The Bakers Daughter: Polka dot cheesecake I saw someone wearing the greatest polka dot rain coat today and it inspired me to make this cheesecake. It needs to be refrigerated overnight so make sure you make it the day before you want to serve it. I find that popping it into the freezer for about 1/2 hour makes it a lot easier to cut. Using a knife dipped in hot water between cuts also helps to make clean edges. If you want to make this into a traditional cheesecake you will need an 8 inch spring form pan. Crust 1 cup Graham crumbs 2 tbsp sugar ¼ cup melted butter Filling 16 oz softened cream cheese ½ cup sugar 2 eggs 2 oz dark chocolate, melted 1 tsp vanilla 2/3 cup sour cream Directions Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease a 7 X 7 inch square pan and line it with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the graham crumbs, sugar, cocoa, and melted butter and press into the pan. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Pour the plain batter into the pan, smoothing out to the edges. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour.
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe - Recipe for The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies These cookies are incredible! They are definitely the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. They are from Everything Meals for a Month, my first cookbook. Because the best chocolate chip cookies bake at a lower temperature than ordinary chocolate chip cookies, they have a very even texture and crispness. If you store them in an airtight container, they become tender and chewy. Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 14 minutes Total Time: 39 minutes Yield: Makes about 48 cookies Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened1-1/2 cups brown sugar1/2 cup sugar1 tablespoon vanilla2 eggs1 egg yolk1/2 cup oatmeal1/2 cup white chocolate chips2-1/4 cups flour1 teaspoon baking soda2 cups semisweet chocolate chips1 cup milk chocolate chips1 cup chopped salted cashews, if desired Preparation: In large bowl, combine butter, brown sugar and sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy. In blender or food processor, combine oatmeal and white chocolate chips. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Fun Summer Dessert: Watermelon Pie One of my summertime childhood memories is eating the yummy watermelon sherbet dessert at Friendly’s restaurant. I loved it, so I decided to try to replicate this dessert for my own kids’ summertime memories! I made some “watermelon pie” for our 4th of July feast this year…to great success! My 4-year-old daughter loved it – like mother, like daughter! The best part…watermelon pie was super simple to make! Ingredients: - Lime Sherbet - Vanilla ice cream or Pineapple sherbet - Red/Pink-colored sherbet…I couldn’t find this, so I bought Raspberry/Pineapple/Orange swirl sherbet, mixed it up with red food coloring and it was perfect! Directions:1. A funny tip…I served the watermelon pie on paper plates, but wanted to take a nice picture for this post, so I put my own slice on a real dish. Jane Maynard, writer and founder of This Week for Dinner, is a wife, mother to two beautiful girls and freelance graphic designer. Tagged as: pie Written by Jane Maynard
Frosting Basics A couple weeks ago I had a reader write in and request a recipe for a slightly less sweet butter cream frosting recipe. She had used some of our cupcake mixology recipes and she said they were great but she wondered if there was a way to make frosting that wasn't quite so sweet. And this got me thinking that perhaps it could be fun to share some of my favorite basic frosting recipes. Cream Cheese frosting, makes 3-4 cups (enough for a dozen cupcakes). Needed: two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, 1/4 cup (half a stick) of butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 3-4 cups powder sugar. You need the cream cheese and butter to be slightly softened, so you can either leave it out on the counter for a few hours or nuke it in the microwave for 20 seconds. Chocolate Butter cream frosting, makes around 3 cups (enough for a dozen cupcakes) Needed: 2 cups (4 sticks) softened butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 3-4 tablespoons cocoa (dutch processed is what I usually use) 3-4 cups powder sugar.