Pumpkin Cheesecake - Two ways

In October, you need two things- pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. This is a classic recipe that I first made back in high school. The chocolate crumb crust and mini chocolate chips are a sweet, satisfying combination with the pumpkin cheesecake. 

Now, this recipe is just to serve as a warning. When I first saw it I thought it was such a great idea because it uses brown sugar. What a great way to enhance the seasonal flavors of a pumpkin cheesecake. Wrong. Apparently, brown sugar in a cheesecake is impossible to dissolve/incorporate so my cheesecake ended up gritty. The flavor was great but the texture was like eating cheesecake on the beach.

The following recipe is excellent- an adapted version of Hershey’s with no chocolate, seen in the picture below.

Pumpkin Cheesecake:

Ingredients

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs

½ teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons melted butter

4 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1-½  cups sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1-1/3 cup canned pumpkin  

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup heavy cream
 

Directions

Make the crust by combining ¾ cup graham cracker crumbs and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter until combined. Press into the bottom of a 10 inch spring form pan and place in fridge until ready to fill. 

Turn oven temperature to 400°F.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and pumpkin pie spice in large bowl until just blended. Add pumpkin and eggs; beat until just blended. Beat in vanilla and heavy cream until just blended; pour batter into prepared crust. Bake 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 250°F; continue baking 50 minutes or until almost set. The cheesecake should appear dry but not firm. Remove from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate about 5 hours before serving. With knife, loosen cake from side of pan. Top with whipped cream.

Lemon and Honey Cupcakes

One of your sweetest and dearest friends will email you this recipe. The way they pipe the frosting makes these look irresistible. What a wonderful flavor combination they turned out to be! Next time, use a fruitier honey. Burleson’s Clover Honey or the one shaped like a bear is not fruity enough. Try to use the best honey you can find. There is no sugar in this recipe but the frosting makes up for that.

The cake is what you’ll call a “mature cupcake” because it’s not too sweet, and could use a little improvement in the texture. It was crumbly and not as moist as I would like. But the frosting was amazing and brought the cake that needed sweetness. Double the cream cheese and use 2 ½ cups powdered sugar. And even after you use a microplane to zest the lemon for your frosting, please chop the zest so that it’s even finer because it’ll get stuck in your piping tip and cause you to cuss. You’ll spread some of that leftover frosting on a vanilla oreo and will find yourself in heaven.

Pumpkin Pie

October: official pumpkin pie month. You have to wait until the air starts to get slightly chilly outside and the leaves turn yellow. Only then can the pumpkin pie craving be fully satisfied. And only pumpkin pie. None of that sweet potato stuff. Can't forget about the best way to top it. Cool whip with alittle vanilla extract stirred in is an easy cheat but this recipe is already simple so make your own sweetened whipped cream! It's much more luscious and homey.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layered Cupcakes

You’ll print this recipe out because it’s the million dollar winner of a Pillsbury bake-off. But you won’t get around to making it until that chocolate peanut butter craving hits. And when it does you’ll wonder why you didn’t make these sooner! Like a lot of cakes, these are even better the next day. They just get moister and more delicious. They even become addictive. You don’t even want a cupcake but you’ll just want to taste it to see how their texture improves every few hours. Don’t be scared of putting the chips on top- they don’t burn and stay amazingly soft. 

Six Layer White Dobos Torte

You’ll think you’re ready to attempt a dobos torte when your favorite baking blogs motivate you to. You won’t be suicidal enough to try this recipe with 12 layers but instead, use the same exact recipe and just make six layers (one layer will be double the thickness of one of theirs). You’ll be torn between making a classic dobos with a chocolate buttercream but very intrigued by this white dobos with a white chocolate cream cheese buttercream and peach jam. “Cream cheese” will win you over.

The peach puree tasted very natural and organic. No need to cook the peaches to loosen the skin. Just peel them. Btw, leftover puree is great on vanilla ice cream.

You will initially follow the recipe and cut perfect circles of parchment paper to bake your sponge layers. But you will realize that spooning and spreading the batter evenly and consistently on top of these little circles will cause the infamous dobos torte frustration. Time to improvise. Get an empty cool whip container and slice off the bottom. Roll out a sheet of parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Place the bottomless cool whip container on top of the parchment and spoon ½ cup of batter into it. Spread it out evenly. Lift the cool whip container and make two more on the same baking sheet. Viola! All three layers will be EVEN and bake perfectly at the same time. I baked them at 350 degrees F in the center rack for 4.5-5 minutes. Cool them for a few minutes and remove them from the parchment paper while they are still warm. They tend to stick when cooled. Also: remember to sift the powdered sugar.

How to make cake flour: put 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a measuring up and then add enough all-purpose flour to equal one cup. Thoroughly mix together and then sift about five times because that cornstarch needs to be scattered throughout.

