August's Pre-Made Our Way...Soft Pretzels

I hopped on board for this month's Pre-Made Our Way hosted by the lovely Natalie of Oven Love. It is a great challenge....taking something you usually buy and make it yourself. I have made the PopTarts she had in one of her previous challenges so many times that I know the recipe by heart!! This month's challenge was Soft Pretzels. I have never made them before, and lately have been feeling like a Yeast Failure! But I rocked it! They turned out great! And the best part about making these......Jakob loved them! He has been a super picky monster these days so I was very happy to have made something that he would not only eat - but devour!

I could use some practice rolling the dough and braiding them into the perfect pretzel shape but I think for a first attempt that they are perfect!!

My different braiding techniques! LOL

The finished products....

Natalie has the recipe over on her blog Oven Love. Be sure to make these some time...they won't last long in your house!

Take Care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often

Fixation Friday.....Chocolate Cheesecake

Jason left today for NTC, a lovely training center in the middle of the Californian desert. He will be gone for the entire month of August and probably the first week of Sept. BOO! But before he left I wanted to make some yummy food for him. This week we have had Greek Steak with Orzo and Feta, Pad Thai, Chicken Pasta, a Lasagna kind of dish....and some sweets of course! I decided that he needed a treat, so I made him one of his favorite desserts - cheesecake....more

specifically Chocolate Cheesecake! I was scrounging through the cupboards for some oreo crumbs but couldn't find any (must have used them and don't remember!) so I used plain old graham crackers for the crust (my fav!) and of course used Dorie's recipe for her uber creamy cheesecake. I love making mini cheesecakes. The little four inch springforms that I bought months ago have been getting a lot of use! I love them. And Dorie's recipe is so easy to quarter and it makes two perfect little cheesecakes.

Here is the cutest slice of cheesecake ever...

For reference....the plate fits in the palm of my hand!!

Recipe.....

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking, From My Home to Yours

For the Crust

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar

2 Tbsp Butter (Melted)

Mix all the ingredients together until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. Divide the crumbs between two 4 inch springform pans that you have already buttered. Press the crumbs up the sides and evenly over the bottom. Wrap the pans in double layers of aluminum foil. Then put the pans in the freezer while your oven preheats to 350 F. Bake the crusts for about 8 minutes - keep an eye on them so they don't over bake. Set aside the crusts while you make the cheesecake batter.

For the Cheesecake Batter

1 four ounce box of cream cheese - at room temp.

1/3 c Sugar

1 tsp vanilla (I like a lot)

1 large egg

1/3 c sour cream or heavy cream (I like using sour cream for a bit of extra zip)

Beat the cream cheese for a couple of minutes in your stand mixer until soft and creamy. With the mixer running, add the sugar and continue to beat for a few more minutes. Beat in the vanilla. And then the egg. Let it get nice and aerated...makes for a light fluffy cheesecake. Then on low, blend in the sour cream or heavy cream.

To make it a chocolate cheesecake I melted 3 oz of semi sweet chocolate and added it to the batter after the sour cream.

Divide the batter between the two pans. Put the pans in a baking dish that is big enough to hold them both and then surround them with boiling water - up about half way up the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake at 350 F for about an hour. Turn off the oven and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon, leaving the cheesecakes in their water bath.

After the hour pull them out of the oven, remove the foil carefully, and let them come to room temperature on a cooling rack. When cooled to room temp, cover with wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours - the longer the better - the more the flavours meld.

Then.....eat them with someone you love!

So this Chocolate Cheesecake kills two birds with one stone - my two favs - in one amazing dish!

Make them, you will love them!

Take care,
Tania

Love Big, Bake Often

Taste and create - very very late

I cannot believe that I am so late with this. Well....actually I can. The deadline snuck up on me and then I had one hell of a weekend that provided me no time to be blogging. But all of that aside....here is my creation. I was paired up with Poor Nima's Tasty Treats. And I am quite bummed that I didn't make any of the Indian dishes on her blog. I saw Caramel Bread Pudding and I was hooked - it looked like the thick dense bread pudding that I love. So I made it. The caramel taste was very yummy, but the bread pudding didn't quite have the taste I was looking for.... :(

So I decided to make something else on her blog...and made the Penne in Cheese Sauce. Loved it! But have no pictures of it! We gobbled it up so fast when I remembered to take pictures it was way to late! I made it with wagon wheel pasta and asparagus. Jason LOVED it. We will be making that again for sure.

I have bookmarked several of her recipes to make in the future. Jason and I love Indian and since we don't get out on dates much making it at home will have to do!

Check out all the other match ups at Taste and Create!

Again, I am sorry for the lateness of this post - wont happen again!

Take Care,
Tania

Love Big, Bake Often

TWD - Vanilla Ice Cream

In the past couple of months I have made a few different ice creams, different bases, etc....and I have to say...I love a custard base ice cream. It is so rich and sticks to your tongue. It may be a bit more work, but it is so worth it. I didn't realize how easy it is to make ice cream without a maker - believe me, I wish I had one, and hope to get one soon - but you can make these delicious treats without one. Just check out how to here.

Dorie's Vanilla Ice Cream is yummy. She gives options of either using vanilla extract or a vanilla bean. GO WITH THE BEAN. Scrape out the seeds and boil the bean - get that flavour out. It makes a difference. Seeing all those little specks makes me smile too!

Be sure to check out the TWD blog roll and see what other's made with this week's recipe. And check out Lynne's blog, Cafe Lynnylu, for this week's recipe.

Take Care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often

Monkey Monday CAKE!

When I was living in CT and participating in weekly playgroups, I was always making something fun for the kids for snacks....this is one of the special cakes I made....it's a red velvet!

Take Care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often

Sundae Sunday.....Cherry Lime

I love Cherry and Lime together. Sonic does it right - they made a mean Cherry Limeade....but I don't get there often enough (which is probably a good thing!). I think it is a great combination.






So today when I was thinking about what to make to go with my TWD Vanilla Ice Cream, I looked in the fridge and found a lot of limes and some dark cherries. So when the fridge gives you limes, what do you do? You make Lime Curd! And I thought about mixing it directly into the vanilla ice cream but I wanted to keep it pure. And then with the cherries I decided to just chop them up and cook them into a sauce with some sugar and water....it is so dark and rich. I hope I please my Twitter friends who said they would like to see something with fruit!





When I served it up I decided to just pour the warmed cherries over the ice cream and dolloped the lime curd on the side. Delish. I have already posted Dorie's recipe for Lemon Curd, and just changed the juice to lime....you can find it here.

And you will not be getting the recipe for the Vanilla Ice Cream - though I know you want it! I mean, LOOK AT THOSE VANILLA SPECKS! It's for Tuesdays with Dorie this week and I will be sure to link you to the host with the recipe.

Take care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often

Fixation Friday

I use to think my life would be a constant search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe...but I think I may have found it, tweaked it, and perfected it. I am not quite ready to share the recipe with you all just yet...you are going to have to wait for it. I want to make them a couple more times before I decide if the recipe is perfect to my specs for the perfect chocolate chip cookie....nice and crispy buttery edges, a slight chewy center....and just the right amount of chocolate chips. I can't decide if I prefer them with semi-sweet or milk chocolate...I am SO torn on that dilemma .

Here is a pic of what I might think are the perfect chocolate chip cookies.

Tell me...what makes a perfect chocolate chip cookie for YOU? Chewy? Crispy? Buttery? Semi-Sweet? Bitter? Milk? White?

Hope you all had a great week....Happy Fixation Friday!

Take Care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often