Candy in my Cheesecake.

Usually I put off making cheesecakes until the holiday season, but I had promised to make one as a thank you gift; and I keep my promises, especially when it comes to food. I knew exactly which one I was going to make, my Toffee Shortbread Cheesecake; a bottom layer of crushed shortbread cookies; a creamy layer of cream cheese mixed with mascarpone.

The candy bits are usually found in the baking aisle, crushed Skor candy pieces, or Heath Bar bits. Now both contain chocolate as they're the actual candy bars crushed (you can do the same if you can't find the packages in the baking aisle). I noticed that Heath Bar has a package called "Bits o' Brickel" which is only the toffee part of the candy bar broken up; no chocolate. I also noticed a big change in package weight; I used to buy 10 ounce packages and now they have been reduced to 8 ounces. May not sound like a big difference to you, but it is to a person who uses the product for baking; I will live with it though.

Anyway, lets cut to the chase and get to that luscious cake. I use one trick when making cheesecakes, baking the cake in a bain marie (French term meaning "water bath"). The cake pan, wrapped in aluminum foil, rests inside a glass baking dish. Water is poured halfway up the outside of the cake pan; as the cake bakes, the water and batter equalize in temperature inside their respective dishes; the cake bakes evenly and does not crack.

By the way, that crack you see in the above photo; that is what happens when you don't use the correct utensils when moving an entire cheesecake from the springform pan bottom to a serving plate...it cracks!

Toffee Shortbread Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) package shortbread cookies, crushed
½ cup melted butter
2 (8 oz) packages mascarpone cheese
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
½ cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) bag Heathbar or Skor candy bits

Preparation:

In a small bowl, mix together the crushed cookies and butter until crumbly, but still moist. Cut out circle of parchment paper that will line the bottom of a 9” spring form pan. Use nonstick baking spray on bottom and sides of pan, press parchment circle to bottom; spray paper with nonstick spray. Press mixture onto bottom and quarter way up the sides of the pan; place in refrigerator to set for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, cream together mascarpone, cream cheese, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Stir in candy bits, but do not over mix. Pour mixture into pan; wrap aluminum foil tightly around the exterior of the pan. Place pan in center of a 3 quart baking dish; pour water halfway up side of pan being careful not to get any water inside the pan or foil; bake for one hour. Partially open oven door; let cake cool for half hour before removing pan from baking dish and placing in refrigerator overnight. Carefully remove spring form pan before slicing and serving.

Makes 10 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Triple the Chocolate, Triple the Oh My!!!

So after my misadventure with Chocolate Lava Cakes, I decided not to give up, but to try something a little different. First off, my son loved the lava cakes even though they had not come out correctly. He'd warm them up, cover them in whipped cream and sliced strawberries and just indulge. So, not a complete failure, just a new dessert treat.

Going through my cabinet of baking goods, I found three bags of chocolate that were partially used. Now what do I do about this? Make cookies? Make three types of treats? Or, put them all into one dessert and see what happens. Let me tell you that the role of mad scientist does come into play at times when cooking or baking in the kitchen.

...well, this is what I came up with, and I've heard no complaints except. "this is so full of chocolate!" Like that's a bad thing?

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes and Frosting

Cupcakes
Ingredients:

4 ounces each of dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
5 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour
½ tsp baking soda

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with paper liners (24)

Heat one inch of water in bottom half of a double boiler. Place in all chocolates and cream; stir occasionally as chocolate melts until smooth (about 8-10 minutes); cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat (medium speed) together eggs, sugar and vanilla until creamy; add chocolate mixture and beat for another 30 seconds. Add the flour and baking soda; beat for 30 seconds or until all the flour is incorporated into the creamy mixture.

