Brownie Sundae Cheesecake

I made this recipe from Hershey’s Kitchens for a family celebration. It’s a longer process than most cheesecakes as you first bake the brownies that are then poked into the creamy cheesecake before it is baked. But Oh My Gosh! YUMMY! There was not a bite of this left.

One thing I noticed about this cheesecake in comparison to other cheesecakes I’ve made… This one was super creamy and very springy. I’m not sure how else to describe the texture; you’ll have to make it yourself to understand what I mean.

Directions:
1) Make your favorite brownie recipe – or use the one below.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8 or 9-inch square baking pan. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Cut 1 cup of 3/4 inch pieces. (Ah! Snacking brownies left over!)

2) Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare CHOCOLATE CRUMB CRUST, below.

Combine 1-1/2 cups (about 45 wafers) vanilla wafer crumbs, 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, 6 tablespoons HERSHEY’S Cocoa and 6 tablespoons butter or margarine (melted). Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1/2 to 1 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 8 minutes; cool slightly.

Ingredients for the cheesecake:
4 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/4 cup REESE’S Chocolate Peanut Butter Topping (note: I could not find the chocolate peanut butter topping. I melted 1/4c fondue chocolate- both Hershey’s and Baker’s make this- with 2T peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds or so)

3) Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add eggs, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into prepared crust.

4) Sprinkle brownie pieces over cheesecake surface; push pieces into batter. Drop topping by teaspoonfuls onto surface of cheesecake. With knife or metal spatula, swirl gently through batter for marbled effect. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven to wire rack. With knife, loosen cake from side of pan; cool.*

* I prefer to cool my cheesecake completely and refrigerate it before removing the springform pan. This is, of course, personal preference. I find it is easier to remove the pan after the cheesecake is chilled.

Watch my video about cooking your cheesecake in a waterbath to keep it from cracking.

Freschetta - By the Slice

I usually have two main gripes about microwave pizza:

1. Where is the cheese? Honestly, you would think there was a shortage the way so many companies skimp on the cheese.
2. What's up with the crust? If the crust is thick it's too doughy and chewy; if it's thin it's like eating a cracker.

So when Freschetta asked me to try their new Freschetta by the Slice I will honestly say I wasn't too eager. I shouldn't have been so skeptical.

The first thing you notice about Freschetta by the Slice is that it is actually a slice, cut from a whole pizza. The second thing you notice is that the cooking- though it is in the microwave- requires a bit more than just putting it in the microwave and setting the time.

You begin by placing the cooking tray near the edge of the turntable and cook for 60 seconds. Then you move the cooking tray to the center of the turntable and cook for another 90 seconds. Now whether it's the cooking tray or the cooking times, I can't say, but the crust was almost perfect. It was crisp on the bottom and soft on the top. Very impressive for a microwave pizza

Now lets talk about the cheese...

There is a lot of it. And it didn't have that funny processed cheese texture that so many microwave pizzas have. Nice.

I had the Spinach & Mushroom and found the toppings to be plentiful and large enough that you could actually tell what they were.

I think Freschetta by the Slice is a terrific single serve pizza option; one that won't leave you wishing you had eaten leftovers.

Freschetta by the Slice is also available in BBQ Recipe Chicken, Vegetable Medley and Six Cheese Medley.

Want to Try Freschetta by the Slice?

Simply leave a comment telling me which flavor you think sounds best. I will draw one winner, randomly, on Friday April 29. The winner will receive a coupon for a complimentary Freschetta by the Slice pizza and a 3 piece Freschetta storage set (6 piece version shown below). The storage set is awesome- the lids lock down securely and can be used in the refrigerator/ freezer, microwave and dishwasher.

Disclosure: Freschetta provided a coupon for a complimentary Freschetta by the Slice as well as the 6 piece storage set. All thoughts and images are my own.

Buttery Dinner Rolls

I’ve never been able to make a pretty dinner roll. I can remember my mom making rolls; perfectly round and golden. When I try they look lumpy and ugly (though they taste fine). I made this recipe at Thanksgiving and, for the first time, served beautiful rolls. We're making them again for Easter dinner!

Brenna helped me make these as it involved rolling the dough into balls. Fun!
The recipe came from the April 2009 Cuisine at Home magazine.

Recipe makes 12 rolls. Warning: this is time consuming! Takes about 4 hours; 3 1/2 of it is rising time.

Ingredients
2/3 c whole milk
1/2 stick unsalted butter, diced
1/4 c sugar
1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
2 T unsalted butter, softened
3 c all-purpose flour
1 t table salt
1 egg, beaten
1 egg yolk, beaten

Directions
Heat milk in a small saucepan to 180° over mdium heat. Add 1/2 stick butter and sugar; stir to dissolve sugar. Cool mixture to 110°. Stir in yeast. Let rest in a warm place until it swells and becomes bubbly; about 10 minutes.

