Preheat oven to 350. With mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy; gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add egg, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.
Arrange raspberries on bottom of crust. Slowly pour cheese mixture over fruit. Bake 30-35 min or until center is set. Cool.
Top cheesecake with Chocolate glaze; chill.
Glaze: In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt 2 (1 oz ea) squares semi-sweet baking chocolate with 1/4 cup whipping cream. Cook and stir until thickened and smooth. Remove from heat. Cool just a couple of min and pour over cheesecake and put into fridge for a few hours to chill.
Friends took me to Houstons Restaurant for my birthday lunch last week. They knew that my all time favorite dessert is Houston’s Key Lime Pie, but low and behold, as we sit here, the waiter informed us that the key lime pie had been discontinued for about 6 weeks, because out here in LaLa land, people complain when they don’t get their strawberry shortcake while dining at Houstons, so as we sat there with our long faces, just knowing that we missed having our fav pie by 1 week. We did however, perk up when the waiter brought to our table a “free on the house” fresh strawberry shortcake, because we told him how disappointed we were that we came just for the KLP. Now, I am not big (well, yes, actually I am big) on strawberry shortcake, but this was absolutely awesome. So much so, that I am making it for a luncheon tomorrow. Instead of using those awful little sponge cakes that Sponge Bob must have invented, they served a fresh whipping cream scone, split with beautiful strawberries and sauce with fresh whipping cream. To die for….so here is a version, that I think would pass for the one we ate at Houstons. But…..in 5 weeks and counting, I will head over to order my key lime pie. In the meantime, the strawberry shortcake will keep me happy and I like to think of it, eating lots of vitamin C, instead of what it really is…..I’m not even going to say….we all know what it is…a dessert that our “cholesterol” dr would not approve of!
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tables baking powder
1/4 teas salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cold butter, cut up
1 cup whipping cream
Combine first 4 ingredients; cut in butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. Add whipping cream, stirring just until all is moist.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; ( I use wax paper) knead 5-6 times. Roll to 1/2 ” thickness; cut with a 2″ round cutter and place in lightly greased baking sheet. Brush tops with a little milk and sprinkle a little sugar over the top.
Bake at 375 for 15 min or until lightly browned. Set aside or keep until ready to serve with either preserves for breakfast or use for the strawberry shortcake.
Strawberries
Clean and slice pint of fresh strawberries.
In a small sauce pan, bring 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and 3 tables cornstarch to a boil, stirring continually. When thickened, add 3 heaping tables of dry strawberry jello and stir to mix. Set aside to cool and when cool, add sliced strawberries. * You cannot use sugar free jello, as it won’t set up right.
When ready to serve dessert. Slice the scones in half and spoon strawberry mixture onto each scone. Top with whipping cream. Delish and so pretty.
I have to tell you, these are amazing. I just went on the internet this morning to look for a pastry recipe to use for fried pies and this one caught my eye,. It is easy, and so flaky you won’t believe it…I used canned blueberry pie filling and then I made homemade strawberry pie filling which is on the blog, but you can use any type of canned fruit filling you want…they are truly as good as the ones we used to buy at exit 51 on Southbound 75 coming from Oklahoma to Texas and take a sack of them back home to snack on all night……truly, this is the recipe I will use from now on for all my pie crusts.
It started with a strawberry bread which I had made a week or so before leaving town and froze. Layered with instant pudding, whipping cream, strawberries and a strawberry glaze with the cubed strawberry bread, make a beautiful dessert that was such a hit. You could use pound cake and bought strawberry glaze if you didn’t want to make your own. If you use real whipped cream, (whipped with powdered sugar instead of granulated to make it hold its shape longer) this is a really quick dessert to put together and just makes a great presentation.
When we moved in to our new place here in California, our neighbor brought over a Persimmon cake to us. It was so moist and so tasty that I immediately went to every store and every farmers market to find these little gems so I could make one myself. I learned that they were not in season until Oct. When I asked Claudette, who made the cake, she told me that she had used the persimmons that she had put away last year when they were in season. I have been waiting until Oct to buy some and make this cake. It is so good and so different. It is almost like a pudding cake. In fact, Claudette using Nancy Reagan’s recipe for her persimmon cake. But the one below has already been converted from metric to our regular measurments so am posting this one. Last night, Randy (or Peter, if you are in the Pumpkin mood already) brought home a huge sack of persimmons from a lady at the office who had talked to me and knew that I was waiting for these little gems to get to the stores. Her husband is in produce delivery and so she sent me a sack full and just told me to allow them to ripen for a few days in the brown sack. So they are sitting there waiting to ripen. I have been told that in another 2 weeks they will be in the stores. It will be fruit freezing time at our house in a few weeks. I don’t want to have to wait again like the last few months before I can have them to make a cake any time I want. If you see them in the store, buy them and try this cake. It is just so good and so perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The recipes I am finding have it with cream cheese frosting, but Claudette only sprinkled powdered sugar over the cake….which is how I will serve mine….
