This and that: Cheesecake

Showing posts with label Cheesecake. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2015

Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake {No Bake}

Did you know that October is National Dessert Month? I think every month should be Dessert Month... and cheesecake is my favorite dessert. I could eat cheesecake everyday... baked, no-baked, any kind of baked cheesecake. I love cheesecake and this recipe is heavenly.

Cheesecake Brownies with Espresso Ganache

Cheesecake, brownies with espresso ganache a wonderful combination and everything you want in a bar. These bars are perfect to make for a gathering or just to eat yourself... A little secret they are even so yummy right out of the freezer ~ that is if you can get them into the freezer.

Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cheesecake Bars

Last week I decided to do some baking for Easter. I had some Meyer Lemons and I had wanted to make some Lemon Shortbread cookies. If any of you follow my blog or facebook page on a regular basis, you know that I don't always read recipes and just pick what I want out of a recipe and make up the rest.

Well, to make a long story short this is what my dough looked like:

Not really the dough I had in mind when I was starting out my cookies.

I did finally get my cookies made and the recipe is here,

but my dilemma was 'What was I going to do with all the crumbs?'

So I did what any sane person would do.... I went to facebook and asked my followers...

Here are some of the suggestions I got:

Pie crust with added coconut oil... yum I am going to try that

Topping for a fruit crisp dessert... Yes, for sure with the lemon in the dough...

Using for a crustless quiche

and lastly CHEESECAKE..

SHORTBREAD, LEMON FILLING, CHEESECAKE!

Sounds like a winning combination for me and it was...

So YUMMY!

Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cheesecake Bars

adapted Cheesecake Lemon Bars

Bottom Layer Shortbread Crust:

I used my Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cookie recipe with only 1/2 cup margarine. This made close to 3 times the amount you really would need.

You could use any shortbread crust recipe.

Lemon Filling (Middle Layer):

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 cup lemon juice

Cream Cheese Layer (Top Layer):

2 - 8oz cream cheese

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs (beaten)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In 9 x 13 pan press shortbread crust on bottom and sides of pan. Bake for approx 10 - 15 minutes until lightly brown. Set aside to cool.

In mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, white sugar, flour, lemon juice and zest. Pour this mixture over crust.

Mix cream cheese and sugar until well mixed. Add beaten eggs. Pour over lemon mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes until filling is set.

***These mixtures will separate once baked. I was surprised that they did.

***I used a water bath to make mine. I placed a pan filled half full of water on the rack below the bars.

*** next time I would add just a small amount more of shortbread crust. I added about 2 cups of the mixture I had, so would probably increase it to 3.

Enjoy ~ I added some canned cherry pie filling on top.

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Marlys

(¯`✻´¯)
`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻ Enjoy your day....`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻

Links: Swap and Share, Thursday's Treasure, Food Holiday Link Party

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Nanaimo Bar Cheesecake

Nanaimo Bars are pure Canadian... and probably one of my favorite Canadian treats, after butter tarts that is...but Butter Tarts will have to be done for another post...
Per wikipedia Nanaimo Bars is a Canadian origin dessert popular throughout North America. It is a bar cookie that needs no baking and is named after a west coast city, Nanaimo, British Colombia. The nanaimo bar is a wafer crumb layer, topped with a vanilla or custard flavoured butter icing, covered with a chocolate layer. Now-a-days you can find many different flavors of Nanaimo Bars - mint, peanut butter and mocha being the most common... Also the flavoured butter icing filling can be coloured any colour for any occasion.
Saying all that I decided that I wanted to make them into cheesecake. I love cheesecake and the combination would be wonderful and also because I didn't have Bird's custard powder and had no idea where I would find it here in upper Michigan.... I did some research. I did find a recipe for the Nanaimo Bar Cheesecake on allrecipes.com ~ (you can go here to find the original recipe), but this recipe didn't have the right base that I wanted, so I started through my recipe books and found what I wanted.... So, once again my recipe is a mismatch of multiple recipes from multiple sites. Now, what do I use for the bird's custard powder... there wasn't alot out there for a substitute ~~ corn starch and vanilla, vanilla pudding and other places and cooks said there was no replacement. So I decided to try vanilla pudding ~~ it was ok but not the best and I know now what will be on my Canadian shopping list - Bird's Custard Pudding... or if anyone wants to send me some... hint! hint! hint! I did find it on Amazon but am thinking that this may be a good excuse for me to make a trip home. So, now that you are total bored here is my recipe....

Nanaimo Bar Cheesecake

Nanaimo Bar Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter
1/4 c sugar
5 tbsp cocoa powder ( I used Fry's cocoa so it was more Canadian)
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 c graham cracker crumbs
1 c shredded coconut
1/2 c walnuts ( I didn't use this time)

4 pkg cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/4 c custard powder ( I used vanilla pudding ~ not instant)
4 eggs

6 squares semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 c heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Melt butter in saucepan, stir in sugar and cocoa powder until smooth. Once smooth, whisk in egg and vanilla extract. Make sure the butter mixture isn't too hot when you put in the egg or you will get pieces of scrambled egg in you mixture. Take off heat and add graham cracker crumbs, coconut and walnuts. Place mixture on bottom of pan. Put in fridge while you make the rest of the middle layer. I used a 11 inch spring-form pan for mine.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and custard powder until light and fluffy. Then beat in eggs, one egg at a time. Make sure each egg is thoroughly mixed in before adding the next. Pour over crumb base mixture. Bake for 40 minutes (until center is almost set). Refrigerate until fully chilled about 3 hours ( I did mine overnight).
Place chocolate squares and heavy cream in sauce pan and mix on low heat until smooth and chocolate melted. Pour over cheesecake layer.... Place bake in fridge until chocolate layer is set, about 20 -30 minutes.

mixing butter,sugar and cocoa

crumb layer in pan

mixing cream cheese, sugar and vanilla pudding

ready to go in the oven

out of the oven

chocolate layer on

a piece for you

This cake turned out wonderfully and I got lots of compliments on it. I think it would even turn out better if I would have had Bird's Custard Powder to put in it... One lady told me that this is the best thing that I have ever made..So come and get some, I will have it ready and the coffee pot is always on...