i made a blueberry cheesecake

I don't know why but I had been craving cheesecake for a little while. It's not something we have often during the year, and I think I've only made 3 or 4 times in my life. There's something a little daunting about it to me for some reason. I'm not sure if it's because I'm afraid it will crack down the middle while it cooks. Or if it's because you usually have to use a spring form pan to make it, and I have this nightmarish scene in my head of going to pick up the pan and the bottom completely falling out. But blueberries were on sale at the store (buy one get one free) so I decided to try my hand at making one last weekend.

I think it turned out pretty well for someone like me with the jitters. I used Tyler Florence's ultimate cheesecake recipe but changed the crust from a traditional graham cracker to more of a shortbread base since I don't think I can eat graham crackers.

It turned out shorter than I had anticipated, which was just fine with me. I think I used my larger spring form pan and if I had used my smaller one it would've been taller in the end. In hindsight, I think it justified the need for cutting wider slices. :)

Here's my recipe for the crust:

- 2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of sugar

Mix all of the ingredients together until it forms a dough consistency, and then press it along the bottom and slightly up the walls of the spring form pan. (I actually had some leftover so I just made a few little shortbread cookies with them.) Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until light brown.

I pretty much followed Tyler's recipe for the filling. For the blueberry topping, I added about 1/2 cup of water and increased the sugar to 1/2 cup and cooked it a lot longer so that a simple sugar would form with the blueberries which made it a little bit thicker.

I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but I have to say it was quite a delicious cheesecake! It was definitely not as difficult as I had anticipated it to be, although some water did seep into the foil that was wrapped around the pan (but I don't think that caused any damage).

The only disappointing part was forgetting that it would need to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, so we were kind of bummed that we had to wait until the next day to dig into it. But, as you can see, once we did it was quite rewarding! Tony took a couple of pieces in to work to thank a couple of his coworkers for their help on a project, and one guy who said he normally doesn't like cheesecake ate the whole piece without a complaint!

That, besides an empty plate, has to be the biggest compliment. :)

layered blueberry cake

I saw a recipe/article in a recent issue of the Rachael Ray magazine where the woman baked a cake in a large jelly roll pan so that it was really thin and only took about 15 minutes to bake. I decided to give it a try and brought it to work for a picnic lunch at work on Friday. I was a bit skeptical about the recipe because it only called for 1/2 a cup of flour and that just seemed way too low to me. Instead, I went with a cake recipe from the How to Cook Everything cookbook by Mark Bittman (you all know how much I heart this cookbook!) and I think it turned out great. Super easy to put together and the flavors are so refreshing for warm and sunny summer days.

Ingredients for the cake:

2 cups of flour
2 -1/4 tsps baking powder
4 eggs
1-1/4 sticks of butter (room temperature)
1 cup of sugar
¼ tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cups of milk
½ tsp salt
1 pint of blueberries

Directions for the cake:

Beat the butter and sugar for a couple of minutes until it’s smooth, then add the eggs one at a time. Add the sugar, extracts, salt, and baking powder and mix well. Then alternate adding the flour and milk until it’s all blended together well. Add ½ of the blueberries, then pour it out into a buttered and floured jelly roll pan (I put a sheet of parchment paper on top of the pan which made it much easier to clean up later).

My batter didn’t reach all of the edges which was fine because I ended up trimming the edges anyway when I cut out the rectangles, and it made for good snacking. Hee hee. Oh and bake it in a 350 oven for 15-18 minutes (I started with 15 minutes but it wasn’t quite brown enough on top). Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes, and then cut it into rectangles. Transfer the rectangles to a cooling rack and let them completely cool before icing.

Icing ingredients:

1 – 8 oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature)
½ cup of prepared lemon curd (I like the Dickinson’s brand)
½ cup of sugar

Directions:

Blend all three ingredients until smooth. Then spread the love.

I stored the cake in my cake carrier with the lid on in the refrigerator overnight, and then let it thaw out to room temperature before we cut into it at lunch time (around 12:30 pm). The cake stayed nice and moist that way vs. the piece that I made for my husband that I put in the fridge without anything covering it. The cake got tougher overnight, but it was still yummy.

I can see using this technique of layering with different fillings in the future for other fun cake ideas. It really is pretty quick to put together from start to finish. Enjoy!

matcha mochi cupcakes

A high school friend of mine, Azusa, has a wonderful food blog called Humble Bean. She takes some amazing food photos, y'all! Anyway, as I was browsing through some of her posts one day, I came across this one about Matcha Mochi cupcakes. I really didn't know what matcha was at the time (err, that green tea was called that), but I did know that I love mochi so I decided to give it a try. Since the recipe calls for Mochiko rice flour, this is what originally initiated a trip out to the new H Mart Asian grocery store in Burlington (read all about that hellish trip for my husband excursion here).

