Neapolitan Cheesecake

Summer vacation comes to an end..

For the Chocolate Crumb Crust

Vanilla Wafer Crumbs (about 45 wafers)
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/3 cup melted butter

For Cheesecake Filling

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen strawberries, thawed, drained
3 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
3 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. flour, divided
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. red food color (optional)


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. For the chocolate crumb crust, in a small bowl, stir together 1-1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (about 45 wafers), confectioners' sugar and cocoa; stir in melted butter. Press mixture firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 8 minutes; cool slightly.

3. In blender container or food processor, puree strawberries to yield 1/2 cup; set aside.

4. In large bowl, beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, sour cream, 3 tbsps flour, vanilla, 1 tsp. vanilla bean and salt; beat until smooth.

5. In separate bowl, stir together 1-1/3 cups cheese mixture, strawberries, remaining 1 teaspoon flour and food color, if desired.

6Carefully spoon 2 cups vanilla batter over prepared crust. Pour strawberry batter over vanilla batter; smooth surface.

7. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees; continue baking 55 to 60 minutes or until center of cheesecake is almost set. Remove from oven to wire rack. Cool 30 minutes. With knife, loosen cake from side of pan. Cool completely; remove side of pan. Refrigerate several hours before serving.

Makes 10 to 12 servings

Cheesecake Pops

Once again, this months Daring Bakers Challenge is here. To be completely honest, I was hoping for something more... Well, challenging. This months challenge was to make Cheesecake Pops. I don't know if it were just me, but it seemed way to easy. Nonetheless, I still was looking forward to making these. They seemed interesting and I'd never made them before. So I was still all for trying something I'd never made.

The recipe was pretty simple. However, the baking time... It said for 35-45 minutes, but, for me, it took almost an hour. That was probably the only thing that I'd had trouble with. The time. When it came to coating them, I first coated one completely with chocolate. I didn't like it. The chocolate over powered the taste of the cheesecake. You couldn't really taste the cheesecake because the chocolate was over powering it. So, instead of coating it completely with chocolate, I drizzled it. Much better in my opinion.

It was an o.k. pop in my opinion. My taste buds don't necessarily like the taste of just plain cheesecake. I'd want some more flavor in it. I'd probably would had liked it more that way. Nonetheless, it was still a good pop.

Recipe

5 packages (8-oz. ) cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed

30-40 lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped
2 tbsp. vegetable shortening

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)


1. Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

3. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

4. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

5. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

6. When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate in the top of a double boiler, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth.

7. Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening as needed.

8. Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Tropical Coconut Cheesecake

Easter has come! Yes! Easter is always so fun; For me and my family at least. Even now, I still go easter egg hunting. Makes me feel like a little kid again. Plus, I do it for my little brother. I mean, he's still younger than me. But as I grow up and get older, my parents kind of stop doing the things they did for me as a kid for my brother. Because they've already done it. So it forces my little brother to grow up faster. And I don't want that. I want him to have fun as a little kid like I did. Plus, I'm still a kid inside. I still love doing these kind of things.

For Easter, we usually go to a brunch at a restaurant called Dubsdread. This is the only time they actually do a brunch, and it's always packed! You have to make reservations a month in advance just so you can have a table! But we always make sure to do such. They're food really good to. There's so much to choose from. This year, my boyfriend got to come with us for the first time. He loves buffets (which he shouldn't!!), so he was in heaven we he saw all what they had. It was fun with just the 5 of us, my mom, dad, brother and Chris. But, then we had to go see the ENTIRE family after words.

We went over to my aunts house to see everyone; And I mean everyone. Had to of been 100 people in that house. We're a big family here. Which, I like my big family :]. After going to my aunts, we head back home to have dinner with my grandparents (on my fathers side). And they love it when my mom cooks and I bake. They'll eat everything to. They're big eaters. I decided to make a cheesecake for them. I know my Nana loves cheesecake, and my grandfather, well, he'll eat anything really. With all the sugar he eats, you'd never know he was actually diabetic!! But he's started to get his sugar intake under control.

After a long day, it was great to get to sit down, with your close family, and have a slice of a delicious cheesecake. I even gave the cheesecake a light pink color to it for the holiday. It was so cute; And it was so good. And everyone loved it, which was what I was hoping for. Everything turned out great.

Recipe

Coconut Cake Base

2 eggs
2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 (18-ounce) jar pineapple ice cream topping, divided

Cream Cheese Filling

24 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 (8.5-ounce) can cream of coconut
4 eggs
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 tablespoon rum

Garnish

1/2 cup toasted sweetened coconut


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom of a 10-inch spring form pan.

2. Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, coconut, baking powder and flour in a medium bowl and spread in the bottom of the pan. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly. Spread with 1/2 of the pineapple topping, reserving remaining topping for use later in the recipe.

3. Place cream cheese in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Beat on low speed until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until combined. Add the cream of coconut, and beat again. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until well incorporated. Add the rum and coconut and beat until just combined. Pour over prepared base and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven and cool at room temperature for 1 hour. Place the remaining 1/2 cup of sweetened coconut in a glass pie plate and toast in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until it becomes golden. Sprinkle the toasted coconut around the outside of the cheesecake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 12 to 16 servings

Caramel Toffee Cheesecake

To be completely honest, I have yet to have ever made a cheesecake. Cheesecake is a very rich dessert and I don't have it very often, but, when I do have it, when I bite in to that creamy, decadent texture that cheesecake has; I'm in heaven. I don't even know if words can necessarily describe just how delicious a cheesecake is.

I remember the first cheesecake I ever had was a Caramel Cheesecake. I believe I was at the Cheesecake Factory when I had it and I was about 8 years old. I think they may have put a bit to much sugar because I was jumping off the way after I had and was a bit wee hyper. My parents weren't to happy with how hyper I became. But, I do remember that it was so, so, so, sooo good though.

So, remember how delicious the Caramel Cheesecake was, I wanted to make something like that. But, instead, I added toffee chips, which I found was a great addition to the cheesecake. And in the end, my first cheesecake came out so, so good. Better than the Cheesecake Factory's I must say. Though, I think anything homemade is always better than one that you eat out from.

Recipe

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

2 lbs. cream cheese
2 cups sugar
2 tbsp. flour
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup toffee pieces

1 cup sugar
6 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream



Cheesecake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. For the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, 2 tbsp. of sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 10 inch spring form pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes and set aside.

3. For the filling, mix the cream cheese and sugar with a paddle attachment on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Add in the flour on low speed. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides and the bottom after each egg. Add the egg yolks and vanilla. Fold in toffee pieces.

4. Pour the filling into the prepared pan. Wrap aluminum foil around the outside of the pan and bake in a water batch for approximately 1 1/2 hours. A knife inserted should come out clean when cake is done. Chill cake overnight and then top when caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce

1. Heat sugar on high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2 quart sauce pan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir constantly with a whisk. As soon as the sugar crystals begin to melt (should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Continue to whisk until butter has melted.

2. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in pan for a few minutes