Chocolate Berry Truffle Cheesecake

When I was a teenager, my dad decided he wanted to learn how to make gourmet cheesecakes. He bought a recipe book featuring a large variety of cheesecakes, and started baking. These cheesecakes were a big departure from the no-bake Jell-O cheesecakes of my childhood. There was a year or two when we were almost constantly trying new fancy cheesecake recipes, everything from Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake to No-Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecake to Banana Split Cheesecake. Mmm. Those were good times.

The very first cheesecake that Dad made out of that beautiful little book was called Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. It was a 10-inch cheesecake that used 2 full pounds of cream cheese, a lot of chocolate chips, and seedless raspberry preserves. He took the sides off the springform pan too soon, so it ended up being a giant shapeless blob in the refrigerator. But it was the richest, most decadently delicious shapeless blog any of us had ever experienced. It was amazing.

After that first cheesecake, Dad's skills improved and we had no more shapeless blobs occupying the place of honor on the fridge shelf. With each cheesecake, he (and those of us kids who watched or helped) learned about ways to keep the cheesecake from cracking, how to mix it properly to reduce lumps, how to bake it and cool it just right. For instance, scrape the sides of the bowl very frequently while mixing, especially after adding a new ingredient. The cheesecake is done baking when the middle half is still relatively jiggly - if it doesn't still jiggle it's overdone. Make sure to let the cheesecake cool completely (and slowly) before removing the springform pan sides. If your cheesecake cracks it's perfectly acceptable to top it with whipped cream or sweetened sour cream to hide the cracks! But still, no matter how many successful and beautiful masterpieces Dad turned out, that first sloppy pile of cheesecake-y goodness has always been my favorite.

The recipe calls for seedless raspberry preserves. But I can't always find those, I don't know why. So I'll sometimes use a different type of berry preserves, with great results. This time I used seedless blackberry preserves. I'll compromise on the type of berry the preserves are made of, but I won't compromise on the fact that they have to be seedless. To get the smooth, perfect texture in the chocolate truffles, you need to use preserves that don't have seeds or chunks.

Chocolate Berry Truffle Cheesecake
Crust:

1 1/2 cups finely crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs
2 tablespoons margarine, melted

Filling:

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Truffles:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves

Topping:

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream

1. To make crust, combine cookie crumbs and margarine and press into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
3. To make filling, with an electric mixer set on medium speed combine 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese and sugar until well blended (scrape sides of bowl frequently throughout steps 3-7 to prevent lumps).
4. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Blend in sour cream and vanilla and then pour into prepared crust. Set aside.
6. Combine 8 ounces cream cheese and melted chocolate, mixing at medium speed until well blended.
7. Add raspberry preserves, mixing together well.
8. Drop chocolate raspberry batter by tablespoonfuls onto plain cream cheese batter in pan (I used my 2-tbsp. cookie scoop). Do not swirl.
9. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes.
10. Remove from oven, loosen cake from sides of pan, and let cool on a wire rack for 1 to 2 hours before removing from pan (I actually leave it in the pan until ready to serve).
11. To make topping, cook chocolate and heavy cream over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth.
12. Remove from heat and spread over cooled cheesecake.
13. Chill for 4 to 6 hours.

After dolloping on the chocolate truffle mixture and placing in the oven.

Immediately after removing from the oven. The cheesecake sinks quite a bit while cooling, that's normal. I baked the cheesecake last night, forgive my use of the camera flash!

After cooling, the cheesecake is at least half an inch shorter than it was before.

Freshly covered in chocolate ganache.

Rich, dense, chocolaty. The most intense cheesecake experience ever.

Linking:
Think Tank Thursday
One Project at a Time
Link Party Palooza
Strut Your Stuff Saturday

Coconut Cheesecake Tart

Sometime in November, my daughter asked me what I wanted for Christmas. She had taken it upon her sweet little 8-year-old self to write letters to Santa on behalf of everyone in the family. I thought about it and told her I would like a tart pan with a removable bottom. I had watched a cooking show where the host made pecan pie in a tart pan and was able to slice and serve the pie easily and beautifully. It looked like a great idea and something that I would actually use. So she wrote this letter to Santa: "Dear Santa, I was good today and I would like a tart pan with a removable bottom. Stephanie." So cute, right?

So I was pleased, but not surprised, to find this lovely fluted tart pan under the tree on Christmas morning.

And yesterday the kids and I mixed up this delicious tart, with a cookie pastry, a cream cheese and coconut filling, and a toasted coconut topping.

Coconut Cheesecake Tart
Tart:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp. packed brown sugar
1 large egg
Filling:
2 cups shredded coconut
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
8 oz. whipped topping
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

For the crust, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine crust ingredients until a dough is formed. Press onto bottom and about an inch up the sides of ungreased 9-inch fluted tart pan. Bake for 12 minutes.

