Winter

Winter Berry Cheesecake Tart

December 14, 2016

I have an quick and easy way to make any pie, tart, or cake look fancy:

Pile a bunch of berries on top!

That’s what makes this otherwise ordinary cheesecake tart much more sophisticated, let alone colorful! Even though berries are more of a Summer fruit, somehow they work perfectly for Winter when you roll cranberries in sugar to make them “frosty”. And with the addition of the mint leaves, it takes on a very Christmas-y look, don’t you think?

The foundation of this tart is a chocolate cookie crust. Sure, I could have made a plain old graham cracker crust, but chocolate seems so much more appropriate for the holidays. Plus, I am a sucker for chocolate and berries. It’s one of my favorite flavor combinations!

The next layer of the tart is my (aka my mom’s) classic cheesecake batter. Because this tart is much thinner than the New York style cheesecake that I usually make, I only made a third of my usual recipe.

What’s great about making cheesecake in a thin tart pan is that it bakes so much quicker. Cheesecake usually takes over an hour to bake. But this barely took 30 minutes. I made this just a few hours before I served it, which I would never do with my usual cheesecake recipe!

While the cheesecake baked, I worked on sugaring my berries (why does that sound dirty?). I have never sugared cranberries before, so I turned this really helpful post. Well, it would have been more helpful if I had followed direction. Of course, I like to think I know what I am doing all the time, but sometimes I really don’t. I skipped one pretty important step: letting the simple syrup dry before rolling them in the sugar. Whoops!

Then, once the tart had chilled and I had added a layer of sweetened sour cream, I just piled the raspberries and cranberries right on top. There wasn’t any rhyme or reason to it, clearly. But it still turned out so nice! I love the disorganized and rustic look of a pile of berries!

One slice of this tart is the perfect bite of chocolate crust, rich cheesecake, and fresh berries. All the flavors were there and complimented each other wonderfully! I also love the combination of the tart raspberries and crisp cranberries. Since the cranberries were soaked in simple syrup and rolled in sugar, they had a crunchy outer crust and were much sweeter than normal. They weren’t overly sweet, which made them a perfect pairing for the super sweet cheesecake!

You should probably make this cheesecake tart ASAP. It would be perfect for a holiday party. And you will want to make this while you can still easily get your hands on some fresh cranberries.

But, if you don’t want to make this now, you can make the same tart this Summer and pile on some strawberries, blueberries, or any one of your favorite fruits!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:107]

Glazed Gingerbread Donuts

November 28, 2016

Before we left to visit family in Texas for Thanksgiving, I decided I needed to put up my Christmas tree and get our house ready for the holidays. I pulled out all of the Christmas decorations that we had acquired over the years and unpacked it all (to see what I had to work with). It was like Christmas had thrown up in our living room. Which for me, was lots of fun. Not so much for my husband.

To fuel my Christmas decorating bender, I thought it would be appropriate to have a Christmas-themed breakfast. There are lots of things that remind me of Christmas, but maybe none more than gingerbread! My first thought was gingerbread pancakes (been there, done that). Then I thought: Gingerbread Donuts!

The gingerbread baking in the oven filled our kitchen with so many wonderful holiday scents – brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and clove. It smelled heavenly!

To make the gingerbread batter, I mixed together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. Separately, I whisked together the milk, butter, molasses, and egg. Then I mixed the two together to make a light and fluffy batter.

I use a big zip-top bag to pipe the batter into the donut tin. I tend to overfill my donut tin, forgetting that the donuts will puff up and rise in the oven. Next time I will remind myself to only fill up the tin three-quarters of the way.

They don’t take very long to bake, but I used that down time to whip up the vanilla glaze. The glaze is pretty simple to make: whisk together milk, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla. I added just enough milk until the glaze was the right consistency.

I kept my glaze rather thick, mainly for the photos. But when I make these again, I will make my glaze thinner. I want the gingerbread to be the star of the show. If you make these at home, you could even skip the glaze completely and dust the donuts with confectioners’ sugar.

Any way this gingerbread donut is dressed (I tried the donuts plain, with confectioners’ sugar, and glaze….it’s a tough job, folks), it’s delicious. Light, yet moist and oh so flavorful. It is the perfect compliment to a cup of holiday spice coffee. Also the perfect start to a day of holiday decorating!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:100]

Spiced Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

December 11, 2013

My mom’s recipe for cheesecake has been widely request from friends and family over the years. It is her go-to dessert when she wants to impress. And it’s no surprise, because it is amazing!

This past weekend, when I volunteered to bring a dessert to our friends Christmas party, I knew this cheesecake would be perfect!

Instead of using sugar cookie dough, like my mom, I used gingersnap cookie crumbs for the crust to make it a little more “Christmas-y”. I also added some spices to the batter to compliment the crust.

One new thing I tried was baking the cheesecake in a shallow pan with a little water. This is a trick I learned from Martha Stewart to prevent the cake from cracking on the top, like it is prone to do.

The result is an extra creamy, and a tad bit spicy, cheesecake. And a little bit goes a long way! One small slice is perfectly decadent, so an 8 to 9 inch pan can serve well over 10 people.

Unless you are serving a large crowd of cheesecake lovers, in which case, you may want to make 2.

What is your go-to recipe for the holidays?