Archive for the ‘Desserts’ Category

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Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

This was amazing! This recipe is naturally gluten free, and I made it with stevia in order to make it low carb, and the texture and flavor were fine.  I’ve put the recipe with sugar in it, since… well… who really cooks with stevia?

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Chocolate Cake Crust:

  • 4 1-oz. sq. semisweet chocolate
  • 1/2 c. butter
  • 3/4 c. sugar
  • 1/2 c. cocoa
  • 3 eggs (beaten)
  • 1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300.  Grease 8 in. round cake pan and dust with cocoa powder (I’ve never done that, if I’m really honest… but I suppose you could).  Melt chocolate and butter over low heat.  Remove from pan.  Stir in sugar, cocoa, eggs, and vanilla.

Raspberry Filling:

  • 4 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 12 oz. raspberries, frozen and thawed
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar until smooth.  Puree raspberries.  Mix the raspberries into the cream cheese mixture.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.

In greased spring form pan, pour in cake mixture.  Then pour the filling on top.  Bake in an oven, preheated to 300, for 20 minutes or until starting to brown on top.  Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees.  Bake for another 40 minutes or until the middle of the cheesecake doesn’t jiggle.  Chill in the refrigerator until cold, several hours, at least.

Posted in Cake, Desserts, Gluten Free, Recipes | No Comments »

How very literary of us

Sunday, October 10th, 2010
I like to communicate deep things about my life using status messages on chat.  So the other day at work (it was a chat client used strictly for work, to be sure), I had eaten these delicious cookies Val had made (recipe below, hold your horses!) so I decided to let everyone know that pecans taste exactly like fall.  Jeff, who had commented at lunch how much he loves sweet potato casserole (and really, Jeff, be original; who doesn’t?), commented on my status, saying, “Especially in sweet potato casserole!”  My response was simple: “Or in the cookies that Val brought in today.”  I immediately saw Jeff power walk past my desk toward Val’s office. [For Jeff these cookies were love at first bite]
When I saw Jenny’s status, I told her how my sisters and I have decided that cloves taste like castles.  In fact, my sister Carrie makes a stew we have dubbed “Castle Stew,” which features venison seasoned with cloves.  I love to put cloves in other recipes as well (fruit salad for instance), because they add a subtle complexity that you might not expect.

Naturally, then, when Val and I realized our ability to understand flavors as ideas, we knew we had to write a blog post together.  Like Hanley and Michael.  And group work.  And team sports. [Eww I hate Sports] And stuff like that.

But sports and group work aren’t as easy as they seems.  For instance, I don’t like it when people finish my… [sandwiches?  There’s an Arrested Development bit about this...]

Michael Bluth: [about Nellie] It’s like we finish each other’s…
Lindsay Bluth Fünke: Sandwiches?
Michael Bluth: Sentences. Why would I say…
Lindsay Bluth Fünke: Sandwiches?

Autumnal Castle Cookies

What to call these cookies?  Castle Harvest Cookies?  That sounds kind of dopey.

I don’t like using the word “harvest” unless there are flax seeds in it.

Is “flax seeds” one word or two?

Two.  I’m about to fix it. [Meanwhile, she changed it to two words, but not without changing it to “fla xseeds” first.]

Fla xseeds?  It would be cool if there was a word that started with “XS.”  “Xseeds!”

That’s about the time that we gave up on the quest to name these cookies appropriately and decided to use the name Val had already come up with.

Combine, beat at medium speed until well blended:
1 1/4 c packed brown sugar
3/4 c butter, softened
1/4 c water
1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla

Add, beat at low speed until soft dough forms:
3 c rolled oats
1 c flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t salt

Stir in:
1 c chocolate chips
1 c chopped pecans

Bake 8-10 minutes at 375º

Key to understanding our totally ADD post:
Valerie: Green [Why do you get to be green?] [You should be blue since blonds can only wear blue.] [FALSE!]
Jenny: PURPLE
Taken by Valerie Gartland at the Madhatter's

Taken by Valerie Gartland at the Madhatter's

This was written at the Madhatter Bakeshop in Durham. While we were there, Jenny ate a pumpkin muffin and Valerie ate an omelet filled with black beans and corn. We felt very literary for meeting in a cafe.