Grease inside of a bowl and a muffin tin with 2 T softened butter.

Whisk together flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add yeast mixture, egg and egg yolk.
Knead mixture with a dough hook on medium speed until dough forms a ball and pulls away from the bowl; about 6-8 minutes. Add 1 T flour at a time if necessary. Place dough in buttered bowl and let rise until doubled in size; about 2 hours.

Divide dough into 36 equal portions. Shape portions into balls; place 3 each into each well of muffin tin. Cover dough with plastic wrap. (Dough may be refrigerated overnight at this point.) Let rise until doubled in size; about 1 1/2 hours (2 1/2 hours if dough was chilled).

Preheat oven to 375° with rack in lower third of oven.

Bake rolls until light brown; about 10 minutes. Cool slightly in pan before removing.

Handy tip: my kitchen tends to be cool. I heat my oven on a low setting while I mix the dough and turn it off when it becomes warm. I place my dough, covered, in here to rise. Don’t make the oven too warm.

Squash Ravioli with Herbed Butter Sauce

I have never been a fan of squash. Well, except for pumpkin. I love pumpkin. But, whatever the reason, I never liked squash. I suppose I can just blame my mom… Maybe I just didn’t like the way she prepared it. (That’s a joke, mom!)

Anyway… Like everyone else I am trying to save money and eat a bit healthier. So when I found this recipe in the November Family Fun magazine I decided to try it- in spite of the fact that it used butternut squash.

And it was really, really good! The grated Parmesan mixed so nicely with the squash. And the nutmeg gave it a nice boost. I served this as a main dish with a side salad but it would be a great side dish, too. My girls helped with the pasta and proclaimed it yummy. Not sure if they liked it because they helped to make it or if they thought it was pumpkin ravioli (I’m not beyond a bit of trickery!)

For the filling
2 cups butternut squash, rind removed, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

For Pasta
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs

For the sauce
8 tablespoons butter
12-16 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced

1. Make the filling. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the squash on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast it until tender when peirced with a fork, about 30 minutes. Allow the squash to cool for about 5 minutes, then transfer it to a medium-size bowl. Blend the squash with the milk, cheese, and nutmeg until it has a smooth, mashed potato-like consistancy. Note: the squash can be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container. (for an easier way to prepare the squash see below)
2. Make the pasta. On a clean work surface, mound the flour and make a well in the center. In a small bowl use a fork to lightly beat together the salt and the eggs. Carefully pour the egg mixture into the well. Using a fork, gently incorporate the flour into the egg mixture, a small amount at a time. With your hands and a spatula or dough scraper, work the dough until it pulls together into a smooth, pliable ball. (Note: make the pasta this way. I tried it in my mixer with a bread hook and it didn’t work as well.)
3. Halve the dough, then form each peice into a 1/2inch thick disk. Cover the disks with plastc wrap and set them aside to rest at room tempature for 30 minutes.
4. Lightly flour your work surface and half each dough disk. Roll out one of your dough portions as thinly as you can (to about the thickness of a dime), then use a 2 1/2 inch- diameter drinking glass, biscuit cutter, or cookie cutter to cut rounds from the dough. arrange them in pairs. Each half disk should yield 7 pairs of dough rounds.
5. Further thin the dough rounds by pinching them between your thumb and forefinger. each round should increase in diameter by about 1/4 inch.
6. Use a pair of dough rounds to make each ravioli. With a pastry brush or your fingertips dipped in water, paint a half inch perimeter around one of the dough rounds. Spoon a 1/2 tablespoon of squash filling into the center, then press the other round ontop of it along the moistened edges. Use the tines of a fork to seal the edges.
7. Bring two large pots of water to boil (using two pots allows all the pasta to cook at once). Meanwhile , make the sauce. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the sage and continue to cook the sauce until it’s light brown and has a nutty aroma, about 4 minuts. Remove the sauce from the heat.
8. Line a large plate with paper towels. Add half the ravioli to each pot of boiling water. The pasta will float to the top after 2 or 3 minutes, but continue cooking it until tender, about 15 more minutes ( take one out and test its tenderness before draining an entire batch). When the ravioli are done, use a slotted spoon or spatula to scoop them out and transfer them to paper towels to drain. (I placed them individually into a strainer, this seemed like a huge waste of paper towels.)
9. To serve, place the ravioli on individual plates and drizzle them with a spoonful of the Herbed Butter Sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan if desired.

Option for preparing squash: split in half and remove seeds. Place cut side down on foil lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes; until tender. Remove from oven and let cool. Scrape squash out of rinds. Use 2 cups for this recipe. Remaining squash can be frozen for 3 months or used in other recipes.