I ended up making a test batch of these before we had a baking contest at work and I had the hardest time figuring out what to use as a topping (or if I even needed one - these are delicious on their own). I decided to go with a lemon and plum glaze with some crystallized ginger on top. I scored this huge bag of ginger from Christina's for less than $4!

I noticed in Azusa's photos that she uses those little silicone (?) mini cupcake cups in the pan before she pours the batter in, which I think would've been very helpful. The little papers I used stuck to the mini cupcakes pretty tightly and so I decided to peel them off before presenting them. I filled them up almost all the way to the top and that produce a nice little domed cake.


The recipe says to let them bake for 30 to 40 minutes so don't be afraid of leaving them in the oven for that long! You want them to get a little toasted and browned on top because it leaves a nice crunchy exterior.



And the inside is so nice and soft and has the slightest hint of green tea flavoring. Yummmmm! My husband and I love them and quite possibly ate half the batch in one night (hence the inability to sleep later), they are that good! So give the recipe a try if you want to try baking with the rice flour. It's a super easy recipe and the cupcakes are irresistably delicious. :)

Thanks, Azusa!

*****

Matcha Mochi Cupcakes
(makes approximately 24 mini cupcakes)

Ingredients:

1 (1 lb.) box mochiko (rice flour)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. matcha
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup oil (I used canola oil)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Whisk all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl combine the eggs, milk, and oil. Add dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.

4. Spoon batter in a muffin pan lined with baking cups (optional) and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until slightly browned on top.

5. Top with an optional lemon and plum sugar glaze by mixing some powdered sugar with a couple of drops of lemon juice and a teaspoon of plum jelly.

limoncello liqueur cupcakes

Once in a while at work we have a baking contest. And boy, do I have a lot of coworkers who are talented bakers! I made these limoncello liqueuer cupcakes for a liqueur themed contest we had at work today, and the seemed to be liked by a lot of people, although it didn't win first prize in the contest. Here's the recipe for the limoncello cupcakes, just in case you feel like whipping up a batch!

I should preface this by saying that I ended up tripling the recipe for the cupcakes after realizing that it yields only 12 cupcakes. I filled each cup about 1/2 way and I ended up with 44 cupcakes total. Some came out rather peaked, and some came out rather level on top. I don't know why ... I'm just sayin'!

Ingredients for cupcakes (my measurements for triple are in the brackets):

3/4 cup all-purpose flour [ x 3 = 2 1/4 cups ]
1 teaspoon baking powder [ x 3 = 3 tsps ]
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda [ x 3 = 4.5 tsps ]
1/2 teaspoon salt [ x 3 = 1.5 tsps ]
zest of one lemon [ x 3 = zest of 3 lemons ]
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar [ x 3 = 1 1/2 cups plus 3 tbsps ]
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened to room temperature [ x 3 = 1.5 cups ]
2 eggs at room temperature [ x 3 = 6 eggs ]
3 tablespoons limoncello liqueur [ x 3 = 9 tbsps ]
juice of one lemon [ x 3 = the juice of 3 lemons ]
1 tablespoon milk [ x 3 = 3 tbsps ]

Directions for cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line the muffin pan with the paper muffin liners.
3. In small mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in lemon zest and set aside.
4. In large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition to fully incorporate. Add the limoncello liqueur, juice of the lemon and the milk. Beat for one minute.
5. Divide the batter up evenly into the 12 muffin liners. [Note: I filled them up 1/2 way]
6. Place the pan on a center rack in the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until the cakes have risen and are golden-brown on top. Test one for doneness by inserting a wooden pick into the center. The cupcakes are done when the wooden pick comes out clean.
7. Remove cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for the frosting (I made just one batch and it was more than enough to cover all 44 cupcakes):

8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened to room temperature
2 teaspoons limoncello liqueur
zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 - 3 cups powdered sugar (I ended up using a whole 1 pound box of powdered sugar)

Directions for the frosting:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the limoncello liqueur, zest and lemon juice.
2. Add two cups powdered sugar and beat on low speed until mixed, then beat on high speed until smooth. Beat in additional powdered sugar as necessary until the desired spreading consistency is achieved.
3. After the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost the tops of each with a icing tube and star shaped tip.

