Thanksgiving Planning

I apologize for the temporary absence from my blog. I haven't really been in the mood for blogging and I have  had many other things on my mind. My husband and I are expecting a baby! I am due May 18th and we are so excited. I have constantly been thinking about the food I am eating, but not in relation to my blog. I have been reading the book Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck. It's amazing how overwhelming it can feel when you hear everything about what you should and shouldn't eat. Nina's book breaks it down into simple, whole, real foods and makes nutrition easier to grasp.

As I got on my computer tonight, I browsed through my blog pictures folder...apparently I haven't been taking any food pictures either! So I decided to share my Thanksgiving planning with you. I am very excited to be hosting again this year. My husband's parents are coming from Iowa. Right now we have 6 guests and are planning on a few more possibly. I am making a few changes from my menu and preparation from last year. I am making more items ahead of time to make the holiday more relaxed. I will be brining my turkey like I did this summer and will use Alton Brown's recipe again. Anyway, enough with my talk! Here is my tentative plan (subject to some changes) to prepare for Thanksgiving. You can watch these videos from Good Eats if you want to learn about brining the turkey and feel like a little bit of weird Alton humor. : )

• Already made
• Alton Brown's Cranberry dipping sauce (in freezer)
• Dinner rolls (in freezer)
• Sunday
• Shop for final fresh ingredients
• Monday
• Put turkey in fridge to thaw
• Clean house after work...family arrives tomorrow!
• Tuesday
• After work, make pie crusts and keep in fridge
• Wednesday
• Morning:
• Make brine and keep in fridge
• Bake pumpkin and chocolate meringue pies
• Make Cheesy potato casserole and keep in fridge
• Make Green bean casserole and keep in fridge (or maybe this recipe?)
• Make cheeseball dip
• Make fluff (technical name...it's Cooper family recipe)
• Prepare relish tray with olives (another Cooper thing : )
• Afternoon
• Do something fun with family! : )
• Evening
• Place turkey in brine
• Thursday
• Morning:
• Make mashed potatoes and place in crock pot on warm
• Prepare stuffing and place in crock pot to cook
• Sweet potatoes...I don't have a recipe yet. 
• Get turkey in the oven, save giblets to boil for stock to make gravy
• Relax for a couple hours :)
• About 12:45
• Make topping and put cheesy potatoes in the oven to begin cooking (45 minutes)
• After turkey is done and resting
• Make topping and put green bean casserole in the oven (20 minutes)
• Put rolls in the oven to bake
• Make gravy 
• About 1:30 
• Enjoy a meal and count your blessings together!

Now for a few final tidbits. I would love a probe thermometer for my turkey (early Christmas present anyone??). This eliminates opening the oven to check the temperature. Instead you set it to the temperature when the turkey is done, and the timer goes off when it reaches the correct temperature. I also watched this video from Alton Brown (yes, I like his shows and info!). Did you know that bubble wrap will keep food warm for hours? Interesting idea that I may try out. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for!

This post is linked to Mingle Monday

One Year Anniversary!

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of when I started Cooper Cookin'. I believe I have come a long way from my first recipe post; and as this next post demonstrated, I am thankful I no longer feel the need to have catchy titles with matching first letters. I decided to compile a list of my family's favorite recipes, in order of oldest to most recent, from this website as a celebration of my first year blogging. These are recipes that I make often and enjoy sharing with others. Thank you to all of those who read this blog, your comments really make my day! Have a wonderful week!

1. Taco Ring
A family favorite and most popular main dish on this website. If you haven't made this yet, you need to do so soon! Check out this recent update for ideas on making this a little bit healthier.





2. Herbed Breaded Chicken
Eeek that's a terrible picture but the chicken is no less delicious. Most of the time I just throw in whatever herbs I want and I always use homemade breadcrumbs.




3. Taco Soup
 I actually haven't made this for a while (it's a good fall/winter recipe) but it's always one of our favorites.



4. Garlic Bread
Yummmm I love this stuff. I use whatever bread I have on hand and real Parmesan cheese if I have it too. Always delicious with some pasta...carbs anyone?



5. Cast Iron Seared Steak
So simple and delicious. Make it a treat by spending a few extra bucks on high quality grass-fed beef.



