Cheesecake Brownies

Struck by the strong urge to not do my school work, I decided that a much better way to spend my time would be by baking something. So without much hesitation at all, I decided to try my hand at some cheesecake brownies from my trusty old Joy Of Cooking. 

Can you ask for anything better than the combination of brownies and cheesecake? I'm still trying to come up with something...maybe brownie ice cream? But thats a whole other post.

Cheesecake Brownies

courtesy of the Joy Of Cooking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8x8 inch pan with greased foil, allowing excess to hang over the edge.

Whisk together in a bowl and then set aside:

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Melt in the microwave in 30 second installments:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolates

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Let cool 'til barely warm. Add until well blended:

2/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat in one at a time until well combined:

2 large eggs

Stir in:

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until well blended and smooth. Scrape into the prepared pan. Bake 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine in a food processor until well blended:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into chunks

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest.

Spread evenly over the chocolate layer. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake until cheesecake is lightly browned and set in the middle, about 32 to 36 minutes. Cool completely, place in the fridge until well chilled. Remove from pan with overhanging foil, and cut into bars.

I found these to be a very fun recipe to make, a little difficult in my tiny kitchen, but that was just a little hiccup. Be sure to cut these nice a small, they are very rich and delicious! Enjoy!!

Homemade Soft Pretzels!

I love, really really love making yeast breads. They take too long since I'm an impatient person, but they are so worth it. Since there's only little old me in my apartment, I was reluctant to make a big 'ol loaf of bread. So instead, I made a big 'ol batch of soft pretzels...much better. 

Some years back, I got this awesome cookbook called "The Dough Maker's Cookbook" and I have used it as one of my favorites. In this wonderful book is an even more wonderful recipe for soft pretzels, another true love of mine. I have made these before, but they came out a little sloppy, and if you know me, I don't like sloppy. Although sloppy, they were absolutely delicious, so I had no reservations about making them again. As far as a yeast dough, they do not take very long at all to rise, only 30 minutes, so that was just what I was looking for. 

Dough Maker's Soft Pretzels

courtesy of The Dough Maker's Cookbook

4 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1/2 cup rye flour or additional ap flour

2 tablespoons malt powder or sugar

Two 1/4 oz packages active dry yeast

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon molasses (I didn't have molasses, I used honey instead)

1 1/2 cup hot water (12o to 130 degrees Fahrenheit)

4 cups warm water

1/4 cup baking soda

Pretzel or kosher salt for sprinkling

4 tablespoons melted butter

In a large bowl combine the flours, malt powder, yeast and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together the oil, molasses and hot water, add to the flour mixture and combine. When the dough comes together, turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and slightly tacky, about 10 minutes. Cover with a dish towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

Punch down the dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into 12 pieces, each about the size of a lemon. Roll each piece beneath the palms of your hands to form a 20 inch rope. This is easiest done on an unfloured surface with clean hands, the stickiness will help you. The dough will shrink, so when you are finished, go back to the first and stretch them a bit.

Preheat the oven to 4oo degrees Fahrenheit.

Shape the pretzels by making a U shape facing away from you, then cross and twist the ends, pinch the ends where they meet the base to seal the knot.

Fill a large bowl with the warm water and dissolve the baking soda. Holding the pretzels by the pinched ends, dip into the water for a few seconds and then blot on a towel to dry the bottoms. Place on a greased baking sheet, sprinkle with pretzel or kosher salt and bake until golden, around 12 to 15 minutes. Brush with melted butter when they are still hot.

As stated above, I love the process of making yeast breads. The smell of them cooking is so incredibly comforting, I can just close my eyes and be back in my babysitter's kitchen, waiting impatiently for the deliciousness baking away in the oven. The entire process is a joy to me, and again, the smell! Making these pretzels was fun because I got to play around with twisting my very own pretzels. This time around, being the perfectionist that I am, I was very careful about twisting them into just the right shape. And I must say, they turned out beautifully, all golden brown and delicious. I will definitely be making these again sometime soon.

Farmer's Market

This is a shout out to Elizabeth, who has been badgering me to join her down at the local farmer's market in our home town for some time now. Since the market runs from 9-12 on Saturday mornings, I've been reluctant to join because I value my sleep-in time very much. But being one of my favorites, I finally agreed to meet her down there. For a small town market, it has really flourished in Granville, with a great variety of vendors from home made sausages and cheeses to all kinds seasonal produce and locally grown flowers. 

One of the vendors was a woman that made all kinds of beautiful pies and pastries, both sweet and savory. I was very excited by her variety of personal sized treats, they were all so cute! 

