Toffee Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake a while ago. I bought the Hershey's Choc Toffee Bits from the US a while ago too and decided to make a cheesecake with it. Was so so so yummy. 

I know, I know, I shouldn't be eating it and to tell you the truth it was so long ago that I can't even remember when it was. But it was a hit with me and my middle child. Old fashioned toffee bits are awesome. 

So here is a super duper 'sugary' but so so so yummy cheesecake. 

Next time I will have to try it with some Natvia. What do you think....???

I only made a third of this recipe from the Hershey's site. If you get a chance to buy the Toffee Bits buy them. They rock. Mine are the chocolate ones but it still tastes yummo. 

By the way - I used Digestive biscuits as my base. See ya.

Strawberry 'Cheesecake'

In my search for a lower calories dessert I stumbled across the Weight Watchers Strawberry Mousse which has 125 calories for the whole packet - but it is very small and is only two serves. I love my cheese cake so did a search online to try and find a recipe that uses it. Nope none.

So it got me thinking about what I can do. A Strawberry cheesecake that has the WW Mousse and cream cheese to make it like a cheesecake. I followed the directions on the packet for the Mousse. Beat the Cream cheese until it was nice and smooth. Folded in the strawberry mousse. 

Done. Hmmm not quite. It actually tasted just like cream cheese and not strawberry. So I got out my strawberry Jam and added one tablespoon at a time and mixed it up. In total I added 5 tablespoons and it tastes so nice. For a lower calorie alternative you could use Weight Watchers Strawberry jam and it would be 81cals instead of the 160 for normal jam. 

 One thing I will point out is that it definately needs gelatin. It is sloppy. I actually remedied mine by putting it in the freezer overnight and then thawing it out again in the fridge. It was set but of course having gelatin in it would work better. Enjoy. 

I used Digestive biscuits for the base and about 4-5 tablespoons of unsalted butter but you could probably reduce the calories down even lower using something like a pretzel base. 

Strawberry Cheesecake - lower Calorie

Ingredients:

Base:

6 digestive biscuits

4-5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

Filling:

Weight Watchers Strawberry flavoured Mousse

125 ml skim milk

250g reduced fat cream cheese - I used the 50% less fat one from Safeway.

5 tablespoons of strawberry jam

Gelatin - follow the instructions on packet for about 400ml of liquid. 

Put biscuits in food processor until they are fine crumbs. Mix the melted butter and crumbs together and put in to the base of you pie dish. Put in fridge to chill.

Mix the milk and mousse mix together until nice and thick. Beat the cream cheese until nice and smooth and fold the mousse in to it. With the mixer beat all ingredients with the jam. Add in the gelatin and mix well. 

Cover with plastic wrap (it will dry out if you don't) and put in the fridge for a couple of hours at least. 

If you don't want to use the gelatin, do what I did and put in the freezer. 

225 calories in each serve if you cut in to 12 slices - if you can bring that up to 16 slices it drops it to 150 cals per serve. 

One Big Oreo Biscuit Base

FIGJAM....!!!! Yep I said it I am good. If you don't know what FIGJAM is google it. You will laugh. 

Why am I good....???? Well my dears I came up with (I think) the first Full Oreo Biscuit Base. What does that mean...??? Well traditionally when making a cheesecake or pie etc you blitz your Oreo's or Graham Crackers (or digestives if you are in Australia) in a food processor and add melted butter and sugar. Well I made one big homemade Oreo cookie and used it as my base. No blitzing. No melted butter. No added sugar. 

Why....??? Because no one else has done it and I wanted a challenge. LOL. I Googled 'Oreo base' and all I came up with was the crumbed biscuits bases not a full 'biscuit' so I am saying I am the first so there. LOL.

So first things first I needed an Oreo recipe. Got it. So on to the work. 

 I used a 6.5" springform, leak proof pan. 

 Make your Oreo cookie dough and then roll out to a 1/8 inch thickness.

I think mine was a little thicker than that but not matter.

 I took my tin and with a knife I cut out the dough to be about 3/4 inch wider than 

the bottom of the tin. 

 This was the hard part and it was a mess in the end but it worked when cooked.

I pushed the round dough in to the tin and then 'mended' all the rips and gaps

with the left over dough on the bench. 

 Close up of it - mess and all.

 Cooked it for 6 1/2 mins at 180 degrees celsius. 

The cookies are supposed to be cooked for 10 - 12 mins at the small size so thought

this was perfect time.

 Here are the cookies I made with the left over dough. 

 Made a NY based style cheesecake and poured in to the tin on top of 

Oreo base. I cooked in oven at 180 degrees for 12mins and then reduced temp 

down to 120 degrees for 45mins. You could take out as soon as you think it is ready.

Different ovens - different times normally. 

Sorry about the horrible plate but the hazards of having kids. I put on plate and 

then realized I needed to take a photo. You get the idea though. 

 This was the finished product. Oh so yummy. Fluffy and the base........????

This is why I say I am good. It turned out perfectly. It didn't break when I cut the piece off. The underneath was nice and moist from the cheesecake sitting on top of it. It is not hard like I thought it might be. 