The white chocolate cream cheese buttercream is amazing. And does not need any other description other than amazing. Just be careful not to seize the chocolate. White chocolate melts much faster than semi-sweet.

By now, you’re going to be exhausted and will give up on doing that caramel topped sponge layer. But please persevere and perhaps make it even before you do the peach puree and frosting. Because you will kick yourself for not completing it in the end. It won’t have that showstopper look without it. You might even deem it a failure without it. And you will doubt the authenticity of your dobos without that caramel topped sponge layer. So deep breath, and attempt it. Even though I didn’t.

Raspberry-Laced Vanilla Cake

Your brother will come home and accuse you of doing nothing all day and call you an unemployed lazy bum. But that’s okay, when dinner is over, he will be sorry. You’ll tell him he doesn’t deserve a piece of this raspberry laced vanilla cake and he’ll apologize.

Warning: you will confuse the baking powder and baking soda portions by interchanging them. Fortunately, you’ll catch yourself and start over. The broken flour will stay on the counter for a week before you decide there’s nothing you can do with it and end up throwing it out. Despite the saved failure, the cake will still come out a bit dry. So be careful not to over bake. This cake comes out with quite a yellow taste so next time I'd like to make it with a very white recipe. I just think that flavor combo would dance on the taste buds.

As is tradition, you won’t be able to find seedless raspberry jam, so you’ll go through the trouble of straining it. It's worth it. We all know crunchy raspberry seeds ruin everything.

Apparently raspberry syrup is hard to find too, so you’ll end up making a batch of your own raspberry sauce: combine 12 ounces of frozen raspberries, 1/3 cup sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir until all the raspberries are broken up and the sugar is dissolved- about 5 minutes. Strain the seeds.

Deluxe Triple Chocolate Cookies

Another Pillsbury bake-off recipe that had to printed out and used at the first opportunity to bake cookies. Goodness, there is a reason why these are the winning cookies out of hundreds. Subtle flavors  of peanut butter, hazel nut, and oat blend with the star ingredient- chocolate. I love these. Don’t skimp on the hot chocolate! But if you do, just know that you’ll have to sweeten that cocoa powder.

Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake

You’ll make this recipe during your quest to conquer the cheesecake factory’s flavor and luscious texture. Their cheesecakes have a light, creamy feel to them but still have an unexplained denseness that makes them rich but not heavy. 

This recipe has the right rich flavor but not the Cheesecake factory’s texture. Still good none the less, but the quest continues. I do love this recipe’s crust. It doesn’t taste overly nutty, despite 3 different kinds of nuts. They balance each other well and taste divine with the graham crackers and butter. 

Don’t be scared of the lemon juice- it does not make it taste lemony. Just adds needed freshness. It did not taste eggy, but had that egg richness so if you’re not into that, you could use one less egg. I’d say this recipe’s texture was a combination of Hershey’s, Junior’s , and Tyler Florence’s with a medium denseness. I made whipped cream and raspberry sauce to top it off.  

Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake

Crust
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup finely chopped graham crackers
3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions
You can process all the ingredients in a food processor or blender to finely chop. Mix all ingredients together and press into the bottom and 1 1/2 inches up the sides of a springform pan. Set aside.

Cheesecake
24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/3 cup sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
16 ounces sour cream, room temperature
1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. All above ingredients should be at room temperature before you begin for a lump-free, creamy cheesecake.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low speed, beat in sugar gradually until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg is added. When the eggs have been fully mixed into the cream cheese, add flour, vanilla and lemon juice, mix well. Then add the sour cream and mix until smooth. Pour cream cheese into the prepared springpan.

Tap the pan lightly on the counter to release any trapped air. Bake for one hour and 15 minutes. Cheesecake will be just slightly jiggly in the center. Open oven door and turn off the oven. Allow to slowly cool inside oven. Then remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. When fully cool, cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator. 

Banana Cream Cheesecake

In your failed quest to find a recipe to duplicate the Cheesecake Factory’s Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake, you will stumble across this recipe and decide to give it a try for Sabrin.

The texture is not like the cheesecake factory’s. This one is much denser but still yummy. The flavor is a wonderful balance of banana and cream. Top it off with fresh whipped cream. This recipe is missing that luscious bavarian cream.

The crust is great because it uses vanilla oreos and gives it that banana cream pie flavor. For the crust: use 1 cup of crushed vanilla oreos and 2-2 ½ tablespoons of melted butter.

I topped my cheesecake with both fresh and caramelized bananas.

Frozen Key Lime Pie - Fail

I overlooked the word frozen. Who eats a key lime pie completely frozen? I would not make this again. It has to stay frozen or it turns into goop. A frozen crust is not tasty. A frozen pie is not creamy. The flavor was not great either- too limey, too bitter, too tart, not sweet. I guess Ina Garten likes her key lime pie in popsicle form.