6. Bourbon Chicken
Recently I have quit frying the chicken with cornstarch and usually just stir-fry it with some olive oil. Last time I made this I added diced red peppers and sugar snap peas!



7. Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes with Cream Cheese Drizzle
Knock your socks off delicious and heavenly. These are definitely a rare treat, good for lazy weekends with family visitors.



8. Slow Cooker Maple and Brown Sugar Ham
This recipe is so simple, don't even bother measuring. Just put it in the slow cooker and walk away. Amazingly tasty. I love to save the leftovers for casseroles, soups, and egg dishes.



9. Brownie Bite Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache
Okay, so this isn't something that I've made more than once, but I really shouldn't unless there's going to be a crowd. Because it's that good. I might eat half of it on my own if no one was watching.



10. Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I make these often. Once or twice a month. My husband is addicted, I pretend I'm not addicted. When I wrote this post I mentioned that I wanted to try other chocolate chip cookie recipes, but I just haven't gotten around to that yet because these are always so good. I have the recipe memorized...



11. Simplified Chicken Cordon Bleu
It lives up to it's name, and the flavor is fantastic. This is one of those recipes that I saved my slow cooker ham to use with.



12. Cheesy Chili Mac
This recipe is wonderful and simple. I have recently used only 3/4 pound of meat instead of a full pound and it's just as hearty.



Again, thank you so much for reading my blog and especially for making the recipes! I love it when I hear that someone has enjoyed one of the recipes that I shared. That is what makes me want to continue blogging. And you wanna know a secret? Every time I get a comment or a new follower, I do a little happy dance. : )Thank you!

Lemon Cheesecake

For me, having company is the perfect reason to indulge in a special dessert; something that you don't make all the time. My sister recently came to visit and I immediately made plans to bake my delicious puffy chocolate chip cookies and this cheesecake.

This rich and creamy cheesecake with a touch of lemon to brighten the dessert will certainly have you coming back for more. I loved the lemon flavor; it wasn't overpowering and sour, it was sweet and subtle. This refreshing cheesecake is the perfect end to any summertime meal.

Lemon Cheesecake
Prep: 20 min + cooling / Bake: 40 min + cooling
Yield: 12-14 servings

CRUST:
2-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 40 squares)
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted

FILLING:
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine crust ingredients. Press onto the bottom and 1-1/2 inches up the sides of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Place pan on a wire rack to cool.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs all at once and beat on low just until blended. Stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla.

3. Pour filling into crust and return pan to baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until center is almost set.

4. Remove to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cheesecake. Cool for 1 hour at room temperature. Then cool in fridge, uncovered, for 3-4 hours. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and cool for 6 hours or overnight.

5. When ready to serve, carefully remove cheesecake from springform pan. Slice the cheesecake (with a warm, dry, straight-edge knife) while it is cold. For best flavor, let the slices sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before enjoying.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Print Recipe

My Review

Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am on a quest.

To find the perfect chocolate chip cookies.

And boy, this recipe is gonna be hard to beat. You see, I have very high standards for a chocolate chip cookie. It has to be soft, overloaded with chocolate chips, buttery, dense yet light, with a barely crunchy outside that leads to a gooey inside. No crumbles, hard cookies, or flatness allowed here. I don't even know if I have ever had the chocolate chip cookie of my dreams, but someday, I will find it!

As of right now, this is my husband's proclaimed favorite chocolate chip cookie ever and until (or if or when) I find something better, this is my favorite too! He says they are perfect, and I guess I can't really think of anything about them that isn't good, once they are baked that is. You see, I am a self-proclaimed cookie dough connoisseur (had to look up the spelling on that one!). I eat any and every kind of dough/batter that I make. It's true. And the one downfall of these cookies is that the dough isn't as delicious as other chocolate chip cookie doughs that I have made. The dough is actually on the dry side, which lends to the gorgeous puff once they bake.

I would say that these are the best chocolate chip cookies that I have ever made; but not the best cookie dough that I have tried. I suppose that considering the baked cookies are what you would be sharing, this is the recipe to go with! Alas, perfectly baked cookies and perfect cookie dough may not exist together, but perhaps this is the best of both worlds.

Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies, and everyone will be especially happy when they see one of the puffiest chocolate chip cookies ever! Make these cookies, and everyone will think you're a cookie-baking queen!

Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Print)
recipe adapted from buns in my oven
Prep: 20 minutes / Bake: 10-13 minutes
Yield: about 2 dozen

1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg, cold
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Cut the butter into small cubes and place back into the fridge.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or large mixing bowl), beat the cold butter and sugar until barely combined. Make sure to use low speed and beat no longer than one minute. Do not beat until the usual creamed or fluffy! Overbeating will cause excess air and a tough cookie. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until just combined. The dough will look soupy and strange at this point.

4. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add them to the butter and sugar bowl, beat until combined. This will produce a stiff, lightly sticky dough. Add the chocolate chips and mix.

5. Scoop the dough into your desired size and place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet. I have a one tablespoon scoop; I made my cookies two scoops in size. I found that the cookies looked better after baking if you do not roll them into balls; rough scoops make prettier cookies.

6. Place the baking sheet in the fridge for 5 minutes. This prevents the cookies from spreading. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the very outside edges are lightly browned. The cookies will set and look more done after cooling. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

My Review

Cinnamon Muffin Melt Copycats

Have you ever enjoyed the Cinnamon Muffin Melts from Tastefully Simple? They are delicious!

Well, they look like these, smell like these, and best of all, TASTE like these! I found a recipe in my Taste of Home Baking book for cinnamon doughnut muffins. I swapped out two-thirds of the white sugar for brown sugar, and voila! I had my Tastefully Simple copycats...and I was so excited!

The recipe in my book suggested filling them with jam. I filled two with grape and two with strawberry jam. But I didn't like them that way, so I say just leave it out. I considered that apple butter would be good, you can't go wrong with apples and cinnamon to be sure, but I didn't try that one. My husband and I thought that the jam almost tasted sour inside the sweet muffin. All in all, these are very addicting and fantastically scrumptious. And I'm so excited to be able to make these delicious muffins from scratch without the Tastefully Simple mix!

Cinnamon Muffin Melt Copycats
adapted from Taste of Home
Prep: 15 minutes / Bake: 8-10 minutes
Yield: about 30 mini muffins or 10 large muffins (I made mini)

Muffins
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (I used light)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup milk (I used skim)

Topping
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin or fill with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir until combined. In a small bowl, combine sugars, oil, egg, and milk. Beat with a fork or whisk until mixed. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

3. Fill muffin cups three-fourths full. If you have any unused cups, fill them with water to help the muffins bake more evenly and prevent the pan from warping. For mini muffins, bake 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. For larger muffins, the original recipe states 20-25 minutes.

4. While the muffins are baking, prepare the topping. In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and set aside. In another small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Immediately after removing the muffins from the oven, dip the tops in butter and then in the cinnamon-sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My Review

Brownie Bite Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache

You may remember me mentioning how my husband's family was visiting us last month. Well, while they were here, my brother-in-law's girlfriend was going to be having a birthday...which meant that I had an excuse needed to bake something extraordinary! As soon as my brother-in-law told me what she liked, this little beauty of a cheesecake came to my memory.

You see, there's this blog I read often, and I had stumbled upon this recipe last fall. And I haven't stopped thinking about it since I first laid eyes on it. So you can believe me when I say that I jumped at the opportunity to make this cheesecake!

It was so much fun to bake this dessert, in secret, while she was in the next room! Hehehe I love being sneaky. I cheated and used my favorite box of brownie mix, and due to my time/facility restraints, I could not wait for them to cool before cutting them. This meant that I ended up making little balls of hot brownies, which may account for the somewhat muddled appearance when the cheesecake was cut into slices. But oh my, oh my! I cannot begin to tell you how delicious this was!

I'll start at the top. The chocolate ganache, amazing. Silky smooth and chocolatey, and it's there to cover any possible cracks that may have appeared on the cheesecake (or rogue brownie bites for that matter)! Just be sure that when you cover it, the plastic wrap doesn't stick to the wet ganache, because that happened to me and then my topping was a little messed up.

Next the cheesecake. Perfectly creamy and sweet. And mix it in with brownie bites? Heaven. My husband said that the cheesecake filling was a little too cream cheesey...but he doesn't like cream cheese, so his comment doesn't count, right?

And finally, the buttery oreo crust. You just can't go wrong there, especially when you double the crust recipe. I know the crust would have been too thin without doubling it, but I think that next time I would have done 1.5 times the original amount. The edges were a little thick and somewhat like hard rocks when you tried to cut it. But it was soft when you ate it. This remains a mystery to me!

