Sopapilla Cheeseccake

This is a super easy recipe that my dear neighbor Becky sent my way. At a few neighborhood gatherings she made this delicious faux cheesecake that everyone fell in love with. When you make it and realize how easy and wonderful it is you will fall in love too. This a great potluck dish and I can't say enough good things about it. Even my husband loves this and he is generally not a dessert person. Thanks Becky.

Ingredients:

2 8oz.pkgs. of cream cheese, softened
2 cans crescent rolls or the seamless crescent dough
1 cup sugar, this would be a good recipe to use vanilla sugar if you have made some
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (mix 1/2 cup of sugar with 2tsp. Cinnamon powder)

Spread one can crescent rolls into greased 9X13 pan for crust.

Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla together. 
Spread over the bottom crust.  Cover the cream cheese with the second can of crescent rolls for the top crust.

Pour melted butter over the top crust, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture

Bake at 350* for about 30-35 minutes

Individual Sopapilla Cheescakes

-same ingredients as above

You will need a Jumbo Muffin pan and a 2" biscuit cutter.
Prepare cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla as directed above and set aside. Prepare cinnamon sugar mixture and set aside. Roll out both cans of cresent seamless dough on a greased pan and use biscuit cutter to cut out as many as you can, i could get about 9-10 per can. Grease muffin pan and place 1 dough cut out in the bottom of each cup, like this...

Then spread 2-3 Tbs. of cream cheese mixture ontop of each piece of dough...(i threw in a few chocolate chips as a tester)

Then place a new dough circle ontop of the cream cheese mixture...

Then add 1 tsp. melted butter to the top of each cup. Then sprinke with 1-2 tsp of cinnamon sugar...

Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes

Raspberry Puff Tarts

A few weeks a go I was having a severe turnover craving. After searching the internet I came across this amazing recipe. Originally it was for a standard triangle turnover but after making them as triangles I found that they lost way too much filling. By making them into pouches they lost little to none of the filling and I feel they look even prettier. I have tried the filling two ways. First was with 1/2 raspberries & 1/2 blueberries, so far that is my favorite. Then I tried it with just raspberries and it is delicious, i tried to tweak it and add less sugar but that was a mistake. Stick to the recipe and you should produce some amazing raspberry tarts. The crust is flaky and delicious and I have found myself using it for other recipes as well. Enjoy!

Dough:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup sour cream

Filling:

3 Tbs. cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbs. Water
2/3 cups granulated sugar
3 cups fresh raspberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs. water, to seal pastries *optional*

Directions:

For Crust-
Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment mix flour, salt, and baking powder. On low speed continue mixing while adding cubed butter a few pieces at a time until mixture is crumbly but incorporated. Then add sour cream until well combined. Mixture will be a bit on the wet side. Move the dough mixture to a well floured surface and knead a few times until less sticky. Then pat the dough into a rough rectangle, about an 8"x10". Dust both sides of the dough with four. Starting with the shorter end (8") fold the dough into thirds like a business letter, flip it over so the flap is on the bottom. Roll the dough in to an 8"x10" again and fold it into thirds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Can be refrigerated overnight)
While the dough is chilling you can start on the filling.
For Filling-
In a medium sauce pan over low heat combine the raspberries, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, and cornstarch/water mixture. Stirring often until the raspberries begin to fall apart and you have a jam like consistency. Cook just until it begins to bubble and thicken, this should only take a few minutes. Refrigerate until you are ready to use. You can make the filling a few days before hand. I usually have a little filling left over and end up using it a few days later to make a few more.

When you are ready to assemble the tarts preheat the oven to 400°F. Roll the chilled dough on a floured surface into a 16" square. Cut sixteen 4" squares. Brush the corners of each pastry with egg/water mixture. Place about 2 Tbs. of filling in the middle of the square. Carefully pull together opposite corners and seal them together, do this to both sides. When you are done it should look like this....

Place turnovers on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. You can brush the top of all of them with milk and sprinkle with organic or raw sugar (coarse sugar, not fine), this is optional but recommended. Bake in preheated 400°oven for 22-25 min or until thy are a golden brown. Remove baking sheet from oven. Allow pastries to cool on sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Once cool sprinkle with snow sugar or powder sugar. Serve at room temperature.

Salted Brown Butter Cookies

These gems are lighter and fluffier than other brown butter cookies I have made in the past which are more like shortbread. This recipe was someones attemp to recreate a 'famous' cookie companies recipe. After a few changes to make it my own, this is what I came up with. Using a 1 in cookie scoop my first batch made 32 delightful cookies.

Recipe:
1 & 1/8 cup salted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
Coarse Kosher Salt


In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned. Pour browned butter into a heat safe bowl then stir in sugars and vanilla.
Let the butter/sugar mixture cool in the refrigerator until it has hardened, at least an hour.
In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, and  baking powder. Set aside.
Take the butter/sugar mixture out of the refrigerator and scrape into a mixing bowl and beat on low speed until creamy, then add flour mixture half a cup at a time.
The mixture will be crumbly, this is normal.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Roll 1 inch balls of dough and dip in coarse kosher salt. Place on cookie sheet with salt on top.
Bake for 15 minutes.

