Cheesecake

I know it's not green (for St. Patrick's Day), but it tastes great!
Andy

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 Tbs muscovado (brown) sugar
• 1/3 cup melted butter (I love Lurpak)

Combine crumbs and sugar in medium bowl and then stir in melted butter until thoroughly blended. Press firmly into a 9-inch spring-form pan on the bottom and up the sides a half inch or so. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Set aside on counter until filling is ready.

Filling

• 24 oz cream cheese
• 4 large eggs
• 7/8 cup of caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 16 oz sour cream

Soften cream cheese and mix in eggs and caster sugar. Blend in sour cream and vanilla. Pour into prepared crusted spring-form pan from above and even out. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes then turn off the oven and let it sit in the oven for an hour.

Place the cheesecake on the counter to cool for 15 minutes. Chill for at least four hours and then serve. Garnish with drizzled caramel, apricot or blueberry preserves, chocolate sauce, etc.

Brownies and 7 Minute Frosting

With 7 Minute Frosting and caramel drizzle.

Scharffen Berger Brown Sugar Brownies

• 1 C flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 5 ounces Scharffen Berger 99% (unsweetened) chocolate, chopped
• 2 C Muscovado brown sugar*
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 t vanilla

Without frosting and just caramel drizzle.

Position rack in lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 F. Butter and flour a 9 X 13 pan. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; whisk until well combined and set aside.

Cut butter into tablespoon size chunks and combine with chopped chocolate. Using either a double boiler or microwave melt the chocolate and butter. (We used the microwave; stirring it about every 30 seconds to make sure it didn't burn). Cool chocolate mixture for about 10 minutes then beat in brown sugar, using a whisk or electric mixer at medium speed. Beat in eggs and vanilla until just incorporated.

Gently fold in flour mixture just until combined. Do not beat. Spread batter into pan and bake for 20 -25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Watch closely for the last few minutes as they can easily over bake and dry out. Cool on wire rack.

*We don't "pack it" like most recipes call for; a bit less sugar is better.

7 Minute Frosting
(Just like Grandma made!)

• 1 1/2 C caster sugar
• 1/4 t cream of tartar
• 1/8 t kosher salt
• 1/3 C water
• 2 egg whites (from large eggs)
• 1 1/2 t pure vanilla extract

Place sugar, cream of tartar, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld mixer for 1 minute. Then, place the top over the bottom pan of boiling water; make sure water does not touch the bottom of the top pan or it could cause frosting to become grainy. Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Remove top and and beat in vanilla.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 1/4 C flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 C butter; softened

1/2 muscovado dark brown sugar; not packed

1/3 C white sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1/2 C natural peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugars. Beat in egg. Add vanilla and peanut butter; beat well. Combine flour, soda and salt; gently stir into creamed mixture.

Drop by rolled tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Use a fork dipped in sugar to press down cookies in a crisscross pattern . Bake for 7-8 minutes, until the edges just begin to brown.

Yield: 3 1/2 dozen

Stewed Peaches

Every September I begin to anticipate the day our neighbor puts out his peach stand. He grows, what have to be, the world's best peaches. In an earlier post Andy shared the peach ice cream we made. This week I made some stewed peaches .... we ate them in 24 hours. So I made a second batch ... doubling it this time.

Stewed Peaches

8 C peaches, peeled and sliced

1/4 -3/4 C sugar (depending how sweet your peaches are. I used 1/4 C.)

2 t fresh lemon juice

8 whole cloves

1 T cornstarch

1 T water

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large pot. Over medium-high heat bring to a boil; stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to shimmer and cook for about 10 minutes, till peaches are tender. In a small bowl combine cornstarch and water. Add to peaches and bring back to a boil. Boil one minute or until thickened. Remove from heat and fish out those cloves, we don't want any broken teeth! Serve warm over ice cream or pound cake (or both). Refrigerate leftovers. For breakfast, I like to re-warm the leftovers and stir in cinnamon and granola.

~Michele