Archive for February, 2007
White Chocolate Raspberry Cheese Cake
Simple Cheesecake with white chocolate and raspberries
I’m still searching for the ‘perfect’ cheesecake recipe. This is the closest I’ve found so far. There are records of cheesecake being made 2,000 years ago, but it is believed to have been made as long as 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. It was served to Olympic athletes in Greece in 776bce. Today cheese cakes are usually made with cream cheese which was invented in 1872. Later in 1912, Kraft learned how to pasteurize cheese making cheese cake available to the masses.
Cheese filling
2 -8 oz packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla
Mix well
One chocolate, vanilla if you prefer, graham cracker crust
pour cheese mixture into crust
Fruit filling
1/4 cup raspberries
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1/2 cup white chocolate, melted (optional)
Mix well and then gently spoon onto cheese mixture and fold in gently with a spoon
Bake one and a half hours at 325′ until set in the middle
Tips:
Take the ingredients out of the refrigerator and sit them on the counter for a half hour so they warm up to room temperature.
Do not over mix the cheese mixture. Beat just until mixed.
Cool the cake slowly on the counter, not in the refrigerator or it will get cracks.
Honey Cake
Honey Cake
This is great for that leftover honey in the back of the cabinet. It keeps well and tastes better the second day. It is a heavy cake and goes great with coffee or tea.
2 sticks butter, softened
1 c honey, plus a bit to drip on top of cake
4 eggs well beaten
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. fresh lemon zest
3 c flour
2 tsp. baking soda
Grease a 9″ round pan
Mix together butter and 1 c of honey.
Add eggs gradually, beating well.
Add lemon juice and zest and mix into eggs, butter and honey mixture.
In a second bowl mix flour and baking soda.
Add slowly to honey mixture, mixing until just mixed.
Bake in greased pan at 350′ for ~one hour to 1 hour and ten minutes or until a knife inserted into middle comes out clean
Honey is the only edible food that does not go bad.
National Honey Board:Consumer Honey Tips
When baking with honey, remember the following:
* Reduce any liquid called for by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey used.
* Add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for each cup of honey used.
* Reduce oven temperature by 25°F to prevent over-browning.
Because of its high fructose content, honey has a higher sweetening power than sugar. This means you can use less honey than sugar to achieve the desired sweetness.
When measuring honey, coat the measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray or vegetable oil before adding the honey. The honey will slide right out.
A 12-ounce jar of honey equals a standard measuring cup.
We have cave paintings from ~12,000 years ago showing people collecting honey from bees hives. Monkey’s in the wild will take a stick and put it into a bees nest and drink the honey as it runs down the stick. Honey’s been a part of our diet for a very, very long time. ( from A History of Food
