Pumpkin Cheesecake

My cousin Billy, who is in the Army, is currently stationed in Hawaii. He was able to come home for Christmas. He arrived yesterday for a 2-week stay! He told us that Thanksgiving is his favorite, and he was sad to have missed Thanksgiving and his birthday, so we held our second Thanksgiving last night for his arrival home.

I, of course, had to make cheesy potatoes, by popular (and menacing) demand of my family. I was also asked to make a cheesecake. I haven't made a cheesecake since I made my Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake back in April. I was actually surprised that it has been that long, since I love making cheesecakes. I did get a little lazy with this one though. I was all set to set it in the water bath to prevent it from cracking, but at the last minute I decided I'd just bake it and if it had cracks then it had cracks. I reasoned with myself that it would look very homemade that way.

Turns out, the cracks did bother me. Especially since this cheesecake is only covered with a chocolate drizzled, and not topped with something to cover the cracks. Oh well. It was delicious either way.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Double Chocolate Drizzle
adapted from Cooking Classy

For the crust:
1 and 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tbsp. butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
3 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp. flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 and 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks

For the chocolate drizzle:
1 bar Ghirardelli white chocolate baking chocolate
1 bar Ghirardelli milk chocolate baking chocolate
(you can use any brand of melting chocolate, they just happened to be on sale)

To make the crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar in a food processor and pulse until mixed. Add in the melted butter and mix until combined.
3. Press into a springform pan, covering the bottom and up the sides, about an inch from the top.
4. Bake for 8-9 minutes until golden and let cool.

To make the cheesecake filling:
1. Lower oven temp to 325.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combined the cream cheese, brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined and smooth.
3. Add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and mix.
4. Add in the pumpkin and vanilla and mix on low speed until combined.
5. Add the whole eggs, one at a time, until combined. Scrape down the sides if needed.
6. Add in the egg yolks and mix just until combined.
7. Pour on top of the cooked and cooled crust.
8. Bake over a water bath (see note) for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let it sit in the oven for an additional 30 minutes (don't open the door and peek at it!).
9. Remove from oven. Let cool a bit, then cover and chill for at least 5 hours in the refrigerator.

To top the cheesecake:
1. Melt the white chocolate and milk chocolate in two small separate bowls. I microwaved mine in 30 second increments until melted and smooth.
2. Place each chocolate into a small ziplock bag and seal, making sure there is no air trapped in. Cut off a tiny tip of a bottom corner of each bag and use them to pipe to chocolate over the cheesecake.

** Waterbath note.
If you want to prevent cracks when making a cheesecake, most people will use a waterbath. Here is how I do mine.
1. Wrap your srpingform pan in foil so that it covers the bottom and comes up the sides, making sure no water could get into the bottom of the pan.
2. Place your wrapped cheesecake into a roasting pan or a pan that is deep enough to hold an inch or two of water and big enough to sit the springform pan in.
3. Pour warm/hot water into the roasting pan.
4. Put the whole contraption into the oven and bake according to directions.

I've seen people do it several ways, including this way, but I've also seen people heat the water bath while the oven is preheating, and then bake the cheesecake on a rack above the water bath. A little less prep for this way I guess. I've never tried it. I will have to experiment sometime.

Triple Layer Delight

Two Yankee Swap parties in one day is pretty draining. The first one is an annual ladies Yankee swap we have every year. This year 56 women participated. Yes, 56. It takes about two hours to go through everyone. I was going to make a trifle, but then happened to stumble upon a recipe that looked good on Pinterest. For the night swap party, I made my shepherd's pie, but mixed the gravy in with the meat before baking it. Everyone loved it, but I think it's better with the gravy on top, it didn't have as strong a taste when mixed in with the meat. Yesterday was a good day for cooking, and a good day for a midday nap, which I fully took advantage of.

I just finished making my shrimp and corn chowder for dinner tonight. I really should re-post the recipe sometime. The one I originally posted (follow that link!), is for one that I made with chicken and shrimp, and only made a quick reference to adding in the shrimp. I've modified and adapted this recipe a few times, between the veggies I've used, the spices I've used, and today I swapped out the veggie broth for chicken broth. Not to experiment, but because I forgot to buy veggie broth. I think it came out pretty good. It adds another bit of flavor that veggie broth tends to leave out. I find veggie broth to be pretty bland most of the time.

Before you attempt to make today's featured recipe, make sure you pay attention to the size package of pudding you need. I point that out because I didn't pay attention. I had planned on making two of these dishes, but then realized I bought the smaller packages. Luckily my mum came to the rescue with extra pudding, but then as I kept re-reading the recipe, I realized I was going to need the double batch ingredients for one batch. So annoying! Hence me making a shepherd's pie this weekend also. I used a 9 x 13 dish, so the recipe that follows is the recipe I used. I even think that more is needed, the layers were somewhat thin. If you want thicker layers of pudding, double what I used, other than the cheesecake layer, I already doubled that. The original recipe calls this chocolate delight, but it's a layer of cheesecake filling, vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding and cool whip. The chocolate is only one-third of the dish. So, I took upon myself to rename it.