While the crust is baking, spread coconut in a thin layer on a large baking sheet. Toast in the same oven as the crust, stirring every 3-4 minutes, until most of the coconut is golden brown. Set aside.

Once the crust and the coconut are cool, make the filling. Beat cream cheese until smooth, mix in sugar and vanilla. Add whipped topping and mix well. Stir in toasted coconut, reserving 1/2 cup for topping.

Spoon filling into crust, spread evenly. Sprinkle coconut evenly over filling. Remove sides from tart pan, then slide tart off the bottom of the tart pan onto serving dish. Chill until ready to serve.

I gotta say, slicing and serving this delicious tart was a dream! No digging around in the pie pan trying to fish out the first slice without tearing it apart. All I had to do was lift each slice right off the cake stand. It was a beautiful thing.

Linking:
Think Tank Thursday at Joyful Homemaking
Wowza Weekend Link Party at My Love 2 Create
Link Party Palooza at tatertots & jello
Strut Your Stuff Saturday Link Party at Sis Sisters' Stuff
Project Inspire{d} at An Extraordinary Day 

Cookies n Cream No-Bake Cheesecake

Right about this time, Oreo is celebrating its 100th birthday. So I went and bought a couple packages of delicious chocolate sandwich cookies with the intention of making a yummy dessert to celebrate. This is what Jeff and I came up with - a light and creamy cheesecake filling with chunks of Oreos, surrounded by a crisp cookie crumb crust. Yummers!

Cookies n Cream No-Bake Cheesecake
40 Oreo cookies
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1 8-oz carton whipped topping
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

For crust, place 25 cookies in food processor, crush into fine crumbs. Mix well with melted butter. Press into 9-inch pie plate. Set aside in refrigerator while you make the filling.

For filling, cream together the cream cheese, whipped topping, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer. Coarsely chop remaining cookies and fold in gently. Spread mixture into crust.

Chill in refrigerator for a couple of hours or until set.

Easy, Amazing Cream Cheese Pie

Sorry, no pictures of this one. I can't find my camera...

But this is an incredibly delicious cheesecake/pie. I've actually used this filling recipe as frosting for cake, and it's incredible. I would often eat spoonfuls of the stuff straight out of the bowl, it's that good. So when I saw in a cookbook that it could go in a pie crust, I was super thrilled.

Cream Cheese Pie
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
8 oz. cool whip
9-inch graham cracker crust

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Slowly beat in cool whip. Spread into crust. Chill for at least 3 hours. Serve alone or topped with fruit. We ate it with cherry pie filling, yum.

Lime Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce

Our Easter meal yesterday was so yummy. Jeff and I made Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing (last time we made it we did it in the crock pot, this time we baked it according to the original instructions, it's delicious either way!), Jeff's sister and her family brought homemade rolls and a relish tray with olives and other marinated goodness. It was all wonderfully tasty, but for me the crowning jewel was the dessert.


I'm a HUGE fan of cheesecakes, and this one was great. The cheesecake was rich but not too rich, and the flavors were light and fresh, perfect for springtime. I used this recipe from Southern Living, but used regular lime juice instead of Key lime.


Lime Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime rind (skipped this, Jeff hates any kind of citrus rind)
1/2 cup lime juice
Strawberry Sauce
1 1/4 cups fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime rind (substituted lime juice)

Stir together first 3 ingredients, and firmly press on bottom and 1 inch up sides of a greased 9-inch springform pan.

Bake at 350° for 8 minutes; cool.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add 1 1/4 cups sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in sour cream, rind, and juice. Pour batter into crust.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 5 minutes; turn oven off. Partially open oven door; let stand in oven 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and immediately run a knife around edge of pan, releasing sides.

Cool completely in pan on a wire rack; cover and chill 8 hours.

Just before serving, make strawberry sauce - process all sauce ingredients in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Spoon sauce over each slice.

Yummmmmm......

Brownie Bottom Cheesecake

We had my brother and his girlfriend, and my husband's sister and her family over for dinner on Sunday, a nice big turkey dinner with stuffing and rolls and sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows. For a big dinner like that, you need a super yummy dessert to finish off the meal. This brownie bottom cheesecake is what I made, and it was so good! The brownie layer was chewy and moist, and the cheesecake layer was deliciously creamy. It was a big hit.


Brownie Bottom Cheesecake
4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened baking chocolate (I used 4 oz. semisweet chocolate chips)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 1/4 cups sugar, divided (reduced to 1 3/4 cups because of the chocolate chips)
5 eggs, divided
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add 1-1/2 cups of the sugar (here I used only 1 cup); mix well.

Add 2 of the eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Add milk and 1 tsp. of the vanilla; mix well. Combine flour and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture, mixing after each addition just until blended. Spread evenly into greased and floured 9-inch springform pan. Bake 25 min.

