Cheesecakes and Softball Take 2

Tomorrow night is Forrest's end of season Auburn Softball Team party. Since I was never successful at delivering my mini cheesecakes to the team during the season I figured that I would attempt my petite pastries one more time for this group of friends. The only problem was that I hate to make the same thing over and over again. I had a cheesecake recipe I saw Giada make on TV that I had saved in my Food Network.com recipe box several months ago. Although they were much more involved than my usual mini cheesecakes I figured it was worth it to try something new.

Individual Orange and Chocolate Cheesecakes
Recipe Courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis

1/3 cup finely crushed chocolate wafers
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1 orange, zested
1 egg
Butter, for greasing

Special equipment: mini muffin tin

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the crushed chocolate wafers and the melted butter.

Place a tightly packed teaspoon of the wafer mixture into each mini-muffin cup and press down firmly.

In a food processor combine the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, 1/4 cup of the sugar, half of the orange zest, and the egg.

Blend until smooth. Lightly grease the sides of the mini muffin tin with butter. Fill the cups with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cheesecake mixture.

Place the mini muffin tin in a baking dish and pour enough hot water in the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the mini muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes. Transfer the mini muffin tin to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Use a small knife to gently pop the cheesecakes out of the cups.

Just before serving, combine the remaining orange zest with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Top each individual cheesecake with about 1/4 teaspoon of the orange zest mixture and serve.

I think these chocolate and orange cheesecakes would be an awesome dessert to serve at a Halloween party since they are appropriately colored. I will be making these again in a few months!

You're a Grand Old Flag

This past weekend Forrest and I drove home to New Orleans to celebrate the Fourth of July with our families. Even though gas prices are a killer, it was still much cheaper for us to drive than to fly home. Airline tickets are considerably more outrageous and we decided driving was the most economical decision. We had a fun packed weekend that consisted of skeet shooting, wake boarding, jet-skiing and dining on traditional New Orleans cuisine such as boiled crabs, oyster po'boys, and catfish. By far, the highlight of the trip was the party my parents had on the Fourth of July. Forrest's family, my family and all of our friends gathered at my parent's Lake House for a grand celebration. I made a Martha Stewart Flag Cheesecake recipe that was a big hit and we spent a lot of the day (when we weren't in the water) at my Dad's newly constructed Tiki Bar he built over his new Boat Hoist. My mom personalized the bar before we arrived by decorating the stools with the college emblem from each one of the schools my brothers and sister and I graduated from. Conveniently we all went to different colleges so there was one for each of the four stools. I don't have any pics of me making the cheesecake because I had trouble baking in my mom's kitchen and forgot to photograph the process due to the chaos. Since I don't have pics of the baking steps, I included one of my Daddy at his new bar with the painted College barstools.


Fruited Cheesecake Flag
Martha Stewart Living July 2007

Ingredients

Makes 48 squares

• Vegetable-oil cooking spray
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• Coarse salt
• 12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 32 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) blackberries (I omitted and only used blueberries)
  
• 8 3/4 ounces (2 cups) blueberries
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced lengthwise into thirds
  
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
• 12 ounces (3 cups) raspberries ( I omitted and only used strawberries)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Coat a 13-by-18-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the long sides. Coat parchment with spray.
2. Sift flour and 1 3/4 teaspoons salt into a bowl. Cream butter with a mixer on medium-high speed, occasionally scraping bowl, until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. With the mixer running, slowly add light-brown sugar, beating until very pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture all at once, and beat on low speed until just incorporated.
3. Transfer dough to sheet. Use a large piece of plastic wrap to press dough into an even layer that covers the bottom of the sheet. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
4. Bake dough until entire surface is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cool completely in sheet on a wire rack. Raise oven temperature to 350.
5. In a clean bowl, beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed, occasionally scraping bowl, until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add granulated sugar in a slow, steady stream. Scrape bowl, then mix in lemon zest, vanilla and almond extracts, and a pinch of salt until well combined. Scrape bowl, then beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated. The mixture should be very smooth; scrape bowl as necessary. Pour over crust, and spread into an even layer.
6. Bake until filling is set, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely in sheet on rack. Refrigerate until firm and cold, about 4 hours (or overnight).
7. Run a sharp knife along short sides of sheet, and use parchment to lift out cheesecake. Run knife under hot water and dry well. Use it to cut cheesecake into 48 squares, wiping knife clean between cuts.
8. Transfer squares to a serving platter, reforming the rectangle. Decorate top left squares (3 down and 4 across), placing a blueberry in the center of each square and mounding blueberries around it. Using a long offset spatula, slide out 4 squares from bottom row. Top each square with 3 strawberry slices, dust with confectioners' sugar, and return to rectangle. Repeat with remaining 4 squares on bottom row and then squares on alternating rows. Alternatively, omit strawberries and dust alternating rows generously with confectioners' sugar. Serve immediately (or refrigerate overnight).

Mini Cheesecakes

For four years during college I waited tables at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro. It was an exact knock-off of the Cheesecake Factory - huge menus, thousands of menu items, gaudy decor, and thick delicious cheesecakes in any flavor you could hope for. Fortunately for my waist line, I didn't eat cheesecake when I worked at the Cheesecake Bistro. I can't really explain it, but I just didn't like it. I worked there 5 times a week for four years and can honestly say that I never ate one single piece of their prize product. I didn't want to taste it, I didn't want to sneak a bite, and I didn't think about it when it wasn't around. Sadly, today I can't say the same. Somewhere between college graduation and the present my feelings for the creamy, cheesy sweetness changed. I still don't have much of a sweet tooth but I LOVE cheesecake. Well just like everything else I love to eat, I had to attempt to recreate it in my own kitchen. I have made homemade cheesecake before from scratch with my sister where we utilized the spring form pan, food processed graham cracker crust, ground nutmeg and a warm water bath. And although it was extremely delicious, it was also very time consuming and expensive. I recently stumbled upon the best recipe that takes no time at all and will provide me with a quick cheesecake fix when I am craving the splendid dessert.

Individual Cheesecakes

Recipe courtesy of Gourmet Magazine

1 package Vanilla Wafers 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla Line a 24 cavity mini muffin tin with mini cup cake liners. Place 1 Vanilla Wafer in the bottom of each cup cake liner. Cream together the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way up. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on baking rack, then chill in the refrigerator over night. Then serve with the toppings of your choice. (As you can see, I chose blueberries and raspberries this time)