Triple Layer Delight
Adapted from Little B Cooks

For the crust:
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, melted

For the layers:
1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding
1 (3.4 oz) package instant chocolate pudding
4 cups of milk for making the pudding
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 packages of cool whip (you will need 2 cups for the cheesecake and 1 pkg for the top)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, flour and butter together until combined (to really mix them well, throw everything into a food processor) and press into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13" glass baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes and let cool.
3. Prepare the puddings according to the package directions and keep in the fridge until ready to use.
4. Once the crust is completely cooled, prepare the cheesecake filling.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar until combined and smooth on medium speed. Add in the cool whip on low speed and mix until combined.
6. To assemble, spread the cheesecake over the graham cracker crust. Then, spread the vanilla pudding over the cheesecake. Next, spread the chocolate pudding on top. Last, layer 1 package of cool whip on top. I also topped mine with crushed candy canes

** Remember, for thicker layers, double the pudding recipes, not the cheesecake recipe!

I forgot to take a picture when it was finished and pretty. Here's a low-quality picture of it half eaten with the candy canes melting into the cool whip...lovely, I know.

Roast Chicken

The original name of this recipe is "Marry Me Roast Chicken". While this recipe is great, I wasn't overly wowed, so I certainly wouldn't have gotten down on one knee for myself, however, this recipe is very simple and very good. I guess you could call it the Good Wife's Roast Chicken, or something homemaker-ish or domestic-ish, because it's a perfect recipe for a weeknight meal for a couple.

Next time, I would definitely opt for a bigger chicken. The recipe calls for a 3-4 lb roaster, but I would go bigger. I like having leftovers and the garlic, lemon and herbs just barely fit inside. I think I'd like to add more to the rub on the outside as well, rather than just the plain old salt and pepper. I'm all about flavor. The chicken did come out juicy, slightly dry at the surface, but good enough for me. Also, the 50 minute cook time...not so much. My chicken cooked for an hour and a half and then I kept it on warm as I prepped my sides and Dan and I brought in the Christmas tree! I served it with jasmine rice and butter and brown sugar carrots.

Roast Chicken
from Family Style Food

3-4 lb roasting chicken ( I recommend bigger)
salt and pepper
1 lemon, punctured about 10 times with a skewer
1 small head of garlic, cut in half
handful of herbs (I used thyme, sage and rosemary)

1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
2. Sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper. Fill with the garlic, herbs and lemon.
3. Rub the chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Place in a roasting pan, breast side down. Let the chicken sit at room temperature while you preheat the oven to 425 for at least 20 minutes.
5. Roast for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully flip the chicken over. Set the oven to 350 and roast for 25 more minutes. I ended up keeping mine in at 350 for about an hour, I'm not exactly sure how long, I just kept checking on it. Then I kept it on warm until the sides were done and cut it served it!

An easy side to add are butter and brown sugar carrots. Just boil baby carrots and drain. Mix a few tablespoons of melted butter with a few tablespoons of brown sugar.

Raw chickens are gross.

Roast chicken birthing a lemon

Double-Chocolate Pudding

When you read about baking, you tend to read things like "baking is a science", "you have to be precise", "meringues", "temper", and other fun, yet intimidating terms. I sometimes forget how simple baking can be, though. Well, the right recipe. Often times, I choose recipes that look fancy and are time consuming, or that are mini (mini cheesecakes, mini tarts) and time consuming, or I find a recipe that sounds like it's super easy, but then you have to make swiss meringue something and use a candy thermometer and whip egg whites, and yadda yadda yadda.

Last night, I was going through my bon appetite Desserts cookbook. By the way, this cookbook is great if you are a beginning baker and want to work your way up. They give each recipe a whisk rating, from 1-4 in terms of difficulty.

I decided to look through all the one-whisk recipes and see what things I could make, then maybe make some of the two-whisk, then the three-whisk...

I would say "and so forth", but the four-whisk recipes are pretty demanding, and I like my baking to be a challenge but fun. I hate when you make a time-consuming difficult recipe and then when it comes out you're eating it with a little bit of scorn...where's the fun in that?

Anyways, as I was browsing the recipe, I noticed that this Double-Chocolate Pudding recipe required ingredients I had in my cabinet. I would've made it last night, but it was 10:30 already. Normally, I would've chosen a fancier recipe to make, but it's been a busy week already and chocolate pudding does sound pretty good.

Double-Chocolate Pudding
from bon appetite Desserts

1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
4 tsp. cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 cup whole milk (I used 2%)
1/2 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan until there are no more lumps.
2. Gradually whisk in half of the milk until smooth. Add in the rest of the milk and whisk.
3. Cook over medium heat until pudding thickens and comes to a boil, whisking constantly, about 5 minutes. Continue to boil for 1 minute longer, whisking constantly.
4. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate and vanilla until chocolate melts and is smooth. Divide between 2 small ramekins or dishes of your choice. Chill for 3 hours.