Sour Cherry & Mascarpone Pound Cake

Last night my husband and I took our kids to dinner at Ruby's diner (a family favorite) and then to see Cars 2. We had lots of fun but taking a 4 & 2 year old out for the evening can be a little stressful at times. When we got home I wanted to relax so I tucked the kids in bed, made a pot of coffee and got out this recipe. It isn't an overly hard recipe but it does take time so I would not attempt this one at 9 pm again.  The recipe I followed is from Domenica Marchetti's cook book Big Night In http://www.domenicacooks.com/2011/05/cakewalk/

Sour Cherry-Mascarpone Pound Cake:

1 1/2 cups ( 3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more to grease the pan
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more to flour the pan
2 cups fresh sour cherries, pitted and halved
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces mascarpone or sour cream, at room temperature
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter and flour a 10-inch Bundt or tube pan and set it aside
In a small bowl, mix the cherries with 1/2 cup of the sugar. Let the mixture steep while you prepare the batter for the cake.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Set aside.
Put the 1 1/2 cups butter in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat briefly on medium speed to soften. Add the remaining 3 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and beat at high speed until light and airy, 5 full minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Change the speed to medium and alternately add the flour-salt mixture and the mascarpone and sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until incorporated.
Drain the cherries, reserving the syrup that collects in the bowl. With a rubber or silicone spatula, fold the cherries into the batter.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour & 15 minutes.
While the cake is baking, put the reserved cherry syrup in a small saucepan and boil for about 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Strain and reserve the liquid.
When the cake is done, place the pan on a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan. While it is still warm, brush the top and sides with the warm cherry syrup. The cake will absorb the syrup. Let the cake cool to room temperature.
To serve, transfer the cake to a decorative platter or cake stand. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

I was very happy with how it turned out, so was my husband. I did have to tweak a few things because I didn't have the exact ingredients. I substituted bleached all purpose flour for the unbleached, i used 6 Tbs. of salted butter because I only had 2 sticks & 2 Tbs. of unsalted butter, I used 4 ounces of mascarpone and 4 ounces of sour cream. I also unfortunately do not have fresh sour cherries available near me so I used the canned Oregon Tart Cherries in water (not syrup). It is a great recipe and I will definitely make it again.  

Strawberry Frosting

This is Sprinkles Cupcakes' Strawberry Frosting Recipe:
I tried the strawberry cupcake recipe with strawberry frosting from Sprinkles. I wasn't impressed with the cupcake but I loved the strawberry frosting. I hope you do too.

1/2 c. fresh whole strawberries
1 c. unsalted butter, slightly cold
pinch of coarse salt
1lb. box of Powdered Sugar
1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

Place strawberries in food processor and puree. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment beat butter and salt together on medium speed until fluffy. Turn the mixer to low and add powdered sugar, beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 4 T. of strawberry puree(save any remaining for another use) mix until just blended, do not over mix. Frosting should be dense and creamy like ice cream.


**Frost cakes or cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting then garnish with quartered fresh strawberries for an extra treat **

Brown Butter Shortbread

1 cup butter (I prefer salted)

2/3 cup sugar

1 T. vanilla sugar (If you dont have vanilla sugar you can use 1 T. fine sugar with 1 t. pure Madagascar vanilla extract)

2 1/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

In a small saucepan melt butter on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned. Stir in sugar and vanilla sugar and remove from heat. Refrigerate for about an hour.  

Combine flour and baking powder and beat in cooled butter mixture to form a dough, it's okay if it is crumbly.

Preheat oven to 325* Roll dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter.

Place dough balls about an inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press each ball of dough down using the tines of a fork, you may have to hold the edges of the cookie while you press down to keep it from crumbling. 

Bake at 325* for 18-20 minutes, or until edges just start to turn golden. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 1 minute then transfer to cooling rack.

 

**If you have tried this recipe leave some feed back, I love to hear how your creations turn out**

Vanilla & Chocolate Ganche Cupcakes

1 box of French Vanilla or Vanilla Bean Cake mix
8 ounces of the best Bittersweet or Dark Chocolate (I use Ghirardelli)
1 c. Heavy Cream
2 Tbs. Powdered Sugar

Finely chop chocolate and place in microwave safe bowl with powder sugar and heavy cream. Microwave on medium-high heat for 30 seconds. Stir until smooth, if chocolate isn't melted yet place in microwave 15 seconds at a time until it is smooth. Then refrigerate for 1 hour.

Prepare Cake Mix as directed on the box. Pour batter into lined cupcake tins, each cupcake should be 2/3 full. Place 1 Tbs. ganache carefully on top of the cupcake batter and bake as directed on the box.

Once cool top with Brown Butter Frosting and gold sprinkles.