Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Gluten -Free Caramel Cheesecakes
19 ounces cream cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
caramel:
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
2 tablespoons water 
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk 
 crust:
1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine Sea Salt
1/4 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 cup melted butter

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Crush your slivered almonds. 
In a mixing bowl whisk together the almond flour, almonds, baking soda, salt, sugar and cinnamon. Add the butter and combine with a spoon.
Line a muffin tin with liners. Push the almond mixture into the bottom of the liners. 
Bake for 10 minutes to set. 
Turn oven down to 300°.
In a mixing bowl, add cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and eggs. Beat until light and fluffy. 
Spoon mixture into the muffin tins with prepared almond crust. 
Bake for 40 minutes. 
While cakes are cooking, start on the caramel.
Combine granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until sugar dissolves, stirring gently for 3 minutes. 
Stop stirring and continue cooking 10 minutes or until the color of light brown sugar. Remove from heat; carefully stir in butter and milk. Place pan over medium-high heat until caramelized sugar melts. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute. 
Remove pan from heat; cool caramel to room temperature. Cover and chill 1 hour or until slightly thickened. 
Take cheesecakes out of the oven when they are done. Once cool, the middle will slightly fall and this is the perfect indent for the caramel.
Spoon about 1 tablespoon caramel over each cheesecake. 
found at the above site .. YUMM 
a must try 

Monday, August 12, 2013

I highly recommend checking Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day’s blog post for tips on baking with a dutch oven. There is a lot of useful information in the comments. You can find that here.  There is lots of useful information about frequently asked questions here. Also, make sure your dutch oven does not have a plastic knob – these cannot stand temperatures above 450 degrees and your kitchen will *stink* [believe me, I learned from experience]. There are replacement knobs you can purchase, or else you can rig up a knob [again, the above mentioned post goes into detail of all that]. This bread can be made without a dutch oven, but again, check the site for information on that.  This recipe can be cut in half to make a smaller batch.
**The dutch oven I personally use is smaller than typical dutch oven. On the website, the authors of the book used a 7 1/4 quart dutch oven for a 1 1/2 pound piece of dough. I put a one pound piece in mine. You many have to adjust cooking times according to the size of your dutch oven – see links in the above italics for help**
3 cups water, lukewarm
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
In a 5 quart plastic container or bowl [preferably a resealable plastic container], mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water [about 100 degrees]. Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks [It's best to let dough refrigerate at least three hours - it is less sticky and easier to work with. Also, more flavor will develop if it sits longer].  When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on the dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife [about 1 pound]. Sprinkle flour on work surface and lightly knead dough 5-6 times to form a ball, adding flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands. Put dough on a piece of parchment paper, and let rest 40 minutes. Refrigerate the rest of the dough.
About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to the upper middle position and place the Dutch oven (with lid on) on the rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Bake covered for 25 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 450, remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and/or instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 12 to 15 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Lemon Blueberry cheesecake cookies

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies
Ingredients

4 oz softened cream cheese
1 stick butter, softened
2 Tablespoons shortening
2 eggs
1 lemon zested and juiced
2 7 oz boxes Jiffy Blueberry Muffin Mix
¾ cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 11oz package white Chocolate Chips (I used Ghirardelli)
Instructions

Grease baking sheets and set aside.
In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, butter, shortening and brown sugar until creamy. Add in the eggs one at a time. Stir in lemons zest and lemon juice. Fold in muffin mix and flour until thoroughly mixed in. Stir in white chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 30-60 minutes.
While dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350. When dough is ready, roll dough in 1” balls and place on baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges just start to brown. Remove to cooling racks.
http://www.lemonsforlulu.com/2013/07/29/lemon-blueberry-cheesecake-cookies/