Mini Cheesecakes

 

Here are some nice little Mini Cheesecakes, and I would be feeling a lot happier if I did not have to deal with the new ( to me) blogger format. However, I suppose I will become accustomed to it.

I found a recipe (slightly adapted) from the blog, "Pinch My Salt" and it is delightful - cute, delicious, pretty, not too fattening due to portion control - what more could one want in cheesecake!

One must use a mini cheesecake pan with removable discs - the one I have is by "Norpro''.

Crust:
1/2 cup each of ground Nilla Wafers and Animal Crackers
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/3 stick melted butter

Filling:
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 C. sour cream
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/3 C. sugar
finely grated zest of one orange

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place crust ingredients in food processor and spin until mixture is finely crumbed and butter is absorbed. Press crumb mixture on bottom and slightly up the sides of each cheesecake pan cup. Use tart tamper to press down mixture firmly. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or even overnight.
3. Divide crumb mixture evenly between the 12 cups of your mini-cheesecake pan. Using your fingers or the back of a tablespoon, press crumbs firmly onto the bottom and partially up the sides of each cup. Use tart tamper to settle the crumb mix in each cheesecake hole and place in refrigerator for a couple of hours or even overnight.
4. Combine sugar and orange zest in a food processor and process until orange zest has been incorporated and sugar is fine.
5. Using an electric mixer, blend softened cream cheese, sour cream, egg, and orange sugar together in a medium bowl.
6. Spoon cream cheese mixture into the twelve cups, trying to divide the mixture as evenly as possible.
7. Bake for 18  minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.
8. Remove from oven and place on rack to cool for 20 minutes then carefully remove cheesecakes from pan and let cool completely on rack.
9. Put cheesecakes in refrigerator and chill until ready to use.

One taster's comment: ''Absolutely delicious!'' Now I cannot wait to try a chocolate mini cheesecake recipe.

 

White Chocolate Crunchy Squares

Another huge success at the Office. They are actually Blondies from the Joy of Baking. The recipe suggested to bake them for 25-30 minutes - I chose the 30 minutes and they came out a teeny bit dry, but nevertheless delicious.  Around 27 minutes should do the trick in my oven.

I have also found that lining my doughty 8-inch square Magic Line baking pan with foil prevents drying out at the edges; I was feeling a bit lazy and took a short cut, simply spraying Bakers' Joy on the inside of the pan. Probably any kind of blondie/brownie/square would benefit from a lining of foil.

Here is the recipe:

Blondies
3/4 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt (or a bit less)
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 large egg
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3.5 oz. bar of Lindt white eating chocolate, coarsely chopped into chips

Oven must be at 350 degrees F, rack in center. Prepare 8x8 pan with foil and Baker's Joy as described above.
Place pecans on baking sheet and toast for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool and chop into coarse pieces.
Melt butter in saucepan; remove from heat, let cool to room temperature.
In bowl whisk flour, salt and baking soda.
In mixer bowl, beat egg and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in vanilla and melted butter.
Scrape sides of bowl and add in flour mixture until just incorporated.
Add in pecans and chocolate.
Pour batter into pan and bake until top is dry, golden brown and a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs. (25-30 mins.)
Remove pan from oven and place on wire rack. Holding sides of foil, remove whole 8 inch square from pan and place on wire rack to cool completely.
Cut into squares. Store, covered, for 2-3 days or freeze for longer time.

Makes 16 blondies.

Coconut Pound Cake

This is a marvellous coconut cake! One of my favorite blogs is "The Goddess's Kitchen," written by a blogger in the U.K. Check out the recipe at http://thegoddesskitchen.blogspot.com/ The cake has a nice, firm consistency yet is lighter than a regular pound cake and uses dessicated coconut, not that sticky, gooey manufactured stuff that is usually dumped in coconut cakes. It baked up beautifully - I used a 7-inch square pan, with 3-inch high sides (could not find my loaf pan); it turned out to be a perfect fit and the cake baked in an hour. The group at work really enjoyed it - a nice cake for a hot day, sprinkled with confectioners' sugar. I am planning to use this recipe again for a wedding cake and for petit fours.

Battenberg Cake - Daring Bakers' June Challenge

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

This is a marvellous cake! I could not resist having 2 slices and most of my group at work absolutely loved it.

I used the traditional pink and yellow coloring with marzipan covering. I also used a Battenberg Cake pan that I bought at Fantes. It is an Alan Silverwood pan made in Britain and I just love it. I now have ideas of making petit four logs using this pan and, of course, a chocolate and pistachio Battenberg combination for the Holiday season this year.

For criss-cross impressions on top I used a cookie cooling tray; they show up ever so slighty on the right side of my picture.

Absolutely a make-again treat!

Meringue Nests with Strawberries and Cream-

Absolutely delicious! A real treat! Recipe from Delia Smith, to follow.

Apple Crumble Slice

A very delicious Apple Crumble Slice recipe from Carole Walter's "Great Cookies." I used a combination of Granny Smith and Yellow Delicious Apples. I might make the crumble crust more buttery next time but it was a great success at work anyway.