Amanda's Cherry Cheesecake

Seeing as my sister has been baking cakes for years, I guess its time to start giving her a bit of credit.  Amanda has made some really impressive cakes, cookie monster cupcakes, thanksgiving cupcakes and even a casino cake! But she most often makes my favourite - cheesecake!  This recipe came from my mothers' Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook.  Please note that you should use a spring form pan and allow your ingredients to become room temperature before you begin.  Cream cheese should stay out for at least 2 hours before you start mixing.

Combine the crumbs, sugar and margarine and press evenly into the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.  Keep a close eye on your crumbs; they should not get any darker.

Using an electric mixer, combine cream cheese and sugar until blended.  Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix until they are just incorporated.  DO NOT OVER MIX cheesecake to prevent it from cracking down the middle after baking.

Scoop the batter onto the pre-baked crust and smooth it over using a spatula or large spoon.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 250 degrees for 25 minutes.  Our cheesecake was clearly over mixed and it cracked pretty badly.  It's easy to get carried away with the mixing...

Allow your cake to cool completely and then loosen from the rim of the pan using a knife.  Thankfully, the cracks aren't evident after topping with cherry pie filling and a bit of whipped cream!  You can also try blueberry pie filling or any other fruit topping.  Keep your cheesecake refrigerated until served :)



Mommy's Easy Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is a traditional desert made for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It tastes good and it makes the whole house smell warm and spicy.  My mom makes the most amazing pumpkin pie ever and surprisingly, it's super easy to make!  You don't need a million bowls and spoons and the cleanup is fast - all you need is a good blender. 

I always make my pastry a head of time and refridgerate it - for this recipe you will need two 9 inch pie pastries.  No top crusts necessary :)

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups of mashed pure pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
3 eggs
1 and 1/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all these ingredients in a blender until you have a well mixed liquid batter.

Fill your pie shells at the oven - right on the rack if possible!  Pour carefully straight from the blender for a neat looking pie.  Try not to spill or splatter on the crust.

Bake your pies for 40-50 minutes until they begin to brown just a little in the centre. 

Allow your pies to cool at least an hour before cutting slices.  The longer you let the pie to settle, the better the slices will hold their shape.  Serve your pie with whipped cream topping!

Cauliflower Fritters or Frittelli Di Cavolfiore

So, I've been meaning to blog since August and obviously haven't made the time to do so.  In the meantime I have been taking foodie pictures and writing down all my recipes so that I can share them on my blog.

Here is a snack or appetiser that my Nonna makes all the time.  Some people call them frittelli, but for some reason, my family calls them pitwelli.  I don't know where this came from, but we use the word pitwelli to refer to any sort of fritter.  We make pitwelli out of spinach, broccoli, and most often - cauliflower!  Just substitute the cauliflower to make your own variety.

Boil 1/2 a cauliflower, strain and let cool.  Mash it and add a pinch of salt.

Add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of milk and grate approximately 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese into the bowl.  Stir. 

Add about 1 and 1/2 cups of flour or enough that it has an oatmeal-like consistency.  At this point you can add some optional ingredients such as a bit of fresh chopped parsley or chives.

Pour a little vegetable oil into a pan and heat it on medium heat.  Add the mixture by tablespoon full into the pan and fry them a couple minutes on both sides until golden brown.

Let your pitwelli cool off a bit and eat them as soon as possible!  Pitwelli should be eaten warm as a pre-meal snack, since they are too good to resist and they never make it to the table anyways.  Yum...!

Custard Pear Pie

I was searching for a recipe that uses pears since my dad bought too many for us to eat.  I found this really interesting Pear Pie recipe on AllRecipes.com.  I've never had pear pie before, but I love custard tarts, so I decided to give it a shot:

Peel, core and slice 3 pears.  Bosch pears are the best for baking because they are sweet and soft, but keep their shape in the oven.

Arrange your pear slices into an unbaked pie shell.  Some people arrange the slices in circles radiating from the centre, but I just put mine in no particular design :)

In a bowl, combine 3 eggs, 1/3 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon almond extract and 1/4 cup melted butter. 

Pour your custard evenly over the arrangement of pears in the pastry shell. 

I like to crimp the pie edges and use the extra pastry to create a flower pattern on top.  Lastly, sprinkle with some brown sugar for a sweet topping!  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the custard is firm and the edges are golden brown.

