Lemon Bar Cheesecake for Bebe

Today is my Mom's 85th birthday!  I wanted to make her cake and when I asked what kind she wanted she told me that she liked lemon cake and then told me she saw a recipe for a lemon cheesecake that she thought looked good.  Being the good daughter that I am, I made her the cheesecake that she saw in Southern Living.  It is called Lemon Bar Cheesecake.

The recipe sparked my interest because it had a pie crust instead of a graham cracker crust.  It had lemon curd swirled throughout the cheesecake with a layer of lemon curd on top.   The crust was easy to make but a real bear to get into the springform pan...I hung with it and pieced and patched and did the best I could.  They claimed that you did not need to blind bake the crust if you did it in a dark pan.  So I didn't, because I had a dark springform pan....and like magic, it turned out just great.

 Then you can top it off with candied lemon slices.  Which I did.  You just simmered lemon slices in sugar and lemon juice.  Then let it cool.

Everyone really enjoyed it...especially my Mom

Happy 85th Birthday, Bebe!  

Love you to the moon and back!

Lemon Bar Cheesecake

Using a dark springform pan ensures a golden brown crust 

without having to bake before adding the filling.

Southern Living FEBRUARY 2013

Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings

Hands-on:40 Minutes

Total:22 Hours, 45 Minutes

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

2 egg yolks

1 to 2 Tbsp. ice-cold water

4 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups Quick and Easy Lemon Curd, divided

Candied Lemon Slices (optional)

Preparation

Pulse first 3 ingredients in a food processor 3 or 4 times or just until blended. Add butter, and pulse 5 or 6 times or until crumbly. Whisk together egg yolks and 1 Tbsp. ice-cold water in a small bowl; add to butter mixture, and process until dough forms a ball and pulls away from sides of bowl, adding up to 1 Tbsp. remaining ice-cold water, 1 tsp. at a time, if necessary. Shape dough into a disk; wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 4 to 24 hours.

2. Roll dough into a 14-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Fit dough into a lightly greased 9-inch dark springform pan, gently pressing on bottom and up sides of pan; trim and discard excess dough. Chill 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325°. Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer 3 minutes or until smooth. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

4. Pour two-thirds of cheesecake batter (about 4 cups) into prepared crust; dollop 1 cup lemon curd over batter in pan, and gently swirl with a knife. Spoon remaining batter into pan.

5. Bake at 325° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or just until center is set. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven, with door closed, 15 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven, and gently run a knife around outer edge of cheesecake to loosen from sides of pan. (Do not remove sides of pan.) Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.

6. Remove sides of pan, and transfer cheesecake to a serving platter. Spoon remaining 1 cup lemon curd over cheesecake, and, if desired, top with Candied Lemon Slices.

French Macarons

Another attempt at macarons....

 I filled them with dulce de leche made from sweetened condensed milk.  

I just put the can in a pot of water and let it simmer for 3 hours and got this lovely brown goodness! 

I think I am getting better.  Still think I may be mixing it a little too long.  But I did get a nice smooth shell and those pretty little ruffled feet. 

Yay me!

Enjoy!

Nice tutorial and recipe here.

Nutella Scones: Baked Sunday Mornings

Had to go rogue this week.  
We are suppose to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondue.  
While I am a chocoholic, I was just not feelin' the fondue! 
  
So I made a recipe that I missed.  Nutella Scones!!  These are so easy to make and so very tasty!  Well, I still stayed in the chocolate nut family....that should count for something....right?  If you have not tried these yet, please do....especially if you are a Nutella fan.  You can get the recipe here.

To see what the other bloggers did with this challenge go here.

Next time I will probably stray from what we are suppose to do too...feelin a little rebellious these days!  Hehe!

Until then,

Enjoy!

Lemon Shaker Pie: Baked Sunday Mornings

I absolutely adore pie!  

When I saw that the Baked group was making this lemon pie I was so pleased because I have been wanting to make Lemon Shaker Pie for a long time now.  I think this is the first Baked pie I have made.  I missed all the other ones for some reason or the other.  (Oh no, I take that back, I did make the Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie but that had a vanilla wafer crust so I don't think you can count that).  Anyway, this is the first time I have made the Baked pie crust.  I loved how easy it came together and it rolls out beautifully.  It is flaky, buttery and delicious. ( I know because I made pie crust cookies with the leftover crust :D )

To make the filling you thinly slice lemons and let them sit in sugar for 48 hours.  It makes a syrupy marmalade kinda concoction.  Then you are suppose to fish out the lemons and lay them in the crust.  I skipped that part,  I really didn't get my lemons sliced thin enough so I while I was researching this pie I saw that someone put the lemon concoction into a food processor and blended it up some.  So, that is just what I did.  Then I mixed it right in with the eggs, melted butter and the rest of the ingredients and poured it all into my pie crust.

I have not tasted this pie yet, it is still cooling off on my counter....but I am imagining it is delicious!  I will dive into it tomorrow after work and will add another picture and my thoughts on how it tasted.  I am so late, I just want to get my post up.

to be continued....!

It was just a tad bit tart but it sure was a pretty pie!
I think if I would have gotten my lemons sliced paper thin it would have been just right.  Hubby gave it a thumbs up.

You can get the recipe here.
And you can see what the other bakers did here.
Next we will be baking out of the Baked Explorations cookbook and will be doing Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondue.  I think I will go rogue that week and try something I missed.

Until then....
Enjoy!

No- Knead Chocolate Cherry Pecan Bread: ABC

No Knead Chocolate Cherry Bread...sounds like it should be easy, right?  

For the most part it was easy, lots of waiting time and a very sticky dough that I don't think I controlled very well.  I was trying to put the add ins 

(chocolate, dried cherries, and toasted pecans) after the first rise.  I patted out the dough the best I could into a rectangular shape and 

sprinkled the add ins 

then rolled it up jelly roll style.  

I was trying to keep them inside the loaf like the recipes suggests you do.  Well, they did not swirl really pretty....

they just clumped all in the middle.  Darn!

 

It tasted good!

  I was expecting more of a crunchy crust, 

while mine turned out more chewy.

Oh well, live and learn!  

I do think this will make some pretty good 

toast in the morning, though!

The recipe is from the King Arthur Flour...you can find it here.

We have another bread slotted for next month. Cheese-stuffed Crust Loaves...we will see how I do with that one!

Until then

Enjoy!

Honey Banana Poppy Seed Bread....well almost!

Well here I go again....feeling really guilty for all the "bad" stuff I have been eating lately!!!  Once again I tried to make this Baked Elements recipe healthier.  This recipe is so quick and easy.  And it is pretty good too!  I am not a big fan of baked goods with banana's in them but this was good.  I was going to add blueberries....I am sorry I didn't now.

I substituted coconut oil for the vegetable oil, whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour, stevia in place of sugar, almond milk for milk, and used 

chia seeds instead of poppy seeds!

I halved the recipe so I made some cute little heart shaped muffins.  I figure it can be an easy eat and run breakfast for me this coming week!

While my version was good, I can imagine that the original recipe is awesome!  So if you love banana bread, I would recommend this recipe!

You can get the recipe here.

You can also take a gander at what the other bakers did here.

Next on the docket is Malted Milk Sandwich Cookies....oh my!

See you then!

Enjoy!