Back to the grind...

Well it's been a long summer, but I'm back.

Things to look forward to in the next month or so...

- The latest Daring Bakers challenge
- Previous Daring Bakers challenges, including Dobos Torte, Bakewell Tart, Strudel, Mallows and Milan Cookies
- New weight watcher friendly recipes

See you on the 27th!

Em

Hiatus

I've taken a break from Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks, life has been a bit hectic.

Of course that didn't stop me from having a major cook-fest a few days ago, making a lasagne, a chili, a curry and some soup in one go. :)

Anyways, I'll be back in September with more awesome recipes, with step by step pictures :D

Emma

Daring Bakers April Challenge : Mountains of Cheesecake

I'm not usually a fan of baked cheesecakes, I prefer the non-baked set-by-geletin kind, but I'm not one to avoid a challenge either. Unfortunately my timing in making this months challenge was a critical failure, since I went back to Weight Watchers 2 days before I made it! This meant that the cheesecakes were given to work and house mates to feast on.

And now, the formalities :

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Anyways, I decided to make 8 different flavours of mini cheesecakes, since I knew I'd never get through a whole large one myself. I used the main recipe, which I increased to 1 and a half times, and then split into 8 for each flavour. The recipe below is for the base of two flavours at a time (or 12 bun sized bases) and one filling (or 6 bun sized fillings).


Part 1 : Base

Ingredients :


70g each biscuit (shortbread, chocolate chip cookies, gingernuts, digestives)
1 oz butter

Method :

01. Blend each biscuit into crumbs.


02. Melt the butter, and stir in biscuit.

04. Add about 1 tbsp biscuit mix into bun case.

05. Flatten with the back of a spoon.


06. Add a few nuts to base for an extra crunch.





07. Set aside.

Part 2 : Basic Filling

Ingredients :


125g cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cream
1 small egg

Method :

01. Cream the cheese and sugar until smooth.


02. Add the egg.


03. Beat in the egg until completely incorporated.


04. Beat in the cream.


Part 3 : Flavourings and Finishings

Ingredients :


Coffee/Milk Chocolate : 1 tbsp mocha coffee mix

Maple/Pecan : 18 pecans, 2 tbsp maple syrup

Coffee/Hazelnut : 48 hazelnuts, 1 tbsp instant coffee

White Chocolate/Strawberry : 3 squares grated white chocolate, 2 large strawberries

Coconut : 2 tbsp shredded coconut

Triple Berry : 5 blackberries, 5 raspberries, 2 large strawberries

White Chocolate/Milk Chocolate : 3 squares grated milk chocolate, 3 squares grated white chocolate

Milk Chocolate/Orange : 3 squares grated milk chocolate, zest of 1/2 an orange

Method :

01. Add flavour directly in to basic filling mix and stir.


02. Pour or spoon mix on top of base.







03. Bake at 160 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes.

04. Open oven door slightly, turn off oven, leave for 1 hour as oven cools.

05. Cool completely on a wire rack.

06. Refridgerate overnight.

Part 4 : Decorating

Shortbread – Maple /Pecan – Pecan	Digestive – Coffee/Hazelnut – Hazelnut	Shortbread – Coconut – None	Cookie – Milk Chocolate /Orange – Orange Jelly /Milk Chocolate
Digestive – Triple Berry – Blackberry Jelly	Gingernut – White Chocolate /Milk Chocolate – White Chocolate /Milk Chocolate	Gingernut – White Chocolate /Strawberry – Strawberry Jelly /White Chocolate	Cookie – Coffee /Milk Chocolate – Milk Chocolate with Coffee /Milk chocolate