Mini Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

Firstly, I'm going to have to start off another post with an apology. I know it's been a long time since I've posted and hopefully I'm going to be able to catch up on posts in the near future. To be honest, though, I haven't been cooking as much as I usually do. Well, when it comes to things I can blog about anyway. This has been for a couple of reasons, but the main two are that I'm saving up for an overseas trip at the end of the year (New York!!) plus I've been trying to eat healthier meals and less snacks. So you can see why I haven't had many things I could blog about! But, I'm not going to let this stop me from blogging. My plan is to share some more budget friendly meal options and less of the usual treats you might have become used to seeing. Well apart from today's post, as you can see!
These cheesecakes were a great last minute recipe for a BBQ I was invited to. They were super easy to make and turned out beautifully (thanks Martha!). My sister didn't need to be asked twice when I offered to leave the 6 leftover cheesecakes for her and her partner to eat. I made it a little more affordable by halving the recipe - there was only 9 of us at the BBQ, so the full recipe for 30 cheesecakes (plus the lemon meringue pie my Mum made) would have been a little over the top!
Ingredients: (for the full recipe)
42 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
900g (2 pounds) cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 135C (275F). Line muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-filled cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, about 22 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate (still in tins) at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Recipe Source:
Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Recipe for 'Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes'

Mini Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes Ingredients: (for the full recipe) 42 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped 900g (2 pounds) cream cheese 1 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 4 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup sour cream Pinch of salt Method: 1. Preheat oven to 135C (275F). Line muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup. 2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla. 3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand. 4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-filled cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, about 22 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate (still in tins) at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Australia Day

Australia Day is coming up on the 26th of January and I've already started thinking about what I want to make for it. The main reason being, it's actually my beautiful nephew Lenny's 1st birthday that day. Which of course means an Australian themed BBQ party! I've found so many recipes that I want to try but I've been able to narrow it down a bit to the following sweet treats. Aren't they just so clever and cute?! I'll post the recipes once I've made them and let you know how they went.

Caramel Laminton from Not Quite Nigella

 Koala Cupcakes from Blempgorf

Echidna Cupcakes from Yahoo Food



Baked Caramel Cheesecake with a Ginger-Pecan Crust

This was the other treat that I made for Christmas Day. It's a well loved recipe in my family and my Mum gets asked to make it all the time! I've never made it before, but when we were deciding who would make what for Christmas my sisters (practically begged) asked me to make it. I decided to mix things up a little by swapping the simple chocolate biscuit and butter crust for the lovely ginger pecan crust from this Pumpkin Cheesecake. And it really did work!

Ingredients:

Crust Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/8 cup pecans
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup cold butter
1 tbsp cold water

Filling Ingredients:
500g cream cheese
2 eggs
200g caramel jerseys
1 tbsp water
2/3 cup cream

125g dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Add the flour, brown sugar, salt, pecans and ginger to a food processor and blend until fine crumbs form.

Cut your cold butter into cubes and add to the food processor. Blend until crumbs form. Add the water and blend until the mixture comes together in clumps as a dough. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of a prepared spring form pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely. Reduce your oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
To prepare the filling - mix the cream cheese in a mixer with a paddle beater until creamy. Add eggs and mix until combined.

Using a double saucepan melt the jersey caramels with 1 tbsp water.

Let the caramel cool a little before adding the cream and stirring. Add the caramel to the cream cheese and mix until combined. Pour the mixture over the base and cook for 50 minutes or until the middle of the cheesecake is set.

Remove cheesecake from the oven and allow to cool completely. Then over a double saucepan melt your dark chocolate. Once melted pour and spread the chocolate over the top of the cheesecake. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set.

Baked Caramel Cheesecake with Ginger Pecan Crust Crust Ingredients: 1 cup plain flour 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/8 cup pecans 1/4 tsp ground ginger 1/2 cup cold butter 1 tbsp cold water Filling Ingredients: 500g cream cheese 2 eggs 200g caramel jerseys 1 tbsp water 2/3 cup cream 125g dark chocolate Method: 1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Add flour, brown sugar, salt, pecans and ginger to a food processor and blend until the pecans are finely ground. Add cold butter and process until crumbs form. Add 1tbsp water and process in bursts until the dough starts to come together to form clumps. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of your prepared pan. 2. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely and reduce oven temperature to 160 degrees. 3. To prepare the filling, first add the cream cheese to the bowl of your mixer with a paddle beater, and mix until creamy. Add the eggs and mix further until combined. 4. Over a double saucepan melt the caramel jerseys with 1tbsp of water. Let the caramel cool a little before stirring in the cream. Add the caramel to the cream cheese and mix until combined. Pour the mixture over the crust and cook for 50 minutes, or until the middle of the cheesecake is set. 5. Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. 6. In a double saucepan, melt the dark chocolate and pour over the top of the cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set.