So there you have it. I did it. You have seen a first (as far as I know). 

I got my Oreo cookie recipe here.

My NY Baked Cheesecake recipe from here (I used half recipe with 2 eggs and one egg white instead of three eggs). 

Now do you think it could work with a Homemade Graham Cracker dough.....?? I reckon it could. 

Toblerone Cheesecake Bars

Okay if you haven't noticed - I have a serious cheesecake addiction. I love everything cheesecake. 

I had a sister of a friend suggest I try Pinterest as I wasn't on there. Oh gosh. Bad mistake. I should have stayed away. I can't stop looking at yummy yummy food. I just can't help it. It ain't good for my waistline and my 'diet' I am on. I can't help myself when this is involved. The temptation is just too great and I had to have a taste - and then a second taste - and just for good measure I had to make sure it really did taste good. LOL. Ahhhhhh...!!!! Oh for some self control. 

I have been meaning to try Toblerone Cheesecake for years - I mean it. My sister made it about 7-8yrs ago - yes that long ago. You see she used to live just around the corner from me. We saw each other every day even after my first born arrived - probably more so after he was born. Now she lives 6 hours away by car - boo hoo. I miss her so much. Anyway back on track - when I tasted it - oh wow so yummy and thought I needed to try it at the time. 

Fast forward 7yrs and I decided to give these 'bars' a go. Wow so yummy but must admit that it is not what I remember. Different recipe granted, but even still it tastes 'different'. Must be the sour cream in it. Or maybe just coz I have been making so much NY Baked cheesecake that this tastes different to that. No matter. 

I did over mix this so when I took it out of the oven it cracked like a b$#@h. Bugger. Good thing I could drizzle melted Toblerone on top and sprinkle chopped bits on top too but it does make it hard to cut the set chocolate though. I will next time maybe try one more egg in the mix and a couple tablespoons of flour just to make it to my liking. 

If you want to give this a go - I got this recipe from Once Upon a Cutting Board. 

Now I have to figure out how to at Pinterest to my blog posts. I can't seem to figure out how to do it on the new Blogger. 

Bailey's Cheesecake Cupcakes

Oh wow oh wow oh wow...!!!!

You would not believe how delighted I am to have tried these babies out. Being a devoted cheesecake lover I was excited when I found a recipe (or several) for Bailey's cheesecake. Yummo. Nothing like the hidden awesomeness of some 'plonk'. 

I found one with the most Bailey's in the recipe - coz you know you have to be able to taste the alcohol or it just ain't worth it - so definately adults only. Only trouble is they are so so so yummy that I had about three of the babies and I am on a 'diet' - eeeeeekkkkk....!!!!!

I don't do process photos most of the time so sorry for that but there isn't really much to it. 

 Oh so so so creamy and yummy. 

I used an Oreo base for mine.

I got the recipe here at Baked In.

I made 1/3 of the recipe - so one egg and I just estimated the other amounts (not hard). I made 6 cupcakes. Mine look totally different to Baked In. 

Baked Chocolate Cheesecake

Okay I am the best. Yes I am not always full of confidence in my everyday life - in fact I am very much a shy person but when it comes to crafting or creating things I am good at a lot of things and cooking/baking seems to be working out to be the same.

I need to start by saying that I used to hate baking - thought it took too much time to do things. WRONG. If anything, if you are really organized and have all your ingredients and utensils and tools ready to work with, baking does not take a lot of time at all.

So yesterday I thought I would make a Baked Chocolate Cheesecake but I couldn't find a recipe that I thought was suitable for me - so I made up one myself. You will have to forgive the 'nasty' photos but I wasn't actually intending on putting up a post about the CC but I tasted it and OMG it is divine. Hence - I AM GOOD.

This is creamy and decadent and has the right amount of chocolaty flavour.

Baked Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Base

100g Chocolate ripple biscuits - finely crushed

25gms castor sugar

70g melted unsalted butter

Filling

500g Cream cheese (2pkts)

1/2 cup castor sugar

2 Tbls plain flour

3 large eggs - room temperature

50mls double cream

150gms melted dark chocolate

Method:

Preheat oven to 177degrees celcius (350f) with a baking tray in the middle.

For crust:

Blitz your choc ripple biscuits and sugar in a food processor to get it nice and fine and mixed well. Melt butter in microwave and add it to the biscuits and sugar. Mix well and press in to a springform pan and place in fridge to chill while you make the filling.

For filling:

In a bowl of a stand mixer (can of course use a handheld) place the cream cheese, sugar and flour. Beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2mins). Scrap down the sides when needed. Add an egg at a time and mix (about 30secs). Scrape sides and add cream and melted chocolate. Mix until well incorporated. Remove crust from fridge and pour in the filling. Place the cheesecake pan on the tray sitting in the middle of the oven.

Bake for 15mins and then turn heat down to 120 degrees (250f) and continue to bake for a further 45 minutes or until firm and only the center of the cheesecake lookes wet and wobbly. I actually baked for the full 45mins and took out. Cool on a wire rack. Remove the outside of the springform pan, and chill further. Place in the fridge when completely cool. Chill overnight.