To make an already long story longer, I'll have you know that my brother-in-law declared this the best cheesecake he had ever, ever, eaten; and it received rave reviews from the rest of the family as well. Happy baking!

If you would like to make the brownies from scratch, use this link. Also, the crust amounts listed are for a single crust only. I doubled it; you may want to do that also.

Brownie Bite Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache (Print)
adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
Prep: 40 minutes / Bake: 40-50 minutes / Cool: 10+ hours
Yield: 12 servings

Brownies
1 Box brownie mix + ingredients to make brownies

1. Prepare brownies according to package directions.

2. Allow to cool and cut into 3/4 inch squares. Reserve 2 cups and eat the rest!

Crust
1-1/2 cups crushed oreos (1-1/2 rows of double stuff oreos package)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Grease a 9-inch or 10-inch springform pan (mine is a 9-inch). Combine all ingredients and press in to bottom of pan and 1-inch up the sides. Using a glass cup to flatten the crust makes this process easier. Use right away or refrigerate for 2 hours.

Cheesecake
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat softened cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Make sure there are no (or few) lumps in the cheese before adding the eggs. I have made two cheesecakes and they both had lumps! This seemed to be a major crisis to me, but after they are baked, you can't even tell!

2. Add the eggs and vanilla all at once, beating on low speed until combined. Scrape down bowl as needed. Avoid overbeating as too much air will cause the cheesecake to collapse when it cools.

3. Gently stir in the brownie bites. Pour batter into prepared crust.

4. Place the springform pan on a baking sheet (to catch dripping butter). Bake in the center of the oven for 40-50 minutes, until the edges are slightly puffed and the center (about 2 inches in diameter) jiggles slightly. You usually shouldn't use a knife/toothpick to check for doneness as this can cause the cake to crack, but if you really must, the ganache will cover any imperfections.

5. Cool the cheesecake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, run a knife along the inside edge to loosen the cake, do not remove the sides of the pan. Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Then refrigerate, uncovered for 3-4 hours. After 3-4 hours, prepare the ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

3 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon powdered sugar (1-1/2 teaspoons for semisweet chips)

1. Place the chocolate in a medium mixing bowl. Combine the butter and cream in a bowl. Microwave butter and cream on high for 1 minute.

2. Pour the butter mixture over the chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar, whisking until smooth.

3. Pour over the cheesecake. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.

4. Before serving the cheesecake, take the rim off the pan and slice. For best flavor, allow slices to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before eating.

My Review

• Preparation: 2
• This cheesecake is a lot of work, but most of the time is needed for cooling, so plan ahead!
• Taste: 5
• Exceptionally delicous. I think it rivals Cheesecake Factory!
• Cost: 4
• It's worth every penny!
• Clean-up: 3
• A lower rating, but technically, you can do dishes during all the cooling time!
• Changes
• As I mentioned before, I think the double crust was a little too much.
• I also may potentially decrease the butter in the crust, maybe by just a tablespoon. It seemed a bit greasy to me, and there was a lot of butter on the baking sheet too. Maybe it has to do with the oreos, but the classic cheesecake I made didn't have any drippings.
• Summary
• If you're up for a challenge with a delicious reward, try out this cheesecake!

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

I spotted these little gems in my cookbook last night and wrote the ingredients on my grocery list.

And boy am I glad I did.  

So moist, light, pumpkin-spiced, delectable, fallish, and heavenly.

I love them.

A lot.

Probably too much.

And you will too when you make them. They are what I said and more. I was skeptical about the icing; I love my frosting, especially cream cheese frosting when it comes to pumpkin, and I didn't think the icing would meet my standards, but it was delicious! I had never done the brown butter thing before so that was fun to try too. They aren't too difficult to make and the recipe yields enough for a crowd.

As you may recall from these cookies, I altered Martha's method a bit because it didn't seem too realistic. I almost changed this one too, because the recipe said to pipe the batter onto the baking sheet...what?!? Who ever heard of piping cookies? Well I hadn't, so I wasn't going to. But I decided to go all Martha on this one and followed exactly what the recipe said. The cookie 'dough' is more like a thick cake batter, so the drop method probably wouldn't have looked quite right. Here's to fall and good ol' pumpkin!