Individual Meringues with Lime Cream and Blueberries

Usually at Christmas I have free reign of what I cook, and I usually try to make something a little different, that my family might not have tried before. One year I baked a pumpkin pie, which for a lot of people out there is a regular addition to the Christmas or Thanksgiving feast, but for my family was the first time they'd tried pumpkin in a dessert form. Last year I cooked my first turkey which was a challenge for me, and also the first time my family had had a proper turkey (and not just the breast) served up at the dinner table. This year, though, my sister asked me to make a caramel cheesecake and some mini meringues with cream. I was more than happy to make both - I'd never actually made either before - but still didn't think either was that different, especially the meringues. So when I found this recipe for meringues with lime cream I jumped at the chance to make my meringues that little bit different and a little more special for Christmas. The addition of the lime curd to the cream made for a decadent treat, that was not only popular at our Christmas, but that would make a fantastic dessert for over the summer months.

Ingredients:

Individual meringue cups - I used premade ones

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup caster sugar

6 tbsp lime juice

60g unsalted butter, cut into small squares

1 tsp grated lime zest

1 cup heavy cream

1. Set a sieve over a bowl and set aside. In a medium sized saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until blended. Stir in the lime juice and butter, and cook over medium heat, whisking consistantly, until the mixture turns opaque and thickens enough to leave a path on the back of a wooden spoon when you draw your finger across it. 

2. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately strain the custard through the sieve, pressing it through with a rubber spatula. 

3. Stir in the lime zest. Set the mixture aside while you whip the cream. Or, if you're not ready to serve the meringues, refrigerate the mixture, covered, until ready to use.

4. Shortly before serving, in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream until medium-firm peaks form. Place the bowl of whipped cream in the refrigerator. 

5. If the lime mixture has not been refrigerated, set the bowl containing the lime mixture in a large bowl filled about one third of the way with ice water. Stir the mixture frequently until it is slightly cooler than room temperature, about 10 minutes.

6. Fold a large spoonful of the whipped cream into the lime base to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining cream.

7. Spoon the lime cream into the meringue cups, dividing it evenly. Top each meringue with berries of your choice (I used blueberries).

Recipe Source:

Cookstr's recipe for

Individual Meringue Cups with Lime Cream and Fresh Berries

Individual Meringue Cups with Lime Cream and Blueberries Ingredients: Individual meringue cups - I used premade ones 4 large egg yolks 1/2 cup caster sugar 6 tbsp lime juice 60g unsalted butter, cut into small squares 1 tsp grated lime zest 1 cup heavy cream Method: 1. Set a sieve over a bowl and set aside. In a medium sized saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until blended. Stir in the lime juice and butter, and cook over medium heat, whisking consistantly, until the mixture turns opaque and thickens enough to leave a path on the back of a wooden spoon when you draw your finger across it.  2. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately strain the custard through the sieve, pressing it through with a rubber spatula.  3. Stir in the lime zest. Set the mixture aside while you whip the cream. Or, if you're not ready to serve the meringues, refrigerate the mixture, covered, until ready to use. 4. Shortly before serving, in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream until medium-firm peaks form. Place the bowl of whipped cream in the refrigerator.  5. If the lime mixture has not been refrigerated, set the bowl containing the lime mixture in a large bowl filled about one third of the way with ice water. Stir the mixture frequently until it is slightly cooler than room temperature, about 10 minutes. 6. Fold a large spoonful of the whipped cream into the lime base to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining cream. 7. Spoon the lime cream into the meringue cups, dividing it evenly. Top each meringue with berries of your choice (I used blueberries).