Divide the batter evenly between the 24 paper liners. Bake for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out cleanly from center of cupcakes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

Frosting
Ingredients:

5 ounces each dark and milk chocolate, chopped
6 sticks unsalted butter, softened
6 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
6 Bliss white chocolate squares (place in refrigerator to firm up for grating)

Preparation:

Place chocolate in microwave safe bowl; at 15 second intervals, melt chocolate, stir; repeat until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

In a large mixing bowl, combine melted chocolate with butter, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla; beat on low for 5 minutes. Gently fold in white chips; frost cupcakes and grate the Bliss squares over all.

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

Mary Cokenour

Sauceless Sauce is Simply Easy; now say that three times fast.

After defrosting a container of my Vegetarian Pasta Sauce to put over ravioli, I suddenly got a craving for Chicken Parmigiana. Big problem though, I was not in the mood for all the work and mess it encompassed. So what to do, what to do???

Heh, then it hit me; deconstruct the chicken parmigiana; and leave out all the frying and mess. Basically I created a fresh "sauce" from diced and lightly sauteed vegetables to go over seasoned chicken breasts that were baked in the oven. Hardly any oil used, no heavy breading; just a light, clean taste over moist and tender poultry. Now anyone who is diabetic, like myself, will love this recipe; and I can tell you that two hours after eating the meal, my blood sugar was only 98 which is tremendously good!

Now when cooking the tomatoes in the skillet, if there is still a lot of moisture left; turn up the heat to medium and let the liquid reduce by half. But watch it! You don't want the vegetables to brown or burn. Enjoy!

Sauceless Sauce Over Chicken

Ingredients:

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning mix
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp each ground black pepper and salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced onion and multicolored red bell peppers (no green bell peppers)
1 cup diced mushrooms
1 cup diced tomatoes, drained
1 Tbsp minced garlic
¼ tsp each ground black pepper and salt
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375F and line jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Season both sides of chicken with seasoning mix, garlic powder ½ teaspoon each of pepper and salt. Bake for 20 minutes.

While chicken is baking; heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-low heat; add in onion and bell peppers. When vegetables just begin to soften, about 7-8 minutes, add in mushrooms; cook for 5 minutes. Add in tomatoes, garlic and remaining pepper and salt; mix thoroughly and let cook till all is heated through. Vegetables will be ready at the same time the chicken is fully cooked. Serve vegetable mixture over chicken breasts; sprinkle shredded cheese over all.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Spice Exchange Coffee is Formaldehyde in a Bag..

Distributor's Website: http://www.figbros.com/


Now if you're a reader of this blog, you know that my coffee comes from Papa Nicholas, but every once in a while, another coffee brand will catch my eye. This was so with Spice Exchange Trading Company coffee which I found on sale for $4.00 for a 12 ounce package; flavors chosen were Butter Cream and Vanilla Cupcake. With names like those, how could I resist? I should have; oh, I should have.

In the store, I didn't notice any unusual odors coming from the bag; then again, there was no odor of coffee either, so only thought the packaging was very tightly sealed for freshness. Yeah, think again. After getting home, I opened up the first package of Butter Cream coffee and that's when the odor hit me...hard. A distinctive chemical smell very similar to formaldehyde; once you've taken biology and dissected a few animals, you know the smell. So I thought, maybe it's just me; perhaps I touched something and the smell was still on my hands; no, but I decided to brew up a pot anyway.

As the coffee brewed, the smell got stronger; I poured some in my cup, added my half n' half and stevia, brought it up to my lips, and whoa! that smell was awful. I was brave though and took a sip and all I tasted was chemicals; no coffee flavor, no delightful taste and aroma of Butter Cream; just foul chemicals. Down the drain the brewed coffee went, into the trash bin the package went. So what did I do? Decided to try the other package to see the results which were the very same. No enticing odor or flavor of Vanilla Cupcake; only the strong, foul odor and taste of chemicals. Disgusting!!!

The store where I purchased the coffee was 3 hours away from me, so I couldn't be bothered to return the packages there. $8 wasted, but a good lesson learned that good coffee is worth the price paid.