I brought this pie to my grandmother and she really liked it.  If you like custard tarts and pears, this is the pie for you.  The almond extract really adds some dimension to the pear flavour! 

Next time I will top my pie with a few almonds before baking - Mmmmm!

Making Zucchini Bread

Zucchini is one of the easiest fruits to grow in Southern Ontario.  If you have a vegetable garden, you know that one zucchini plant can produce an overwhelming amount of zucchinis.  However, my family can never have too many zucchinis.  We will fry, grill, boil and bake zucchini and incorporate them into any meal!  My Nonna controls her plants by picking the zucchini flowers, which are considered a delicacy in Italy.  She makes them into dumplings or coat them in a light batter and fry them - yum! 

If you have not picked your zucchini flowers this summer and find yourself with an abundance of zucchini, you can always make them into bread.  Zucchini bread is very light, sweet and is similar to banana bread.  Follow my recipe for two perfect loaves:

Using a cheese grater, grate 2 cups of zucchini.

In a mixing bowl, beat 3 eggs, 1 cup of vegetable oil, 2 cups of sugar, and 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract.  Add the grated zucchini and mix.

In a separate bowl, mix 3 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 3 teaspoons of cinnamon. 

Slowly and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stop mixing once they are combined.  Do not mix more than necessary!  Pour the batter into 2 lightly greased loaf pans and bake at 375 degrees for approximately 1 hour until the loaves are brown on the outside and they are split down the middle.

I always freeze some loaves for when you don't have enough time to bake.  Just allow the bread to cool completely and wrap it in either foil or plastic wrap.  Once frozen, it only takes an hour to defrost, serve with special coffee and your guests will be impressed.  It tastes like you just made it!!! 

Enjoy baking.
-Bri

Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie is my least favourite type of pie.  I will almost always turn down desert when offered this type of pie unless, of course, I need a sugar fix!  There's just something about this pie that doesn't excite me.  I like lemon, I like whipped topping and I like shortbread pie crust... but the combination of the 3 just doesn't cut it. 

Anyways, I was asked to make lemon meringue pies for a fish fry potluck and I had a double box of Dr. Oetker Shirriff Lemon Pie Filling Mix in the pantry; so I gave it a try:

Step 1:  Separate 4 eggs - yolks in a saucepan and whites in a bowl or cup for now.

Step 2:  Mix the 4 yolks with 2/3 cup of water in the saucepan.  Add 2 pouches of lemon filling mix and stir.  Add 4 cups of boiling water, stirring constantly.  Bring to a boil and remove from heat once it thickens.  Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter.  

Step 3:  Allow the lemon mixture to cool and pour evenly into 2 pre-baked pie shells.

Step 4:  To make the meringue, beat the 4 egg whites with and electric mixer until soft and fluffy.  Add 1/2 cup of sugar and continue beating with mixer until stiff peaks form.

Step 5:  Cover the lemon filling with meringue topping and bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes.  The meringue will be golden brown when it's ready.  

I didn't even try this pie, so I couldn't tell how it tasted.  Others who tried the pie said it was good, but I didn't get any raving compliments.  This pie lacks bite.

Butter Tarts - A Little Taste O' Canada

Did you know that the butter tart is a Canadian desert?  Butter tarts were common in pioneer cooking and can be traced back to the 1600's.  Traditionally, the tarts consisted of sugar, butter and pastry but today there are several varieties of butter tarts.  Some Canadians use pecans, walnuts or coconut to spice up their tarts, but raisins are most common.  Here is my recipe for Canadian Butter Tarts; the recipe makes exactly 12 tarts. 

It's always the best to use your own homemade pie pastry, but sometimes it's easier to buy a pre-made pastry.  I made the pastry ahead of time so it would be quick to make the tarts.  I used a glass to cut out circles of pastry and placed them into muffin cups.

Before you make the filling, place about 9 or 10 raisins in the bottom of each tart shell.

To make the filling, whisk together 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of hot water. 

Pour into tart shells to cover raisins (approx 2/3 full).

Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.  Let them cool completely before attempting to remove them from the muffin tray.

From experience, these won't last very long so you should almost always make a double batch!  For a truly Canadian experience, try your butter tarts with beer :) Haha

Proud to be a Canadian Cook,
Bri