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing
from Martha Stewart's Cookies
Prep: 60 minutes / Bake: 10-12 minutes
Yield: about 6 dozen (I halved the recipe when I made them!)

For the cookies:
2-3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1-1/4 teaspoons ginger
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2-1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups canned pumpkin
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the icing:
4 cups powdered sugar
10 tablespoons (1-1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon evaporated milk, plus more if needed
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla; mix on low until well blended. Add flour mixture and beat on low until combined.

3. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Transfer batter to a pastry bag (not all of it of course) fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip. I just used the bag without a tip. Pipe 1-1/2 inch circles onto parchment paper, about 1-inch apart.

4. Bake cookies until tops spring back, 10-12 minutes. Cool on sheets on racks 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack; let cool completely.

5. Make the icing. Put powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Then  butter about 3 minutes longer, swirling the pan occassionally, until golden brown. Immediately add butter to powered sugar, scraping any brown bits from pan. Add evaporated milk and vanilla; stir until smooth.

6. Spread icing on cookies, about 1 teaspoon each. If icing is too thick, add more evaporated milk. I added more and then a little too much. As you can see in the pictures, my icing was a little thin and slightly lumpy, but that's ok!

Oops! I dropped one frosting-side down.

According to Martha, these cookies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Chocolate Cream-Filled Sandwiches

My husband seems to have developed quite the sweet tooth recently. Right after lunch he says, "Let's make dessert!" He forgets that he is blessed with an insanely active metabolism, whereas I have to actually work to maintain my figure. Alas, I gave in, and we made these cookies that he wanted to try. After this, it's to the gym for me!

Chocolate Cream-Filled Sandwiches
adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies
Prep: 30 minutes / Bake: 8 minutes
Yield: about 2 dozen

1-1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
10 T unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
Vanilla Creme Filling (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 375. Sift together first 5 ingredients into a bowl.

2. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat to combine. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture and beat until well combined.

3. Using a small scoop, drop dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Flatten dough between palms and sprinkle with additional sugar.

4. Bake 10-12 minutes until cookies are slightly firm. Transfer baking sheets to a wire cooling rack.

Vanilla Cream Filling
Prep: 10 minutes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 T vanilla

1. With an electric mixer, cream butter. Gradually add powdered sugar with mixer on low speed; continue beating until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat to combine.

2. Pipe filling onto the underside of half the cookies, place remaining cookies on top of the filling.

My Review

• Preparation: 4
• This recipe took a little less than an hour start to finish. My husband and I worked together, it was fun!
• Taste: 4
• These were really good. However, they were a bit on the crunchy side, we baked them for 9 minutes. Good news is, after keeping them covered overnight, the cookies softened! Now they are perfect, which makes them more unresistable...
• Cost: 5
• We didn't have to buy any ingredients, so I'll give it a 5.
• Clean-up: 3
• Two big bowls, lots of measuring gadgets, baking sheet (and my husband) ;)
• Changes
• We did the recipe in half because we didn't have enough butter for the whole batch.
• The recipe called for Dutch-process cocoa powder, we didn't have any so we used our normal Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder.
• The recipe called for half butter and half shortening for the filling, e didn't have any shortening for the filling, so we just replaced that with butter. The shortening would just make the filling more white, less of a butter color. And slightly less butter flavor too, but ours was yummy.
• The recipe said to drop the cookies on the baking sheet. Then dip the bottom of a glass in sugar and press to flatten cookies to about 1/8 inch thick. (You may need to carefully remove dough from glass with a thin spatula). I'm like, that's crazy! First of all, why would the sugar stick to the glass? And I'm not about to scrape each cookie off the bottom of a cup! So we gently pressed them between our palms and sprinkled them with sugar.
• Our cookies got much flatter and wider than they looked in the picture, and I don't think we made them too big of dollops. Mine don't look perfect but they still taste good!
• Summary
• These cookies were fun to make and they look pretty with the piped filling. Great with a glass of milk!

Classic Cheesecake

Ahhh cheesecake! I accomplished one of my culinary goals this week by making my first cheesecake! It was so much fun! And I'm happy to say that in spite of a few oopses (I think I just made that word up), it turned our great!