Beat cream cheese, remaining 3/4 cup sugar and remaining 1 tsp. vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add remaining 3 eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over brownie layer in pan (Filling will come almost to top of pan.)

Bake 55 min. to 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Let stand at room temperature 30 min. before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Hot Fudge Cheesecake - Finally!!!

I finally made it! Yippee! And it's just as super wonderfully delicious as I remembered. Man, I love cheesecake!

Hot Fudge Cheesecake is rich and chocolaty, though quite small. It is served at room temperature with a creamy Hot Fudge Sauce. This cheesecake is baked in a 7-inch springform pan, which, though fun and cute, is not a very common size. If you don't have a 7-inch, I would try baking it in an 8-inch pan and reducing the baking time.


Hot Fudge Cheesecake
1 cup crushed saltine crackers (about one sleeve)
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
6 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
3 tbsp. sugar
6 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate (I use chocolate chips)
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs

Hot Fudge Sauce:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup half-and-half (I use evaporated milk)
1 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine first cracker crumbs, walnuts, 6 tbsp. melted butter, and 3 tbsp. sugar; stir well. Firmly press into bottom and 2 1/2 inches up sides of a lightly greased 7-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Set aside. Here's a picture of this step, so you can see how cute and little the 7-inch pan really is. Isn't it tiny?


Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Combine chocolate squares and 3/4 cup butter in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture is melted and smooth, stirring often. Remove from heat, and cool.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 3/4 cup sugar; beat well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in cooled chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared crust.

Bake at 300 for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until almost set (Almost set means there's still some jiggle in the middle, but not too much. My oven runs slow, it took about an hour and fifteen minutes). Turn off oven. Let cheesecake cool in oven 30 minutes. Remove to a wire rack; cool to room temperature.


Gently run a knife around edge of cheesecake to release sides of pan; carefully remove pan. Another size comparison - the little hand belongs to my 3-year-old. Kids just can't keep their hands off yummy food, ya know?


Prepare Hot Fudge Sauce: Combine chocolate chips and half-and-half in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth, stirring often. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla.

Serve cheesecake with warm Hot Fudge Sauce. Store leftovers of both cheesecake and sauce covered in refrigerator. Leftover sauce can be served over ice cream or pound cake. :-)


Just a little side note: If you, perchance, accidentally buy milk chocolate chips instead of semisweet, just reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup. You can also use the milk chocolate in the sauce, it will just be sweeter than usual. Still yummy. Not that I, uh, speak from experience or anything. Because of course I would never do anything like that.

A Simple Cheesecake and Bonus Lentil Burgers

I wanted to have something sweet and not low-calorie for dessert tonight - when you're dieting it's good to splurge every now and then or you'll feel deprived. I had some cream cheese in the refrigerator, and decided on a cheesecake. This recipe is from a Mennonite cookbook I have, called the More-With-Less Cookbook - it's very simple, nothing fancy, but it satisfied my sweet tooth wonderfully!


Cheesecake
2 eggs
8 oz. cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup dry milk solids (powdered milk)
2 tsp. vanilla
1-2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 8" graham cracker crust (I used a 9" crust, and my cheesecake came out rather thin, so I suggest using the 8" crust)

Preheat oven to 375, and prepare your graham cracker crust.

Combine eggs, cream cheese, sugar, dry milk, vanilla, and lemon juice. Mix well with electric mixer, scraping bowl with rubber spatula often. Pour into crust and bake 30 minutes. Cool for 1 hour. Add topping, if desired, and chill.

I left mine topping-less, but here are the topping options given:
-Combine 1 cup yogurt or sour cream, 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg.
-Add drained strawberries, pineapple, peaches, cherries, blueberries, or nuts to yogurt or sour cream topping.
-Thicken any of above fruits with cornstarch and use as a topping.


As a bonus, here's the recipe we used for dinner tonight, from the same cookbook. This one is healthy and low-calorie.


Lentil Burgers
2 cups cooked, cooled lentils, drained
1 egg
1/2 cup cracker crumbs
1 small onion, minced
Tomato juice (I didn't have tomato juice, so I smushed up some canned diced tomatoes instead)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together using just enough tomato juice to hold mixture in shape when pattied. Fry like hamburgers in small amount hot oil, shortening, or bacon fat.

That's the exact wording in the book. Mine never really would hold its shape if I tried to form it into patties with my hands, so I just spooned it into pattie shapes onto the skillet. They held their shapes if I turned them very carefully, but they were fairly crumbly. That said, they had a very good taste, and I wouldn't be opposed to making them again. Still, I think I prefered the pumpkin chickpea burgers I made a while back. While I love real hamburgers, I also like making meatless burgers - there are so many varieties that you can make! There's a recipe for black bean burgers that I've got my eye on, it actually looks almost like real ground beef.