bowl from the heat and continue to beat until the egg mixture is fluffy and cooled to room temperature, about 6-8 minutes.

Add the melted chocolate and the vanilla to the cooled egg mixture and beat until well blended. Beat in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time until well combined. Using a spatula, gently fold in the chilled whipped cream until no streaks remain.

Transfer the filling to the baked pie shell. Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours.

I also added some chocolate to the top. (I used a cheese slicer on a chocolate bar. Doesn't it look professional?)

I chilled this pie overnight and it was just fantastic. I highly recommend it for anytime you need a dessert for a group. Don't make it for yourself though, and if you do, don't blame me for the death by chocolate.

Happy holidays!

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies

Love peanut butter? Love chocolate? These cookies are similar to Reese's peanut butter cups but about 400 times better! It's been awhile since I've tried a new Martha Stewart recipe, and boy am I glad I found this one. My only complaint is that the recipe states you should bake the cookies until firm, so I left them in a few minutes longer which made them a little crunchy instead of soft. Lesson learned, next time I'll bake them less than the 15-16 minutes that I did this time. Still, they're delicious.




Fun Fact! Butter has a lower cooking temperature than shortening, but you can substitute one for the other, 1:1. Just keep in mind they will probably be done faster.

Give these a try with peanut butter chips instead, for a more peanut buttery flavor!



Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 + 1/4 cups firmly packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter


 Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 cookies sheets (you may need 3) with parchment paper.

Start by mixing the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Set aside.

Next, cream together the butter, shortening, sugar and 1 Cup of the brown sugar until light and fluffy, or 2-3 minutes. Scrapes sides of the bowl well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add vanilla.

Add flour mixture gradually and mix until thoroughly combined. Mix in chocolate chips until just combined. Chill dough at least 1 hour. (I chilled it over night- a great way to prepare for cookies the next day for guests without all the mess the day of their visit!

*While making these, my bf asked a great question. Why refrigerate cookie dough? I assumed it had to do with the texture of the cookie when forming them (making it easier to work with), but after a bit of research, here's what I found.

-Allows dough to cook some before it starts to spread out too much, leaving the cookies stuck together and overcooked
-Allows the gluten to relax! More gluten= rubbery cookies
-Allows the dry ingredients to better absorb moisture

Here's an interesting post about chilling cookie dough.

Once the dough is chilled, drop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time onto baking sheets, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart. Make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Fill thumbprint with 2 teaspoons peanut butter mixture. (This is a great step for kids to help with!) Top with a second tablespoon of flattened dough. Carefully mold dough to cover the surprise.

Bake 12-13 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheets about 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Finally, enjoy the goodness.

Enjoy!

Delicious Glazed Apple Cookies

I still had have apples from when I went apple picking with my Mom, and since I don't want them all to go to waste, I decided to make some cookies this weekend. Cookies are a great choice when you want to bake but don't want get get into anything too involved. They are small enough to share with many people and transport easily, and they keep well too.

A Google search for "apple cookies" brought me to this recipe at Allrecipes which has never done me wrong. I knew between the great recipes on that site combined with the high review this one got that I was in luck. I also had all the ingredients- always a great sign! After 2 small substitutions and one omission (only because I forgot to add the milk... oops!), here's how it went.


Ingredients

Cookies:

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 Cup butter

1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 cups sifted whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup apples - peeled, cored and finely

diced

1 cup raisins

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 tablespoons milk (I used soy)

In a large bowl, mix together shortening, butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg and beat until thoroughly combined, scraping the sides of the bowl.

Mix remaining dry ingredients together and set aside. I made a face. That part is optional but highly encouraged.

Stir in half of the dry ingredients with the butter/sugar mixture. Mix well. Add apples and raisins and mix until combined. Finally, add remaining dry ingredients. Again, mix well.

Drop dough from a tablespoon onto a cookie sheet, about 1- 1 1/2" apart and bake at 400 degrees for 10-13 minutes.

While the cookies bake, make the glaze by combining all ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. Add the milk gradually, using only as much as is needed to create a glaze (drippy) consistency. Drizzle over warm cookies.

Happy baking!

Apple Tart

October is was apple picking time! I went to an apple orchard with my Mom this year and got some really wonderful Golden Delicious apples, which are one of my favorites. Since we're having this fantastic Indian Summer, I haven't baked as much as I normally would this time of year. Once the snow starts, I'm sure I'll have a LOT more recipes to share!

I got this recipe out of the cookbook that came with my Kitchen Aid mixer. I think it turned out really good, with slightly crisp apples and a nice flavor, but wasn't a huge fan of the crust. It was a bit doughy/glutinous for my liking, but I'm thinking using butter instead of shortening might remedy that. I got thumbs up from everyone else, so if you give this one a try, let me know what you think!

Ingredients

Crust
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening, well chilled
2 Tbs butter, well chilled
5-6 Tbs very cold ice water

Filling

2 1/2 lbs (about 6) apples (I used Golden Delicious), thinly sliced

2 Tbs lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Start by making your crust. To begin, Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut shortening into small pieces and mix in with a pastry blender until the shortening pieces are the size of small peas. Add water, 1 Tbs at a time, and mix with a fork (from the middle, outwards) until the mixture is moistened and can be formed into a ball. (Don't use to much water or over mix. The crust should be flaky- not doughy!

Split the dough in half. Flatten each half into a patty and wrap in saran wrap. Chill for at least 15 minutes.

Once the filling is done, you may roll out this crust and use it. If you use this recipe for a pie, you will probably need to cook it alone first. Consult the recipe you are following.

In a large bowl, toss together apples, sugar and lemon juice. Set aside.

(The lemon juice helps the apples to not turn brown.)

Add all remaining ingredients to a mixer bowl. Mix until crumbly, about 2 minutes on medium speed.

Roll your pie crust out to a 13" circle and transfer to a baking sheet.

Pile your apple mixture onto the center of the crust and sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. I used WAY more apples than the recipe called for, so my tart was a bit bulging at the seams. It was a real fatty.

Fold the sides of the crust up and over to create your tart. Pinch/crimp as desired.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.

I had quite a bit of dough left, so I made mini-apple pies using a muffin tin. I used an old 1 Cup measuring cup to cut perfect circles and used those for the bottom and top crusts. I baked at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes and man were they good!

Happy Fall Baking!