Enjoy! :)

lime cornmeal glazed cookies

I made these lime cornmeal glazed cookies (a recipe from Martha Stewart) for our valentine themed coffee hour at work yesterday. I made them years ago (back before I knew I was allergic to corn!) and so I thought I'd give them a shot again. I think people liked them (errr, at least I hope so!) so here's the recipe in case anyone out there would like to try them out.

Ingredients (for cookies; makes about 2 dozen):

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
4 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (about 6 limes total)
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest (2 medium oranges)
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal, plus more for coating glass

Directions (for cookies):

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg; beat until just blended. Add citrus zests, lime juice, and almond extract.

2. With the mixer on low speed, add flour and cornmeal. Continue beating until well blended. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper. Using a 1 1/4-inch ice-cream scoop, form balls from chilled dough. Place balls on prepared sheets, spaced about 3 inches apart. Dip bottom of a medium drinking glass into cornmeal. Flatten balls with the bottom of glass until dough is about 1/4 inch thick.

4. Bake cookies until crisp and light-golden brown around the edges, 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack, and let the cookies cool completely.

5. Place a wire rack on top of a piece of parchment paper. Pour the lime glaze over the cooled cookies, allowing the excess to drip off the edges. Let glaze set. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Ingredients (for the lime glaze; makes about 1 1/3 cup):

3 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
8 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus 2 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest (about 6 limes total)

Directions (for the lime glaze):

Sift confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl. Add lime juice; stir until smooth. Stir in lime zest. Use glaze immediately.

pretzel rolo pecan treats

Holy crappers, where did the year go?? To make up for my lack of posting I thought I'd share this recipe for a super easy peasy pretzel Rolo pecan treat that I learned from my husband's aunt Elaine last weekend. Super easy peasy! And super yummy according to my at-home-taste-tester and obliging coworkers. :)

Ingredients:

- a bag of Snyder's butter snap pretzels
- a bag of Rolo candies
- whole, shelled pecans

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place a piece of foil or parchment paper onto a baking sheet.
- Lay whole pieces of pretzels onto the sheet in one layer.
- Unpeel some Rolos (seriously, this is the hardest part!)
- Refrain from eating a lot of the Rolos. One or two, yes. Handful, no.
- Put one Rolo on top of each pretzel.
- Put one whole pecan piece on top of the Rolo.
- Bake in the oven for 3 minutes (no, not the most efficient use of a 350 degree oven, I know ...)
- Remove from the oven and smoosh each pecan down so that the Rolo gets flattened.
- Let them cool down and then put them in the fridge to harden.
- Enjoy!!

anne's nibbly cookies recipe

I was craving bread from the Danish Pastry House yesterday (see what too many trips to the farmers market will do to ya?!), and luckily my parking angel was with me and I got a metered spot nearby. So after I bought a loaf of their Epine baguette (so yummy!) I walked by the Taza Chocolate booth to see their new chococycle. It's really cool! I decided to pick up a large bag (6 ounces) of their organic chocolate covered nibs to make something.

(I will refrain from saying what the husband said these look like.)

I didn't have any plan in mind so I was happy to find this recipe on the back of the package when I got home. They turned out great! Well, I should say that my husband didn't really love them like he loves regular chocolate chip cookies that I make but everyone at work who tried them loved them! They were super easy to make and they came out so soft. The only thing I didn't do in the recipe was add the nutmeg and that was simply because I didn't have any on hand.

I love using ice cream scoopers for cookie dough. These only took 10 minutes in the oven because they were small and bite-sized.

It was definitely a good idea to use the parchment paper on top of the pan because it made clean up a breeze!

So my friends, if you'd like the recipe you should go out and get a bag of these lovely little nibs!

Oh and by the way, speaking of yummy baked goods. Check out this cardamom cake that my coworker, Stephanie, made (yes, the same one with the amazing basil garden). Our departments hosted today's coffee hour this morning which is why I brought the cookies in to work. I really like the green plate that she brought it on, and the cake was as delicious as it was beautiful!

Happy baking everyone! :)

I say lemon, you say squares!

That was the subject line in an email I sent out to some of my coworkers yesterday afternoon. I received this email on Monday afternoon from my husband with his coworker, Trevor's, name in the subject line:

It's a long story but basically, Trevor knows that I a) can bake and b) love a good challenge. We've dueled it out in Bubble Spinner as seen here, here, and here. So perhaps it was time for another challenge? I was totally up for it.

I found this recipe from the Martha Stewart website for creamy lemon squares and decided to give it a try on Tuesday night. It was much easier than I thought it would be and required so few ingredients, so I made two. Tony took one into to work that was cut into 16 pieces, and I took one to work that was cut into 36 small, bite-sized pieces.