Chocolate covered pretzels

Over the past few years it's become a Christmas tradition for all of the family to head up to my sister's house and, with some of my sister and brother in law's friends watch the Carols on TV together. It's always a great way to start the Christmas celebrations off - although I'm sure having to hear me sing (or attempt to) slightly ruins it for everyone else ;)
To make it easier on my sister we always bring a dish along each, whether it's sweet or savoury. This year I decided to make some chocolate covered pretzels. I've made these milk and white covered pretzel sticks in the past and they were a hit - but after seeing these beautiful rounder pretzels on Sweet Verbena I had to give them a try. It's a very simple treat to make, although a little time consuming but if you have a movie or something playing in the background time tends to go much quicker. The pretzels would also make a really nice gift, just fill up a jar, tie a nice ribbon around the lid and add a label or gift tag.

I dipped my pretzels in both white and milk chocolate and also added some sprinkles to some.
All you have to do is melt your chocolate over the stove with a spoonful of crisco. Once it's melted dip your pretzel into the chocolate, pick up with a fork and tap on the side of the bowl to remove any excess and then sit the pretzel on a baking tray covered with baking paper, or on a wire cooling rack until the chocolate is set. If you want to add sprinkles make sure you do it as the chocolate is drying.

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Edible Gifts - Cowgirl Cookie Jar Mix

Can you believe there's only a week to go til Christmas?! It's really snuck up on me this year and I feel so disorganised. I only put the Christmas tree up last week, my cards were posted on Friday and I've barely started my Christmas shopping. My family does KK each year so we each get something big that we really want. That means that my sisters and I don't give each other presents (unless we've drawn each other for KK) but this year I decided to surprise them with a little gift each. This jarred cookie mix, that I found on Bakerella, was perfect, it was an affordable gift, but still very effective with the layers of dry ingredients in the jar. Plus home made gifts are always that little bit more meaningful. (BTW, please forgive the date stamp on the photos - I was using someone else's camera and didn't realise that setting was on).

I found these M&Ms that have been released for Christmas so I thought these would be perfect for my jars. My sisters all absolutely love white chocolate too, so I thought I'd add a few of those along with the milk choc chips.

Bakerella even created some printable labels that I used. On the back there's another label with the directions (US temperatures and measurements). I had a little trouble with these, I'm not sure if it was the round labels or the curve of the jars but I just couldn't get them to stick without having at least one crease in the label. Plus, as you can see I decided against having fabric over the lid. I had wanted to put some red or green fabric there but it didn't really go with the pink label, plus with the jars I got the lid was a bit awkwardly shaped.

This is my beautiful nephew Lenny - do you think he was impressed? :)
Ingredients (makes one 1 litre jar)
Layer your ingredients in your jars in the following order (and make sure you pack the ingredients in really tight - otherwise they won't all fit):
1 1/3 cup plain flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup M&Ms
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Method:
1. Empty your jar of dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together.
2. Add 1 slightly beaten egg, 1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave) and 1 tsp vanilla and mix together - you might have to get your hands dirty for this (don't put them in your mixer like I did before I'd read the instructions properly - this apparently breaks up the M&Ms which makes the colour bleed a little - duh!)

3. Roll your dough into balls and place on a baking paper covered baking tray for about 10 minutes in a 180 C oven. 

These cookies are great because you can make them specific to whichever holiday you are celebrating at the time. Bakerella added pink M&Ms in hers, so you can really add whichever colours you like. 

Recipe Source:

Bakerella's 

Cowgirl Cookie Jar Mix

Cowgirl Cookie Jar Mix In a 1 litre jar layer the dry ingredients in the following order: First - flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt Second - oats Third: M&Ms Fourth - chocolate chips Fifth - brown sugar Sixth - white sugar Seventh - chopped pecans Make sure that you pack each level down very tightly. This is important as you may not fit in all the ingredients otherwise. So push down really well! Wet ingredients: 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup butter (almost melted in the microwave) 1 tsp vanilla To make the cookies: 1. Empty your jar of ingredients out into a bowl and mix together. 2. Using a wooden spoon (or your hands if need be) mix in the wet ingredients. 3. Roll your dough into balls and place on a baking tray which has been covered with baking paper 4. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 180C oven. 5. Remove from tray and cool on a wire rack.

