Birthday Cheesecake!

This beautiful cheesecake is in honor of The Boy and his 12th birthday today.

He's grown so fast.  Here we are at my wedding - he was not yet three... he loved that tuxedo.

And just this summer, I took this reflection picture of us... he's taller than me!

He had his birthday party last night, and had a blast playing mini-golf and riding go-carts with his friends.

The Boy loves cheesecake, and I was inspired by Beth's recipe for cheesecake leaves over at Hungry Happenings.  I adapted the recipe - here it is:


Snowflake Cheesecake


Ingredients:

• butter, to coat the inside of your leaf mold
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 8 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Butter your snowflake mold. Place the silicone mold on a baking sheet before filling.

Combine cream cheese, sugar, heavy whipping cream, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of a food process or pulse until smooth.

In a small bowl, mix blue food coloring and about 1/3 of the cheesecake mixture.  Spread most of it on the bottom of your buttered mold.

Add 1/3 of the white cheesecake mixture to the remaining blue cheesecake mixture and mix, making a lighter blue color.

Spread the light blue over the top of the dark blue in your mold.

Add the remaining white mixture on the top of the blue.

Swirl the mixture around so that it will be marbled when it is sliced.

Bake your cheesecakes for about 30 minutes, or until cheesecake center barely moves when pan is touched.

Allow your cheesecakes to cool for an hour then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

You may need to trim your cheesecake a bit before unmolding.  Because the side that is currently up will be the bottom, you want it to be as flat as possible.

With a paring knife, trim any edges that are uneven.

Now, check the sides of the mold to make sure it is not sticking.  Center your serving plate over the cheesecake and carefully turn the cake over to unmold.

Doesn't it look pretty?

They are ready to serve, but can be kept in the refrigerator for several days in an airtight container.  This cheesecake has a lovely flavor.

I am certain The Boy will be happy to see it tonight when he gets home from school.  I hope he has an incredible 12th birthday - he deserves it!

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Birthday Cupcake Frosting

Do you remember last week when I made those crazy Chocolate Caramel Peanut Popcorn cupcakes for The Boy?

Well, this week it was The Girl's turn.  In honor of her 15th birthday (oy!) I pulled out the best ever frosting recipe.  Seriously.  The best.  Ever.

Doesn't it look divine?

I made regular white cupcakes from a box.  I didn't want anything to interfere with the flavor of this frosting.  Then I made this:

Nutella Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 cup salted butter, softened, but cool
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1 tablespoon milk

Directions:

To make the frosting, in a bowl of stand mixer, combine the powdered sugar and butter and beat on low speed for about 1 minute.  Add vanilla, and beat on low speed until well combined.

Add the melted and slightly cooled chocolate and beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes).

Add the Nutella and beat on med-high speed for another minute.  If too thick, you can add small increments of more milk and blend until smooth.

You'll end up with wonderful chocolate deliciousness that looks like this:

You'll really want to like the beater.  And you can go ahead - I won't tell.

Now, to frost the cupcakes, I used a pastry bag with a large star tip.  I piped around the outside rim of the cupcake, and spiraled inward, pulling up at the end to get the point.

This frosting is really easy to work with.  It is nice and soft, but it holds up in the heat.  It was in the upper 90s when I was making these, and I even put them under lights to get some pictures, and there was no melting.

This recipe frosts just a little more than a dozen cupcakes pretty generously.



I'd make and extra one and set it aside for a midnight snack.

You'll thank me later.

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Chocolate Caramel Peanut Popcorn Cupcakes

The Boy gets braces tomorrow.  And we all know what that means.  A couple of years of eating corn cut off the cob, sliced apples, no popcorn or nuts... and no chewy candy.

So we planned a dinner to make sure he had most of those things.  We had ribs and corn on the cob.  He loves those.  And I made special cupcakes that had all kinds of braces-unfriendly ingredients.

This is more of a process than a recipe - and here's how it goes:

Chocolate Caramel Peanut Popcorn Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 12 Chocolate cupcakes from your favorite recipe (or a box - that's what I used this time), each with a caramel placed in the center prior to baking
• Chocolate frosting
• Vanilla Frosting
• 1 bag microwave popcorn, popped
• 8 large marshmallows
• 1 tablespoon margarine
• 12 pieces peanut brittle (I used jalapeno peanut brittle... recipe to come later this week)

Directions:

1. Apply chocolate frosting to each cupcake.
2. Microwave the marshmallows and 3 cups of popcorn for about 15 - 30 seconds, or until marshmallow is soft.
3. Stir in the margarine, and mix until the popcorn is coated with the marshmallow.
4. Working quickly, put a spoonful of the popcorn mixture onto each cupcake.
5. Pipe (or spoon) a mound of vanilla frosting onto the top of each cupcake.
6. Add a piece of peanut brittle to the top.
7. Enjoy (I'll leave it to you to figure out the best way to eat these tall, chewy, crunchy delights!)

Yum!  If you are going to have to have braces, this is an excellent dessert to usher in the era of metal!