I have always loved the feel from farmer's markets, the raw freshness of it all, the smells. The pride on the faces of the people selling their produce. There is a level of respect that I feel they deserve, with their deliciously imperfect looking stock just waiting to be made into something wonderful. 

"Maters"

Now that my senior year is in full swing, I'm getting the feeling that the frequency at which I will be posting is going to diminish. So with that ominous feeling, it looks like I'm going to have to dip into my reserve of posts (which are also very few!). I realized the other day that I have not posted one of my photography related posts in quite some time. Actually, this will only be the second one, so hopefully I can start to pick up on these and share some of my artwork.

For those who may not remember from my long ago post, these images that I am sharing are ones from last spring's advanced photography class at Ohio Wesleyan. I chose to do food photography (big surprise) and these are the results.

If you are wondering what exactly you are looking at, these are tomatoes. What I love so much about this body of work is the mystery of how certain foods are going to turn out. For these posts, I plan to include a recipe related to the food pictured, so here you go!

What to do with all these Tomatoes

One of my oldest friends Elizabeth has a lovely little garden, and in that lovely little garden, she has lots and lots of tomatoes. Just about all summer she has been graciously offering me tomatoes and other home grown vegetables. And it just so happened to take me until nearly the end of summer to take her up on that offer. The other day I was feeding my addiction on TasteSpotting and come across this blog that had a fantastic and beautiful recipe for a tomato and goat cheese tart. So without a moment's hesitation, I had made plans with Elizabeth to make this lovely tart. 

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

adapted from Nami-Nami blog

1 sheet of puff pastry

5 ounces soft and creamy goat cheese

4 teaspoons fresh basil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2-4 ripe tomatoes

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roll out puff pastry dough and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Carefully score a line about 1/2 inch from the edge around the entire pastry, be sure not to cute all the way through! This will help the edges to puff up and keep the filling inside.

Mix the cheese, garlic, chopped basil and salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Spread the mixture evenly over the puff pastry, staying inside the scored lines.

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices and neatly place them over top the cheese mixture, being sure to stay inside the lines.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until pastry is golden and the tomatoes have dried up a bit.

Let sit for about 10 minutes then cut into squares and enjoy!

This was so much fun to make! I'm sure a great deal of it had to do with the fact that I was making this with a close friend, but either way. The ingredients were so simple and fresh, it was hard not to be excited about the outcome. It was such an easy recipe that took very little time to prepare, yet the final product was so elegant. And as for the taste...it was wonderful!! Elizabeth and I ended up eating most of it...we just kept going back and cutting off more. I highly, highly recommend trying this recipe.

Just Peachy

Well, as promised, I am still here and just so happened to have an abundance of peaches that desperately needed to be used, and were pretty much begging me to bake them into a pie. But I didn't stop there, not only did I use me some peaches, I also used me some blackberries. And can I just tell you how lovely the marriage between peaches and blackberries is? I'm not sure I really have to, but just in case there are those out there that are slightly unsure...peaches and blackberries were meant to be together. I find peach pie by itself to be slightly on the unexciting side, so tossing in some blackberries really got the party started. 

Using my trusty Joy Of Cooking I found the recipe titled "Any Fruit Pie." Now that's just the best recipe title, because the possibilities are endless!!! I use it quite often.  

Peach Blackberry Pie

Adapted from the Joy Of Cooking

Recipe for a two crust pie dough

3 cups peaches, pealed and sliced (fresh or frozen)

2 cups blackberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2-3/4 cup sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruit

3 tablespoons corn starch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

2-3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Prepare pie dough of choice, let chill.

Combine all ingredients except butter in a large bowl and let sit for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pour pie filling into rolled out bottom crust and dot pieces of butter all over the top of the filling.

Using your finger or a pastry brush, brush the edge of the pie dough all the way around the dish, to create a sticky surface for the two crusts to attach.

Top with top crust, seal all around and crimp together.

Cut steam vents in the top and bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.

After 30 min. reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly, about 30 minutes more.

Let cool for 2-3 hours before serving to allow the juices in the filling to set.

The above picture is what was left. Need I say more? 

I'm still here!!

To the few that may still possibly read my blog, have no fear, I am indeed still here. I just got back a few days ago from Montana where my brother lives. I've just been enjoying the last few lazy days of summer before the evilness of school takes over.

This is a picture of the sunset (obviously) on the last day of our stay on this beautiful lake. This is a view from the dock. While this has nothing to do with food, I think it's a wonderful place and seeing this picture just makes you feel good. Food posts to hopefully come soon.