I think I can venture to say that it was a huge hit! I was told that Trevor LOVED them (yes, you read that, in all caps!) and that he ate four of them (that detail is a little disturbing, I'll admit). And they disappeared in my office too.

It really helped to line the pan with parchment paper because it made taking them out really easy.


They turned out taller than typical lemon bars, and people said that they had a creamy consistency much like key lime pie. [Side note: no, I can't eat these. At least, we don't know if I'm really allergic to lemons because I haven't tested them yet but I didn't really want to take a chance. I tasted a tiny piece that fell off the knife and it was quite yummy.] The recipe called for sweetened condensed milk and if you ask me, anything with sweetened condensed milk tastes yummy!

I think the biggest compliment I received about them was from one of my coworkers who said he didn't normally like lemon squares. I convinced him to try one (using my, "They're only small squares, it's just one bite ..." plea) and I think he said I've converted him to liking them. That's awesome!

So here's the recipe for those of you that wish to whip up a batch (again, an easy-peasy recipe!). And just as an FYI, it took 4 lemons for me to get 3/4 cup of lemon juice.

Creamy Lemon Squares

Ingredients (makes 16):

- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 4 large egg yolks [oh crap! see comment below!!]
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
- 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper.

2. Make crust: Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add flour, and mix on low just until combined. Press dough into the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan; prick all over with a fork. Bake until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Make filling: In a large bowl, whisk together yolks, condensed milk, and lemon juice until smooth. Pour over hot crust in pan; return to oven, and bake until filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

4. Refrigerate until filling is firm, about 2 hours or up to 3 days. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into 16 squares, and dust with confectioners sugar.

Okay, so um, I just realized that I made a mistake. I do this a lot where I read through a recipe way too quickly (i.e. not enough attention to details!). It calls for 4 egg yolks and I just realized that I used 4 whole eggs. That might explain why one of my coworkers said that "the other lemon bars you see at the grocery store are so yellow ... makes me wonder what else they put in them." Alas, it's probably because mine were so light from too much egg! Oh well. I hope they weren't too eggy!

Oh and one more note: I put the confectioners sugar on in the morning but then by the time I brought them out of the bag in the middle of the day it all had been absorbed into the lemon. So even though the directions don't call for it, I'd suggest storing them in the refrigerator until you need them because the surface gets a little slick at room temperature. (Although now I'm wondering if it was because my filling was too custard/pudding-like with the extra egg whites? Hmmmm ...)

cambridge 1 + finale

I know it's been a while since I've posted (sorry!) so I'll post a quick one tonight. One of our favorite outings in the Harvard Square area is dinner at Cambridge 1 and then dessert at Finale. First of all, Cambridge 1 has the best potato pizza. Seriously good, folks.

Pair it up with a bibb lettuce, gorgonzola, and grape tomato (yes yes, allergic to them, so we order them on the side for the man to enjoy) and some lovely vino and you're good to go. Then take a walk over to Finale and gobble down a magnanimous molten chocolate cake with oodles of ice cream and pieces of chocolate. Yum!

new tavern in porter square

Okay, so not exactly how new it is but we've never been there before. We stopped in for a drink one night after dinner at Christopher's and ended up ordering this from their dessert menu.

Pure sin is all I can say.

makin' whoopie

PIES that is ... ya sickos! ;-P

I found this recipe in a recent issue of the Rachael Ray Magazine and decided to make a couple of batches for Liz & Ben's Halloween party. They turned out to be AMAZING. Seriously good and not bad for my first attempt at whoopie. Pies. Pies, people!

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, 1 stick melted, ½ stick softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree (not the pumpkin pie filling that already comes spiced)
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
• 1-2/3 cups flour
• 4 ounces cream cheese, chilled
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.


2. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and ¾ teaspoon salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour.


3. Using an ice cream scoop, drop 12 generous mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 11 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.


4. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners’ sugar and the remaining 2 pinches of salt and ½ teaspoon of vanilla. Mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.


5. Spread the flat side of ½ the cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another cake.

Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that the allspice included in the pumpkin pie spice is not just the combination of other spices that one would think composes allspice. It's actually a fricken pepper. Who would've thunk it? Alas, another pretty bad allergic reaction surfaced which caused me to leave Liz & Ben's totally awesome Halloween party early. Blah.

On a more positive note (hey, anything's more positive than an allergic reaction!), Tony loves these. Renee loves these. I think Kate, Teeru, Jen, and Brian love these too. So if you're looking for something relatively simple to put together for your next shindig, I'd say go for these and share the yumminess. :)