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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Some Cheesecake to go with that Turkey?

The holidays are here and I am ready to go! Well, I was ready late September but some say that's a bit early to be dreaming about pies, turkey and eggnog.  I disagree.

This is just my house but lets face it, sometimes the pumpkin pie resembles a soggy mess and tastes like pumpkin puree straight out of the can. Good thing Mom brought her famous apple pie.

My solution this year, to make something different! My favorite recipe for a holiday cheesecake would be Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow Topping. Everyone loves a good cheesecake with a good graham crust. No one likes a soggy mess!






Dont worry about dark spots or cracks because this will be covered with fluff in no time. 



You can even take a torch to the fluff to give it a nice caramelization.


Top with a nice garnish. Here I did a piece of candied ginger since there is ginger in the crust.

Happy holiday baking to you all! I hope this season brings you tasty treats and time with family!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Know any graveyard cake diggers?


Halloween is my favorite holiday for two reasons, the spooks and the treats. Why else? Now, as an adult as much as I would love to put on a costume and go trick'r treating, bringing home a pillow case full of candy that would be absolutely (totally awesome) against any kind of Halloween rules there are. Kids do have all the fun and it wont be until I have some kiddies of my own that I, or they will be able to go candy crazy!

For Halloween I made a spooky graveyard cake with sugar cookie headstones and iced sugar cookies. The graveyard cake is deliciously moist pumpkin cake with chocolate ganache frosting. Both, are very easy, I promise. I used this Martha Stewart recipe here. I was going to make my favorite sugar cookies anyways so I made the headstones with that recipe rather than the shortbread cookies offered. You can do either one though. The sugar cookies recipe is listed below.



This sugar cookie recipe will serve as your go-to sugar cookie recipe for any holiday cookie shapes you want to use. The recipe is from a friend of mine, she uses a cream cheese frosting that is absolutely delicious, so its best to spread a thin layer on if you want it to dry all of the way. Otherwise you can cover each layer with parchment paper to keep them pretty.  


Seasonal Sugar Cookies
from Kelley M.
time 12-18 min
yield Makes 2 batches for 1 frosting 


Ingredients
Cookies:
1/2 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 - 2 1/4 cup Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt


Frosting:
8 oz Cream Cheese, cold
1 stick Butter, room temp
1/8 tsp salt
3 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla

directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment.  
2. Cream butter and sugar.
3. Blend in egg and vanilla.
4. Sift and add flour (add additional 1/4 cup depending on consistency), baking powder and salt.
5. Roll into ball and chill.
6. Roll out to 1/8 inch thick and cut out shapes. Keep cool as you go.
7. Bake for 12-18 min until light golden and cool completely on rack before frosting.
8. To make the icing, mix all ingredients in mixer fitted with paddle attachment and separate into bowls and add coloring. 


Happy Halloweeeeeen!