Putting the Perfect Cream Cheese Icing to the test

I absolutely love cream cheese icing. Before I knew about red velvet cupcakes (it was a dark dark time haha) I used to order carrot or banana cake just because I knew they would come with cream cheese icing. And I don't really even like carrot cake! My only problem is though, that most recipes for cream cheese icing that I find have so much icing sugar in them that the icing becomes sickeningly sweet. Most call for around 4 cups - which I always cut down a lot, but I recently found a recipe on Our Best Bites for what they called the Perfect Cream Cheese Icing. So when I needed to make some Red Velvet Cupcakes for a family picnic to celebrate my sister, B's birthday, I decided to put this cream cheese icing recipe to the test. And the verdict? It was one of the best cream cheese icings I've tasted! It was still sweet but not overly so, and still piped onto the cupcakes nicely (except for my inability to pipe straight). This one is definitely a keeper!

Ingredients:
500g cream cheese
120g butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. In an electric mixer beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy.

2. Add in the icing sugar and beat until smooth and fully incorporated. Spread or pipe onto the top of your cake/cupcakes. You can refridgerate any leftovers (if you haven't eaten it already!)

Recipe Source:
Perfect Cream Cheese Icing from
Out Best Bites

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients: 500g cream cheese 120g butter 2 cups icing sugar 1 tsp vanilla Method: 1. In an electric mixer beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. 2. Add in the icing sugar and beat until smooth and fully incorporated. Spread or pipe onto the top of your cake/cupcakes. You can refridgerate any leftovers, if need be.

Blueberry Muffins

Last weekend my beautiful sister and niece decided to come over for lunch and she wanted to take some photos of me cooking. My sister is a fantastic photographer, has taken courses in it and, in my opinion, should definitely be earning money from it. You can see some of her photos over at her blog No Frills Mum!

I decided for the photo shoot I'd make some blueberry muffins. Blueberries would have to be one of my favourite fruits. I could just eat them all the time! Unfortunately though, I live in Australia where blueberries are very expensive. Well, too expensive to be making pies full of them or a lot of other recipes that involve blueberries. So you might be able to understand how excited I was when I went to explore a new supermarket that's opened up here in Melbourne, called La Manna, and found that they had 1kg of blueberries for $8.99! Now, I'm not exactly sure how much blueberries are in America, but to buy a 250g punnett here in Australia it's usually at least $4.

Ingredients:
6 tbsp butter, room temp
3 cups, plus 2 tbsp plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 large egg
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
1 3/4 cups blueberries

1. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees celcius. Butter large or small muffin tins, and set aside.

2. In a large bowl sift together flour and baking powder and put aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, egg yolks and vanilla; mix until well combined.

4. Reduce speed to low; alternate adding flour mixture and milk to the mixer, beginning and ending with the flour. Remove bowl from mixer, gently fold in berries by hand.

5. Divide batter among muffin tins; sprinkle generously with sugar.

6. Bake until light golden, in colour; about 45 minutes for large muffins and about 30 minutes for small muffins. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Oh and then eat, of course!

Recipe Source:
Blueberry Muffin recipe
from the Martha Stewart website.
And thanks to A from No Frills Mum for the photos!

Oh and did I mention that while I was cooking I kept being distracted by this gorgeous little girl (my niece Ruby)?! I just love to watch her toddle around and play - she's mesmerising! And she's just always so busy, so it's always fun to watch her do her thing.

And, despite the fact I haven't asked her permission to do this - a photo of my sister snapping away with her awesome camera. Excuse the quality - I took it with my phone which clearly can't compare to my sister's SLR. (Want!!)

Blueberry Muffins Ingredients: 6 tbsp butter, room temp 3 cups, plus 2 tbsp plain flour 3 tsp baking powder 1 1/4 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling 1 large egg 2 egg yolks 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup milk 1 3/4 cups blueberries Method: 1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Butter large or small muffin tins, and set aside. 2. In a large bowl sift together flour and baking powder and put aside. 3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, egg yolks and vanilla; mix until well combined. 4. Reduce speed to low; alternate adding flour mixture and milk to the mixer, beginning and ending with the flour. Remove bowl from mixer, gently fold in berries by hand. 5. Divide batter among muffin tins; sprinkle generously with sugar. 6. Bake until light golden, in colour; about 45 minutes for large muffins and about 30 minutes for small muffins. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.