No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake

17 July, 201317 July, 2013Marissa

This is one of my favorite summer dessert recipes. As soon as the blueberries start getting ripe, I start stocking up on cream cheese so I can make this wonderful little cheesecake. It will not work with frozen blueberries, so this is the only time of year we get to eat it. Aside from tasting great, it is ridiculously easy to make. Just make or buy a crust, beat cream cheese with sugar, toss the blueberries in sugar, put it all together and pop it in the refrigerator.

Usually, I just make a graham cracker crust for this cheesecake. This time, however, I didn’t have enough graham crackers and found a substitute crust. It stuck the the pan, but I’m hoping that can be overcome because the taste was better and it didn’t fall apart. I’ve included it in this version of the recipe.

Fresh Blueberry Cheesecake

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Crust

½ cup flour

½ cup graham cracker crumbs

5 Tablespoons butter, melted

3 Tablespoon brown sugar

Mix all crust ingredients in bowl and press into a greased, 9-inch pie pan. Set aside.

Filling

2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened

¼ cup brown sugar, packed

In small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Spread the filling over the crust in the pie pan.

No-bake fresh blueberry cheesecake — The finished cheesecake

Topping

2 cups fresh blueberries

2-3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

In a bowl, toss the blueberries in sugar and lemon juice. Spoon blueberries over cheesecake. Place finished cheesecake in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours before serving.

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Chocolate Frozen Cheesecake

26 June, 20138 July, 2014Marissa

I’m celebrating my birthday early with my favorite birthday cake. Cheesecake is amazing in all shapes, sizes, and flavors, but this is one of my personal favorites. It’s smooth, creamy, and best of all considering what time of year it is — frozen! It’s very rich, so perfect for cutting into thin pieces and sharing with guests. It will keep in the freezer for a several days, though, so you can spread it out over a few days if you don’t want to share it with very many people.

Frozen Chocolate Cheesecake

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Crust

1¼ cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs

¼ cup butter, melted

Mix graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into 9-inch spring form pan.

Filling

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2/3 cup chocolate syrup

1 cup whipping cream

Beat first three ingredients in glass bowl with an electric mixture. Whip the cream in a separate, smaller bowl. Fold whipped cream into other mixture.

fozen chocolate cheesecake — pouring the batter

Poor into prepared spring form pan and freeze overnight.

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More Cheesecake, No Sugar

18 April, 201330 April, 2013Marissa

Between writing about cheesecake yesterday and baking one today, I have cheesecake on my mind. Ergo, here’s another recipe, this time sugar-free. I came up with this recipe for a friend who loves cheesecake but can’t eat sugar or artificial sweeteners (which I refuse to use anyway).

The entire cake is sweetened with honey. This crust can be a little hard to work with, but the taste is worth the extra effort. The first time I baked this, the crust stuck to the bottom of the pan and people were scraping it off to eat by itself. The filling has a really nice texture, even smoother than a regular cheesecake, and the honey taste isn’t overpowering.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a photograph of this cheesecake. I found a picture on Google, though, which looks similar to mine. Most other recipes top honey cheesecakes with honey or caramel before serving, but I’ve never done that with mine. I think it would be way too sweet.

Honey Cheesecake

Crust

1 cup walnuts, ground
2 Tablespoons honey
¼ cup butter
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
add flour as needed to hold it together (about 1/2 cup)

Mix crust and press into 9-inch spring-form pan. (crust is sticky, so I line the pan with aluminum foil). Bake at 325°F for 5-10 minutes.

Filling

3 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
¾ cup honey
3 eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

While crust is baking, beat cream cheese and ¾ cup honey with a mixer in large bowl at medium speed until smooth, scraping down bowl’s sides occasionally, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time; beat in cream and vanilla. Beat in flour, cinnamon and salt. Pour into crust.

Bake at 325°F for about 1 hour or until lightly browned and a little puffed. Cheesecake will jiggle in the center but will set as it cools. Cool on a wire rack 2 hours. Once cool, you should be able to lift the cake and peal off the aluminum foil. Cover and refrigerate.

The Way To A Man’s Heart …

17 April, 20138 July, 2014Marissa

I may have discovered compelling Biblical evidence to support the old saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

While reading Song of Solomon this morning, I noticed that my study Bible had a note that “Thou hast ravished my heart” (Song 4:9) could also be translated “Thou hast taken away my heart.” I thought oh, that’s so cute, and looked up the Hebrew word. According to the lexical aids in my Bible, lâvav (H3823) can also mean “to be wise, be intelligent (Job 11:12); to make cakes (2Sam. 13:6, 8).”

So, what I’m getting from this is that it is wise to bake cakes and thereby capture a man’s heart.

I have tried this approach in the past, to no avail. I comfort myself by thinking this is due to the lack of single men in the local church areas rather than a flaw in my cooking, and still have high hopes for my cheesecakes.

I’m particularly proud of this turtle cheesecake. You won’t find this particular recipe anywhere else, because it’s one of my own. A friend of mine talked me into trying Fazoli’s turtle cheesecake, and I promptly went online to try and find a similar recipe. After browsing recipe sites unsuccessfully for an hour, I decided I’d just come up with my own.

Turtle Cheesecake

Crust

1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup melted butter
3 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping

Mix cracker crumbs and butter. Press into a greased 9-inch spring-form pan. Drizzle caramel over crust.

Filling

3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over caramel layer in crust.

Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim.

Topping

3 tablespoons hot fudge
3 tablespoons caramel syrup
¼ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Melt hot fudge and drizzle with caramel syrup over cooled cheese cake. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate morsels. Refrigerate 4 hours.