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Steak with Balsamic BBQ Sauce

Summer is prime BBQ season.  Even for San Diego.  And we made some fantastic steaks the other night, using a recipe based on Bobby Flay's Flank Steak with Balsamic BBQ Sauce.

This BBQ sauce has great, complex flavors, and is spicy but without too much heat.  If you like it hotter, add another chipotle or two, or some additional cayenne pepper.

Steak with Balsamic BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

3 cups balsamic vinegar

4 tablespoons canola oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup ketchup

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons ancho chili powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon paprika

1 heaping tablespoon yellow mustard

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 canned chipotle chile in adobo, chopped

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons molasses

Pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning

2 - 3 pounds of steak 

There are a lot of ingredients.  But trust me, it will be worth it.

Directions 

Put the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced to 1 cup.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Add the onions and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the ketchup and the water and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the reduced vinegar and the remaining ingredients and simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Pour into a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature. Sauce will keep for 1 week in the refrigerator stored in a tightly sealed container.

Heat the grill to high.

Brush the flank steak with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Grill until golden brown on the 1 side, about 4 minutes, turn over and grill until the other side is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Move to a cooler part of the grill away from direct heat. Baste with the sauce and turn several more times until cooked to medium-rare doneness, about 10 minutes longer.

Remove from the grill to a cutting board and loosely tent with foil. Let rest 10 minutes.  Arrange the flank steak slices on the bread and garnish with sliced scallions before serving.

 Delicious - and if you follow the instructions above, perfectly cooked.  Even The Boy, who thinks he doesn't like spicy food, thought this was amazing!


What is your favorite thing to put on the grill this summer?

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Olympic Dinner: Greek Nectarine Tart

Olympic fever is everywhere, and our house is no exception.  We' always enjoyed taking in the Olympic games - and we've tried to make it a learning experience for our kids at the same time.

One of my personal favorites was 2004, when the games were in Athens.  Our Sunday dinner on that first weekend celebrated Greece.  We had traditional Greek food, and created one of my favorite pieces of art in our home:

Can you see the Olympic rings?  And can you tell what it is made of?

How about now?

Plates!  We purchased special plates with Olympic colors on them, and at the end of our dinner, we threw them into the fireplace!  Opa!   (or Oplah! according to The Boy, who was 3 at the time)  Afterwards, The Mr and I created the mosaic art above and we've had it hanging since.

We've toned down our dinners since then, as The Children are less inclined to enjoy them.  For 2008's Beijing games, we had a fabulous Chinese dinner and these cupcakes.  We didn't break any plates though.

We themed this year's Olympics dinner with dishes from each of the areas represented in the games.

Our dessert was a Greek-inspired Nectarine Tart.  Made with a phyllo-dough crust, and just a bit of honey to enhance the sweetness of the nectarines, this was quite healthy as well.  Here's how we made it:

Greek Nectarine Tart

Ingredients:

• 10 sheets phyllo dough
• cooking spray
• 4 larges nectarines, pitted and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

Spray a nine-inch tart pan with cooking spray (you could also use a pie pan).  

Carefully unfold the phyllo dough and place one sheet into the tart pan.  Press the dough down along the sides and bottom, and spray with cooking spray.  The edges of the dough will hang over the edge of the pan.   Turn the pan 45 degrees.  Place a second sheet over the first sheet, press the dough into the pan and spray with cooking oil.  Turn the pan 45 degrees and repeat the dough layer.  (Turning the pan ensures that the edges of the dough hang over all side evenly) Repeat the dough layering until all of the phyllo is in the pan.

Starting at the outer edge of the pan, layer the nectarine slices around the pan in a circular fan shape.  Once all of the fruit is in the pan, mix the honey, water and almond extract.  Pour this mixture over the tart evenly.

Trim the overhanging edge of the phyllo dough with a pair of scissors.  You can leave as much or as little as you like, depending on your artistic taste.  If you leave some, be sure it is well sprayed with cooking spray so that it browns properly into a crust.

Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes, or until crust is browned and tart is bubbly.  

Cool and serve.

We enjoyed our homage to Greece for our Olympic dessert a lot!

Have you made any Olympic-themed foods?

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Boy Scout Food

Last weekend, The Mr and The Boy went to new scout camp, so that The Boy could get some experience camping with the Boy Scouts.

It was not The Boy's first time camping, but it was The Mr's first time.

Things he didn't like:

• hard, rocky and root-covered ground
• loud night-time environment
• no shower facilities

Basically, the same reasons I don't like camping.  We're well matched.  :-)

Things he did like:

• spending time with The Boy
• having The Boy do all the work (which is what they are supposed to do for this overnight experience)
• eating the wonderful Boy Scout Dutch Oven food

Like these Boy Scout Baked Beans....

Which the dads made...

With many hands and many opinions..

Do many hands make quicker work?  Hmm...

The dads also made the desserts.  Apparently, the Russian Cherry Delight was unbelievable.

Butter and marshmallows on top.  Sounds good to me already.

Yum!

And then they got to enjoy a well-deserved campfire.

Great first camping trip guys!


Do you camp?  Or send your Boy to Scout Camp?

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