So if you happen to be shopping around and see Spice Exchange Coffee for sale; turn and run if you value your taste buds, sense of smell and money.

Mary Cokenour

Chili that knows how to Party.

When Bill moved in with us in May, one of the first things he asked me was, "Mom, do you still make that great Chili? You mean the one with the sirloin beef cubes; yeppers and better than ever, I told him. But the summer time heat was moving in, and making chili was not on my list of things to do for the season.

That was until this past weekend when I was in the mood for chili; roast beef had been on sale at City Market and I got to working on cutting it up into pieces for the crock pot. The only problem, I didn't want to use as many beans as I normally do, and didn't want it to be too monotone in coloring. I was in a great, happy mood and wanted colorful food to go with the mood. I cut back on the beans and added bright colors from whole kernel corn, and red and green bell peppers.

Another change I made was to use medium heat chile peppers, but mild New Mexico chili powder. I wanted the heat to come from the peppers themselves, but the rich smokiness of the chili powder. This combo made my mouth hot, but not burn; and the flavors of the ingredients came through. See, one thing I don't believe in is making your food burn your mouth to the point where you cannot taste anything. Might as well just eat raw habanero or ghost chiles and get it over with. Of course, you can adjust the type of chile peppers and chili powder you use when making this recipe because it is what makes you happy that matters the most.

I served Cornbread with the chili, but instead of the conventional oven method, I baked it in a cast iron skillet. The adjustments for this are: preheat oven to 425F, but place the skillet (which should already have been preseasoned)in the oven at the start of the preheating. When ready, carefully take out the skillet and coat the bottom and sides with a generous amount of butter. Pour in the batter (don't worry about the butter you see coming up the sides of the batter) and bake for 20 minutes. Cut into eight wedges and serve with the chili.

...and here's the recipe for Fiesta Chili.

Fiesta Chili

Ingredients:

2 ½ lbs roast beef cut into ½ inch pieces; trim off fat
½ cup flour
1 cup beef stock
2 cups whole kernel corn
1 cup diced mixture of red and green bell peppers
½ cup diced chile peppers (medium heat)
2 ½ cups diced tomatoes
1 cup diced onions
4 Tbsp New Mexico chili powder (mild heat)
2 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 cans (15 oz) black beans; drained and rinsed
2 cans (15 oz) pinto beans; drained and rinsed

Note: if using dried beans instead, soak overnight in salted water and place into crock pot with remaining ingredients for the total 7 hour cooking time.

Preparation:

Set 6 quart crock pot on low. Toss beef pieces with flour; place into crock pot and pour beef stock over. Mix together remaining ingredients, except the beans (see Note), and spread evenly into crock pot. Cover and let cook for 4 hours; add beans to crock pot, mix thoroughly, cover and let cook another 4 hours.

Serve with sour cream, shredded Mexican Mix cheese and cornbread.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Serious Texas Bar-B-Q.

Serious Texas Bar-B-Q
650 S Camino Del Rio
Durango, Colorado 81301

(970) 259-9507
FAX: (970) 259-5460

Hours: 10:30am-9:00pm Summer
10:30am-8:00pm Winter

Website: http://serioustexasbbq.com/

With five locations (4 in Colorado, 1 in New Mexico), Serious Texas Bar-B-Q is making sure to please fans of smoked meats and poultry.


These restaurants are not fancy nor classy; they're meant for folks who want to park themselves down at a table and enjoy good barbecue. The food is placed on butcher paper and a tray; utensils are plastic and each table comes with a roll of paper towels and a large bottle of their signature barbeque sauce. Whether with family or friends, the atmosphere is very relaxed and comfortable for all.



The Durango, Colorado location has an outdoor patio that overlooks the Animas River. Directly attached to the restaurant is an outdoor miniature golf course; there is also a small bandstand for musical entertainment.


