Light New York Cheesecake

Week 4

This week's host was Talesha she choose Light New York Cheesecake. Recipe on page 504-506 of our book.

 

My excitement to make cheesecake was on the horizon. One, because I have never even thought to attempt it and two, I thought it was a restaurant only recipe because I've never had a homemade cheesecake before. I was also happy to have Jen do the research and shopping for me on the odd ingredient, (yogurt cheese). By the time I was ready to bake the cake all my questions were answered. Ya! 

Time to bake. . .

It took a long to finish the cheese cake, from start to finish, but in the end it was worth it. I used my bender instead of a food processor for obvious reasons. (Don't have a food processor.)

 It worked GREAT! The process was pretty simple, which surprised me because the recipe took a long time. When it came time to bake I was a little nervous. Only because I didn't have a thermometer, which the recipe called for. As you can see (picture above) it came out a little dark around the edges. This result didn't seem to change the taste. 

Now time for the sauce! I choose Raspberry Sauce on page 514 (great for beginners). I choose to replace the Raspberry's with Strawberry's. They were right about this recipe, the sauce was so simple to make. The only thing they could of done was given more guidance on how much sugar should be in the sauce for a general sweetness idea. I have a thing about testing things when cooking so my two year old daughter tested the sauce. When she said it was sweet enough, I believed her. Other then that it was great! 

The tartness of the strawberry sauce and strawberry's were the perfect balance in this sweet but delicious cheesecake. Like the Boston Cream Muffins it is very rich and sweet and can only be handled in small portions. I guess that is the way most deserts should be, eh!

I served the cheesecake to our really good friends on Friday night. As you can see they enjoyed it. I tend to use them to test my food when I bake or cook new things. I am thankful they are such good sports.

A Tip & A Question:

1. Do not leave cheesecake out of refrigerator 30 minutes prior to eating unless you want lukewarm cheesecake.
2. How do restaurants get their cheesecake to be a perfect cream color on the top? (really nice oven, maybe)

Boston Cream Cupcakes

Week 3

This week's host was Amanda she choose Boston Cream Cupcakes. Recipe on page 246 of our book.

For some reason I am usually skeptical or intimidated of every week's recipe. It is three weeks into our baking and I have loved every recipe so far. This means our online baking club is really good for me because it gets me out of my baking comfort zone. This week, needless to say, I was not excited about the boston cream cupcakes. My experience with "boston cream" has only been with boston cream donuts. I am not a fan. At this stage in the picture above I was happy with just the cupcake. . .

They look beautiful and tasted wonderful! I thought the book gave great step by step directions for this recipe. It made it easy for me to follow. Although, with so many steps and different parts to the recipe it took a long time to complete the entire cupcake. I will make them again but not if I am feeling lazy or in a time crunch. I was also surprised that I had a perfect amount of cream and chocolate. No leftovers and enough to cover and fill every one. I even made 14 muffins instead of 12. That's the way I like my baking to go! Along those lines I have to make one comment about discarding the bottom half of the cone when you cut into the cupcake to fill it with the cream, not a fan. I don't know what you would do with the leftovers other then eat them though. They were defiantly a treat because we couldn't eat more then one at a time. My husband took some over to his parents and brother and they were gone in 10 minutes. I amuse that means they were yummy. This yummy teat was enough to have in the house at once so we decided to use them as my birthday cake.

We had sick kids all weekend so you will have to excuse my beauty. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

(January 11)

P.S. Don't you love our makeshift nine? LOL

A Tip & A Question:

1. Not sure. . .they are really good chilled.
2. Why did they still stick to the pan when I greased and floured it? (My guess is I own crappy muffin tins)

Bran Muffins

Week 2

This week's host was Valerie she choose Bran Muffins. Recipe on page 40 of our book. 

To be honest, I am surprised that a lot of us were intimidated and not excited about this recipe. We love bran muffins in our home. It is a great way to get fiber in your diet while still enjoying the moist fluffiness of a muffin. In this case I was nervous to try a new recipe because some bran muffins turn out pretty awful tasting. We have ours that we stick to and love. A couple of things I changed was using vanilla yogurt instead of plain and leaving out the raisins because I am not a big fan of raisins in baked goods.

I am thrilled to say how happy my kids and I were with this recipe. It was just as good or even better then the recipe I usually use. My little girl kept saying hmm hmm as she ate them. It was so cute.

A Tip & A Question: 

1. Spread muffins with butter and dip in real maple syrup or spread jam on top! 
2. Could you use natural bran instead of the cereal?

Simple Cheese Quiche

Week 1

This week's host was Clare. I am glad she was first in line. She choose Quiche on pages 72-74. I baked the Simple Cheese Quiche on page 72 using the pie crust on page 362.

This choice was intimidating to me because I have never made a pie crust before or Quiche. Now that I am finished my comments are very positive. The pie crust turned out amazing. Hmm so good! It was a long process to make a pie crust. Luckily I left a lot of time for myself. Other then time it wasn't to difficult. Making a perfect circle with the dough was most challenging for me. The Quiche was simple to put together and makes a great meal anytime of day. If my husband was a Quiche fan I would make it again. I decided to serve my first dish to my company New Years Eve. It was a hit! I thought the help would be needed in eating it but my son and I finished it off the next day, no problem.

A Tip & A Question:

1. Don't tuck pie crust under pie plate rim. It makes it to hard to serve. 
2. How do you get the spices to not clump together? (See picture)

Baking Book

This is the book I will be baking from. There will only be certain weeks that I post the recipe. If you would like to keep up with other recipes you can buy the book HERE.

WISH ME LUCK!