Classic Cheesecake
adapted from Taste of Home Cookbook
Prep: 35 minutes / Bake: 45 minutes + chilling
Yield: 12-14 servings

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
6 T butter, melted
3 packages cream cheese (24 oz. total), softened
1 cup sugar
2 T flour
3 eggs
2 T heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine first 3 ingredients. Press into bottom and 1 inch up the sides of an ungreased 9-inch springform pan. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 8 minutes. Place pan on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Combine sugar and flour; add to cream cheese and mix well. Add eggs all at once, beat on low speed until just combined. *Don't overbeat the eggs. If you do, the cheesecake will puff and then crack when it cools.* Stir in cream and vanilla, pour into crust.

3. Place springform pan on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until center is almost set. *To check if cheesecake is done, remove from oven and tap the side of the pan with a spoon. The cake is done when the center (about 1 inch in diameter) jiggles slightly when tapped with a spoon. Note: My cake didn't really jiggle, but I could just tell by looking at it that about a 3 inch area wasn't cooked, so I put it back in for 5 more minutes. Do not test with a knife because it will crack the cheesecake. The remaining middle will cook while the pan cools.*

4. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife along the edge of the pan to loosen cheesecake. Continue to cool on rack for 1 more hour. Refrigerate, uncovered for at least 3 hours. When cheesecake is cold, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. This helps the cheesecake set and will make it easier to cut.

5. Remove cheesecake from fridge at least 15-30 minutes before serving time. Unlatch pan and carefully lift the rim straight up. *Letting the slices sit at room temperature brings out maximum flavor.* Top with strawberries and whipped topping if desired.

Nutrition facts: Very unhealthy and bad for the hips but very delicious!
*These tips are from my Taste of Home Cookbook*



The crust. Note to self: make crust even!



The filling. My batter was lumpy, I was nervous, but it worked!





I baked it a little too long, it cracked :(

  

But it still looked pretty good!



My Review

• Preparation: 3
• This took about an hour and a half start to finish, but there's down time while it's baking.
• Taste: 4.5
• It was really good! My crust got a little overdone, so we didn't eat the edge. The filling was delicious, my husband said it was just like Cheesecake Factory (This would be the ultimate compliment, I'm not sure if he somewhat joking, I don't think he was, but I didn't pursue the doubt in my mind, so we will assume that he really meant it)! BUT, I do think that I could do better, so I couldn't give it a 5. And the crust flavor wasn't my favorite.
• Cost: 5
• This surprised me. The ingredients seemed expensive, but after I divided it by the 13 servings we sliced, it was only $1.29 per serving! Cake ingredients (that I had to buy) cost $11.30, toppings cost $5.50.
• Clean-up: 3
• A foothill of dishes (see review scale). 3 bowls and the springform pan, plus some measuring cups and such.
• Changes
• The crust, it wasn't my favorite. Not sure what I would change but I will try a different one next time. I would make sure that the edges were even, see photo. The recipe I adapted from said to bake it for 10 minutes but it got too done, so I reduced it to 8 minutes on this post.
• My filling was lumpy. I admit my failure in this area. My cookbook says to soften cream cheese at room temp for at least 30 minutes, which I did, but it was still lumpy after I mixed it. And the book says that it cannot be de-lumped (another word I made up, I'm on a role) after blending, this is true. SO, I had lumps; a big globby lump of cream cheese at the bottom of my mixing bowl. Yikes! Upon discovering the lump I grimaced, withheld the ominous blob (which I soon devoured...it still tasted good!), and hoped that my cheesecake would not turn out too weird. In the end, I never even noticed!
• I baked it for 40 minutes, checked it, and there was about a 3-inch center that was jiggly/not done. I put it back in for 5 minutes. This time there was about a 2-inch(ish) undone looking area, so I put it back in for 4 minutes (I was paranoid about having a runny, gooey cheesecake, eww). But after those 4 minutes were up, I pulled out my cheesecake and it was cracked! I whimpered and whined, it had been perfect until then! So I think I could have done without the last 4 minutes. Good thing is that the crack sort of resealed itself a little bit once the cheesecake cooled. Cover it with a big dollop of Redi Whip and you won't even notice!
• Summary
• This is a good cheesecake for the first-timer. It was still super delicious, even with some mess-ups! I hope to try out more cheesecake in the future, so keep your eyes open!