Now lets get to the food; first timers should try out "The Big Six" which comes with 1/4 pound each of beef brisket, pulled pork, pork loin and turkey; a link of sausage and two ribs. It also comes with a sample of each of there signature salsas: pineapple/jalapeno and cherry/chipotle plus relish. This is perfect for two to three people who want to try out a little of everything.


The ribs have a spicy, flavorful rub on them and are not doused in sauce; they're tender, but don't fall off the bone. They come in half or full racks; or you can buy per rib if you just want to sample one.















The Beef Brisket sandwich is piled high with tender, tender meat, pickles and onions; a simple sandwich with lots for your stomach and taste buds to love.



The Pulled Pork Sandwich is a large fistful of smoky goodness topped with cherry/chipotle salsa; several napkins are recommended.



While all the sides are good, we especially like the Cheesy Potatoes loaded with melted cheese and black pepper. A large order is a must!

Seriously hungry and in the mood for barbeque; seriously head out to Serious Texas Bar-B-Q.

Mary Cokenour

A Misadventure in Chocolate.

Going through some older Gourmet magazines, I found a recipe from Ghirardelli for their Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes and wanted to try it out. I had all the ingredients; but only needed to purchase another set of custard cups (safe for oven use) as I only had a set of 4 and the recipe made 6 cakes.
Now mind you, I'm not a big fan of baking from scratch; all that measuring and calculating, but I was up for giving it a go. It was chocolate, so how wrong could that be, right? I followed the directions, made the chocolate that would go in the center of the cake and waited the two hours recommended. Then it was time to make the batter and assemble in the cups; easy peasy. Only problem is that, even tempering in the oven before hand, my metal tray decided to warp, so the cups couldn't sit on it. I ended up balancing the cups on the oven's metal rack; the oval cups I had had no problem; the round ones kept me on my toes to make sure they stayed up straight.

After 15 minutes I moved the cups to a rack on the counter for 5 minutes of cooling. I could see the cakes begin pulling from the sides of the cups as they cooled, so was happy no knife was required to help remove them.

I inverted one cup over a dessert plate, the cake easily came out.  The chocolate smell was incredible!!!

I sliced the single cake open expecting to see molten chocolate ooze out; and what did I see? Cake; super moist, decadently rich cake, but no melted chocolate center. The melted chocolate had been absorbed into the cake batter as it baked and gave me...cake!

Maybe it was just this one, so I tried another only to find the same result. To the computer I ran to read up on molten lava cakes; some recipes had higher temperatures and less bake time; some had higher temperatures with more baking time. Many recipes incorporated the melted chocolate into the batter and baked them at the same temperature and timing as I had done. Cooking forums were a little more helpful than straight recipes; the conclusion was to use the same temperature, but lower the baking time to 10 minutes instead of 15. Ovens are all different and I guess mine baked quicker which resulted in the chocolate ball melting and then being absorbed into the batter.

So alas, my family and I had to bite the cake bullet with a whipped cream topping and sliced strawberry. Oh the agony of defeat never tasted so deliciously sweet.

...and here is the recipe and directions from Ghirardelli:

Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bars
2 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cake flour

Directions:

To make centers, melt 2 ounces of chocolate (1/2 a baking bar) and cream in double boiler. Whisk gently to blend. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm. Form into 6 balls; refrigerate until needed.

To make cake, heat oven to 400°F. Spray six 4-ounce ramekins or custard cups with cooking spray. Melt 4 ounces of chocolate (1 baking bar) and butter in double boiler; whisk gently to blend. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs, yolks, sugar, and vanilla on high speed about 5 minutes or until thick and light. Fold melted chocolate mixture and flour into egg mixture just until combined. Spoon cake batter into ramekins. Place a chocolate ball in the middle of each ramekin.

Bake about 15 minutes or until cake is firm to the touch. Let it sit out of the oven for about 5 minutes. Run a small, sharp knife around inside of each ramekin, place a plate on top, invert and remove ramekin. Garnish with raspberries and a dollop of whipped cream.

Makes 6.

Mary Cokenour