Heart Shaped Cheesecakes

It was my grandparents anniversary and my mom and dad invited them over for dinner. So of course I had to make dessert! I got these little spring-form pans quite awhile ago but have never used them! This was the perfect opportunity to use them. And my grama's favorite dessert is cheesecake. Also I have been converting my grandpa to become a cheesecake lover too. So here is the perfect recipe for making these adorable little cakes! They are rich and creamy with a graham cracker crust, then topped off with Belgium chocolate drizzle and fresh raspberries. If you don't have mini heart pans you can use muffin tins to make 12. Just follow the link to the original recipe.



Mini Heart Cheesecakes (recipe from Joy of Baking)
Makes 4.

1 cup graham wafer crumbs
1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

Preparation

Preheat oven 300•F

In a small bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Stir and divide evenly into the 4 heart springform pans. Press firmly into the bottom and refrigerate until filling.

The next steps are best done on the lowest speed of your mixer, as you don't want to incorporate a lot of air into the batter.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until completely smooth. Add the sour cream and beat until smooth. Add one of the eggs and beat until just combined. Add the second egg and the vanilla extract. Beat until just combined.

Evenly divide and pour the mixture into the four pans. Bake for 35 minutes.

Don't unlatch the pan, and let cool for 1 hour on a wire rack.

Cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but I always do my cheesecakes overnight.

Before serving slide a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen cheesecakes.

Top with fresh berries or drizzled chocolate and enjoy! They were fabulous in my opinion!

Busy as a bee

Hello! There hasn't been any posts this week do to a very busy scheduale! Lots and lots of homework/tests for school as well as dance 2 days a week. When I wasn't doing either of those, I was either sleeping, eating or relaxing! But I did make a few things in the past while... Enjoy!


Halloween 'Monster Cupcakes' with red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting


Halloween Theme cupcakes, chocolate cake vanilla buttercream.


My mom and dad's 29th Anniversary strawberry dream cloud cake


A slice of my mom and dad's cake


Grama's date 'squares' (they're actually triangles) for the Bank ladies


Ultimate cookies, peanut butter, chocolate chips, hazelnuts and choco drizzle.


Owl Cake Pops for my best friends birthday party!

Raspberry Chocolate Scones

I made these for the ladies at the bank this week. Omgosh, they smelt AMAZING while baking in the oven. Not to mention while they were cooling too. I was so tempted to eat one! But of course I didn't. But oh well! I'm going to make them again this weekend for my family.



Raspberry Chocolate Scones
8 scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cold and cut into small pieces.
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup raspberries
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven 400•F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Stir the vanilla in with the buttermilk.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, two knives or your hands until coarse crumbs. It's okay to have some bigger chunks.

Stir in the chocolate chips and raspberries.

Add the buttermilk gradually, careful not to over-mix. Once it has just come together, knead in the bowl gently 3 or 4 times.

Put on a floured surface and roll out about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut in half, then quarters, then eighths.

Put on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating half way through.

Cool slightly and serve warm.

Delicious!

Yummy Mummy Cookies

There is no Halloween without these cookies... they are that good. I absolutely LOVE them. Apparently so does everyone else who tries them!
The first time I got to try these was at a friends Halloween party in 5th grade... and I think I ate more than I was supposed to! Oh well! Between them and the vegetable tray, I was set for the night. And I can remember it was a very fun night! Except for catching a cold from the hot tub.

And when I had my first Halloween Party two years ago, I knew I wanted these cookies there! After that my friends always demand them.

This particular time I used white candy melts to decorating, only because I'm selling them at school. To use white chocolate would be too expensive. No problems though, they taste just as good! And lucky for you, I'll tell you how to easily decorate them! Unlike poor me who spent 2 hours trying to figure out how to make them look appealing. The Hershey's instructions just don't cut it for these cookies!

Halloween isn't until Monday, so bake some up today!



Yummy Mummy Cookies
yield 30 cookies

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
*1 cup mini chocolate chips (I don't use these in my cookies)

White candy melts or white chocolate chips
Sprinkles or candy's to resemble eyes.

Preparation

In a medium bowl whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla.

Beat in eggs one and a time until just combined.

Add dry ingredients and mix until a soft dough is formed. Stir in mini chocolate chips if using.

Refrigerate 1 hour until firm.

Pre-heat oven 350•F grease or line cookie sheets.

Using a mini ice scoop, scoop two balls to make the body. Roll into a long 'carrot-shape'. Scoop one ball for the head. Place on the cookie sheet, pressing the head and body together slightly.

Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool on pan for 10 minutes then to wire racks to cool completely.

Melt candy melts or white chocolate chips in the microwave or over a double boiler.

Pour into a piping bag or ziplock bag (cut a tiny corner). Pipe in zig zag motions over the body, then the head. While they are still 'wet' place on eyes.