As this is baked you can also freeze it but chances are you won't have any left over to freeze.

Key Lime Pie

Evening - or at least it is here in Australia.

I have been fasinated in Key Lime Pie ever since I saw one of the characters on the show 'Dexter' trying to find the best KLPie and when I found some Key Lime Juice at USA Foods Australia I couldn't go past buying some and giving the pie a go. So the recipe search began and I found a very simple recipe that has the crust and three ingredients. This is divine. If you like your dessert pies tart than this is for you. Very tarty like Lemon Meringue Pie - which is a favourite in this house too.

Too eager to eat some I forgot a photo before slicing it up.

Mmmmm yummo

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients:

Crust

150gms Digestive Biscuits, blitzed in food processor

3 tablespoons castor sugar

1/3 cup butter, salt reduced

Pie

250g Cream Cheese (one block) do not use reduced fat

1/2 cup Key Lime Juice

1 can sweetened condensed milk.

Method

Melt butter in the microwave and add to blitzed biscuits and sugar. Press in to pie dish and put in fridge to set a little.

Whip softened cheese with a beater (I used my food processor) to improve consistency. Add condensed milk and juice and mix until well combined. Pour over the crust and refridgerate for at least four hours.

I loved this and my hubby did too - in fact I turned around to have another piece - after I had a few pieces already and it was all gone. LOL. I am so making this again but might add some green colouring as well to really make it look like lime pie.

Mini Baked Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ever since last weekend when I made the New York Style Cheesecake I have been meaning to make smaller ones as having a big cheesecake is - a) tempting and b) so so so much. LOL. I had a go today (as well as making two lots of Whoopie Pies but more on that tomorrow) by halving the recipe for the big cheesecake. Unfortunately the recipe for the big one called for 5eggs and of course you can't half an egg so I used 2 eggs. Maybe next time I will do with 3 eggs. I also used the 30% less fat cream cheese as it is softer and a lot easier to mix with my hand mixer.

Batter all ready to go.

In the oven for 20mins

I use a small ice cream scoop.

All baked. Unfortunately they tend to collapse as soon as you take out of oven.

The finished product was good but will definately do them a bit bigger next time as you could easily eat 5-10 of them that are really small. I didn't do the base with the Digestive biscuits this time but will do next time for sure.

Mini Baked Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients:

500 g reduced fat cream cheese

1/2 cup castor sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons of plain flour

2 eggs

40ml Heavy whipping cream

1/2 tablespoons lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

Mix cream cheese, sugar and flour with an electric beater on medium speed for about 1-2mins until nice and smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add eggs - one at a time. Scrape sides again and add whipping cream, zest and essence.

Place in cupcake patties in a muffin tray and put in an oven heated to 190 degrees celcius for 15-20 mins. Let stand until cooled and place in the fridge overnight. These are best served cool.

NY Style Cheesecake

Over the last couple of weeks I have become addicted to 'Cake Boss' the show about Buddy and his family business - Carlos' Bakery in Hoboken NY. In one of the episodes they go to Italy and some of the bakers there asked if they could show them how to make a NY Cheesecake. So I did a Google search and found a recipe at Joy for Baking - here. Such a simple recipe and was quite easy to make - well except for the hand mixer I have wouldn't mix the cream cheese very well even sitting at room temp for over an hour.

As I only had a 8" springform pan I decided to make a couple of small ones without the Digestive Biscuits. Turned out really well - and the bonus is that I can freeze them and eat another day. It is creamy and very rich - but oh so yummy. It wasn't wobbly in the middle. I cooked for 85mins.

Right out of the oven. We ate it hot but can't wait to try it cooled down. This recipe calls for sour cream and sugar mixed as a topping but we opted not to have that.

Yummo.....!!!!

New York Style Cheesecake from Joy of Baking

Crust

2 cups Graham crackers or digestive biscuits (200g)

1/4 cup (50gms) white sugar

1/2 cup (114gms) unsalted butter - room temp - I actually used about 15gms more as it just didn't seem enough.

Filling

1kg (4 blocks in Oz) cream cheese - full fat

1 cup (200g) white sugar

3 tablespoons plain flour

5 eggs - room temp

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream - double cream

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For Crust: In a medium sized bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch (2.5 cm) up the sides of the springform pan. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For Filling: In bowl of your electric mixer place the cream cheese, sugar, and flour. Beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 30 seconds) after each addition.Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the whipping cream, lemon zest, vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour in the filling. Place the cheesecake pan on a larger baking pan and place in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) and continue to bake for about another 60 -90 minutesor until firm and only the center of the cheesecake looks a little wet and wobbly. (The baking time can vary due to the differences in ovens, so make sure to check that the cheesecake is firm with only the center being a little wet and wobbly.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack.

Remove from oven and carefully run a knife or spatula around the inside edge of pan to loosen the cheesecake (helps prevent the surface from cracking as it cools).

Let cool completely before covering with plastic wrap. Refrigerate several hours, preferably overnight.