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Recipes | 3 Comments »

A trip to the farmer’s market…

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

… left me with slightly more strawberries than I intended to eat and a pound of ground bison.  The bison went quickly, and the strawberries followed suit… all the way up until the last pint or so.  Those just sat in the fridge for days.  I would open the door to get milk for my cereal in the morning, contemplate for a few moments whether I wanted to add strawberries to my bowl, notice their many bruises, and shut the door with only a gallon of milk in hand.  There’s something so very unappetizing about fruit that is past ripe.

This recipe was my attempt to deal with that.  The basic cobbler recipe (this minus the cinnamon) is something I got from Rebecca.  Where it came from before that, I cannot say.  I added the cinnamon because cinnamon and strawberries are on of the best food combos of all time… right up there with orange juice and cheez-its.  Don’t judge.  We served with strawberry ice cream, another excellent food combo.  Enjoy!

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Strawberry Cobbler:

  • Strawberries
  • 1 stick butter, melted (8 Tablespoons)
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1 c. flour
  • 1 c. milk
  • 1 Tbs. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375.  Chop up strawberries.  Set aside.  Mix remaining ingredients.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan.  Place the strawberries over the batter.  Bake 35ish minutes or until golden brown.

Posted in Comfort Food, Desserts, Recipes | 1 Comment »

The Silly and Serious Sides of Dessert

Monday, April 19th, 2010

I made some fun desserts these past two weekends!  One was definitely “grown-up” and sophisticated, while the other was more whimsical and fun.

French Baguettes with Brie and Raspberry Sauce

Baguettes look good coming out of a paper grocery bag.

Baguettes look good coming out of a paper grocery bag.

I tried my hand at making homemade baguettes after finding this recipe.  I made them for my Mom’s birthday party.  We actually ate the bread as dessert rather than cake.  To go with it, I bought some brie and made raspberry sauce:

  • 2 cups fresh raspberries
  • 4-6 tablespoons sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • a few mint leaves, torn into small pieces

I put the raspberries into a small saucepan with the water and sugar and cooked them over medium.  While they were cooking, I continuously stirred them and added the honey, lemon juice, and mint leaves.  The raspberries quickly lost their shape and became part of the sauce.  I brought the sauce to boiling for a short time, but mostly I let it steam and cook down until it thickened a bit.  Taste the sauce to see if it needs more sugar – the raspberries can be really tart!

I served this by slicing the bread and placing a couple of pieces on each plate with slices of brie and a serving of raspberry sauce.  Everyone had fun combining the pieces as they ate.

Candy Sushi

Colorful array of candy sushi

Colorful array of candy sushi

I simply had to try this when my friend tweeted about making Rice Krispy sushi.  I used this recipe (using Fruit By the Foot instead of fruit leather), which made a lot of pieces!  I thought it would be too sweet with all that candy, but the Rice Krispies helped to balance out the strong flavors.  Besides, it was really cute, and that’s all that matters in this case!

Posted in Breads, Desserts, Recipes | No Comments »

Here we go a-waffling

Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

When I tell people about my new favorite blog, I seem to get one of two responses:

1) Wow! That sounds really neat. I think I’d like to waffle things. Do you dip things in batter, or what? How does this work? I want to know!

2) … the things people blog about. I might as well start a blog about my cats.

The only outlier thus far has been during this conversation between Valerie and another coworker:

V: I didn’t know “waffle” could be a verb.
H: It can; remember that Christmas song… “here we go a-waffling*”?

*She means wassailing, although, frankly, I’m a fan of her version of the song..

… back to the first group, though…

You’re wrong, and here’s why: at the root of that statement is an idea that fundamentally shapes your worldview. This idea is essentially that waffles are just pancakes in a funny shape. This is false, and if you don’t know why, I have nothing more to say to you.

To the second group…

Will you be my best friend?

All of that said, I’ve taken up waffling as my new hobby, and thus waffled shortcake that I served with strawberries and vanilla yogurt, topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

A few things I’ve learned about waffling:

  1. Since waffling things is generally experimentation, it may not come out great the first time. Try before serving.
  2. Do not overcook.
  3. Do not undercook.

Expect more waffled recipes in the future.

Posted in Comfort Food, Cookies, Desserts, Recipes | 2 Comments »

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