2 cups sugar
1 cup light vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon each, salt, allspice and cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup persimmon pulp
1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or hickory nuts
In a large bowl use an electric mixer to combine the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
Sift together the flour, salt and spices. Combine the buttermilk and baking soda. Add the sifted ingredients to the first mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Add the persimmon pulp and mix well. Stir in the chopped nuts. Pour the batter into a greased and floured tube pan and bake at 300 degrees F for 75 minutes. Cool and frost with buttermilk frosting (recipe below). Makes 10 to 12 servings.
2 (8 oz) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
2 lbs fresh, firm, ripe peaches, peeled and quartered (about 4 large)
1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 (12 oz) can citrus-flavored soft drink
Preheat oven to 350. Unroll crescent rolls; separate into triangles. Place 1 peach quarter on wide end of each triangle; roll up triangles around peaches, starting at wide end. Place point sides down, in a lightly greased 13×9 pan.
Stir together sugar, butter and cinnamon and drizzle over rolls; pour soft drink over rolls.
Bake at 350 for 45 min or until golden brown and bubbly.
For citrus-flavored solf drink, I used Mountain Dew
WHen you hear that friends might be dropping by for a cup of coffee and you don’t have anything in the freezer, you can whip up these crostatas in a matter of minutes and they will think you have been under the direction of Paula Deen herself, all week…….This recipe actually comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Pastry Queen, which comes from the Hill Country of Texas. I have used this cookbook over and over and the recipes have never failed to bring anything but highest raves from our family or friends. This recipe works well with almost any fruit you might have on hand, fresh, canned or frozen, but if you are using frozen, you need to defrost and drain thoroughly before placing them on the dough. Top with ice cream or whipped topping when serving and it makes a most wonderful addition to a cup of coffee, tea and great conversation.
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour (not self-rising)
1/4 teas salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into small pieces
4 tables ice water
1 cup fruit
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or butter baking sheet generously. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse together 1/2 cup of the sugar with the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse 3 to 5 times, until mixture is crumbly. Pour the water through the feed tube, 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse until the dough begins to hold together. Remove the dough, shape it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (*if you are in a huge hurry, freeze the wrapped dough just long enough to prepare the fruit filling. It will be a little harder to work wtih, but its an acceptable trade-off when time is short).
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Use your hands to press the dough into 1/4″ thick rounds on the prepared baking sheet. Each round should be about 6 in in diameter. Open a can of fruit pie filling of your choice, peach, apple or cherry and spoon 1/4 cup fruit into the center of each of the crostatas, leaving an edge all around. * If using the peach or apple pie filling, I also sprinkle lots of cinnamon over the fruit and sugar. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 sugar evenly over the fruit on each crostata. fold the dough edges toward the center, making 3 searate flaps. With your thumb and forefinger, firmly pinch together the seams beteween the folds.
Bake the crostatas for 12-14 min until brown around the edges. Cool the crostatas on the baking sheet for no more than 10 min or they will be difficult to remove whole. Serve warm or at room temperature.
What a way to begin your day. These are something that you would see at a upscale restaurant. So easy and very good for you.
3/4 cup fat-free milk and dash of salt
1/2 cup uncooked couscous
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 cup lemon yogurt
1 tables honey
1/4 tsp grated lemon peel
1 cup sliced peeled kiwifruit
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh raspberries (or strawberries)
Chopped crystallized ginger and minced fresh mint
In a small soucepan, bring milk and salt to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 6-10 min ur until milk is absorbed. Fluff with a fork; cool.
In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, yogurt, honey and lemon peel. Stir in couscous.
Combine kiwi, blueberries and raspberries and spoon 1/4 cup into each of six parfait glasses.
Layer with couscous mixture and remaining fruit. Garnish with ginger and mint.
This is so cool. Just bought a new Paula Deen Cookbook and when I saw this recipe, I knew I would have to make it and share it.
Streusel Topping
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tables butter
2 1/2 tables flour
1 teas ground cinnamon
Coffee cake
2 tables unsalted butter
2 tables light brown sugar
One 12-oz tube buttermilk biscuits
1 cup blueberries, fresh or thawed frozen ones
Preheat oven to 375. To make the streusel, combine the almonds, sugar, butter, flour and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse until large crumbs form.
In a 9 in skillet (cast iron if you have one), cook the butter and brown sugar over medium heat until melted. Arrange the biscuits in a single layer in the skillet. scatter the blueberries over the biscuits and the streusel topping over the berries. Bake until the biscuits are golden and a tested inserted in the center of a biscuit comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 teas vanilla
1 teas cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
10 slices French bread, 3/4 in thick
2 cups fresh blueberries
Maple syrup for serving and powdered sugar if desired to sprinkle over top
Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a large bowl, with mixer until well blended.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the mil, and mix well.
Arrange the bread in the prepared baking dish and spread the blueberries on top of bread. Pour the cream mixture over the bread. Let stand for at least 15 min before baking (or you can cover the pan and place in refrigerator overnight). Bake for 40 to 45 min until golden brown (take the cover off before baking if it has been covered overnight)
Serve with syrup and powdered sugar.
Chocolate Castles 