Let harden before storing. They taste good for days just so you know!!!


MMMM MUMMIES!! :D

Halloween Cake Pops

Okay, I am SO EXCITED FOR HALLOWEEN! It is all I can think about! And if I didn't have to go to school this week, that's what I would have been doing. But of course I wasn't going to skip. So instead I had to save my baking for after school activities. It's not very easy to do big projects after school but I was determined to make these cake pops! My mom had bought me millions of colours and I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity to use them! So I got out my Cake Pops book by Bakerella and got working!
... It took a LONG time. This is why I don't like to do these projects on school nights. To bake a cake, let it cool, form the balls, dip the lollipop sticks, let them firm up, dip them, let them dry, decorate them... like I said, it took a LONG time! So I will keep cake pop orders for the weekend. So keep time management in mind for these guys!
But the end result, is absolutely wonderful and delicious! So hurry, you have 3 days left, make these cake pops!!!

I am making A LOT of Halloween goodies this weekend, so stay tuned! Cookies and cupcakes! I'll also post a picture of my pumpkin!



Pumpkin and Mummy Cake Pops
Yield 30

Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup frosting (I used cream cheese, just because I had it)
Orange Candy Melts
White Candy Melts
Black Candy Melts or an Edible Art pen.
Green Round Sprinkles.

How to Make them!

http://kala-dawnskreations.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-obsession-cake-pops.html

Dip half in the orange candy melts, and half in the white candy melts.



For Pumpkins:

Melt about 1/4 cup of the black candy melts. Put into a piping bag with a small tip and pipe whatever faces you prefer. Add a round green sprinkle on top.



For Mummies

Melt 1/2 cup white candy melts. Put into a piping bag with a small tip and pipe in zig zag motions horizontally over the cake pops.

You can use small sprinkles, gel tubes or other colour meltes candy melts for their eyes.

Hope You Liked Them!

Halloween Sugar Cookie Cut-outs

After our adventure with the brownies on friday, my friend and I wanted to bake something else! I made these cookies for my Halloween party last year, and she LOVED them! Plus we wanted to do some decorating.
These sugar cookies in my opinion have the best flavour. They are not too sweet but they don't taste like cardboard. The icing though is quite sweet, so only add as much icing sugar to your preference. The colours go on shiny and harden matte, the look that I enjoy because you don't have to worry about them getting messed up when they're stacked. They are perfect for any holiday, and I usually make them at Halloween, Christmas and Easter.



Sugar Cookie Cutouts Adapted from Canadian Living
The yield depends on the size of your cookie cutters

1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

Icing (recipe follows)

In a bowl mix flour, baking soda and salt.

In your electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until very fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time beating until just combined.

Mix in vanilla extract.

On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture until a smooth dough ball is created.

Make into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven 350•F and grease or line cookie sheets.

Roll out dough about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut out with preferred cookie cutters.

Bake for 9 minutes or until set. Cool on pan for 5 minutes then move to wire racks to cool completely before decorating.

Sugar Cookie Icing
About 1 cup

2 cups confectioners' sugar (1 1/2 cups for less sweet)
4 teaspoons milk
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all with an electric mixer until smooth. Add more milk to desired thinness. Add food colouring too! Using a piping bag or knife, decorate cookies! Let dry completely before stacking or storing.


Icing before it has hardened.

Thanks for reading!

Brownies with homemade caramel sauce

I posted this recipe on my facebook page last week, and I've been dying to make it. I have a couple friends who enjoy baking aswell so yesterday we decided to make them! Boy were they decadent! If your looking for a treat, give these brownies a try!

Chocolate Caramel Brownies with Nutella Topping
6 large brownies

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Caramel Sauce (recipe follows)
Nutella
Chopped Hazelnuts

Preheat oven 350•F and grease a 10x7 baking dish.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt in a medium sized bowl.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well. Mix in vanilla extract.

On low speed add the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Pour half of the batter into the baking pan. Top with a layer of caramel sauce. Try to not go ALL the way to the edge. Put on the rest of the brownie.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Melt Nutella in a microwave and spread over warm brownies. Top with hazelnuts and serve while warm with icecream.

Easy Peasy Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup butter or margarine (STICK BUTTER OR MARGARINE)
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a pan over low heat, melt butter. Add brown sugar and cook until it is smooth. 1 minute.

Add whipping cream. Increase to medium heat. Cook the mixture on a simmer for about 5 minutes. It will only change colour a bit. Stir in vanilla extract

Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan then pour into a can. It will thicken up as the day goes on. Refrigerate when not using. Let it sit at room temperature before using. Microwave if too thick.

Enjoy the brownies! They are YUMMY!


Home made caramel, sorry for the terrible picture!