New York Cheesecake

During the holidays, my mother-in-law and I made the Famous Borjas Cheesecake. The Borjas cheesecake is very traditional, in fact, it's practically a member of the family. It shows up at important family events and celebrations. It's been around since the early 1950's. And I can't deny it's good, but for me, it's temperamental. I have about a 30% success rate with it. So I decided to find out the the secret of this cheesecake, you know, why it only works sometimes. And I found an interesting tidbit: the difference between the New York cheesecake and other kinds of cheesecake, is the thin layer of sour cream on top. I also found a new recipe fairly similar to the Borjas Cheesecake and some cheesecake cooking tips. The girls and I had to try the new recipe. We made it and felt so rebellious! It worked perfectly and was so good.

(adapted from Joy of Baking.com)

Crust Ingredients:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

Filling Ingredients:

32 ounces (4 - 8 ounce packages) cream cheese, room temperature (do not used reduced fat cream cheese)

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

5 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream (not low fat or fat free)

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Place the cream cheese, sugar, and flour in mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until smooth, (about 2 minutes), scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 30 seconds) after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the whipping cream, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat on low until mixed. Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour in the filling. Place the cheesecake on a cookie sheet and set on the center rack in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 250 degrees and continue to back for about another 1 1/2 hours or until firm and only the center of the cheesecake looks a little wet and wobbly. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Spread the topping over the warm cheesecake and return to oven to bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cheesecake (helps prevent the surface from cracking as it cools).

Let cool before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating. This tastes best after being refrigerated for at least a day. Serve with fresh fruit or fruit sauces.

To freeze: Place the cooled cheesecake on a baking pan and freeze, uncovered, until firm. Remove the cheesecake from the freezer, wrap it in heavy duty aluminum foil and place in a freezer bag. Seal and return to freezer. Can be frozen for several months. Thaw uncovered cheesecake in the refrigerator overnight.

Tips: To help prevent the surface of the cheesecake from cracking, do not overbeat the batter, especially when creaming the cheese and sugar. Also, do not overbake. Your cheesecake is down when it is firm but the middle may still look a little wet. Finally, make sure the springfrom an is well greased as cracking can occur if the cheesecake sticks to the sides as it cools.

Rolo Cookies

These are the new favorite cookies at our house. Alayna loves to help me make them, and they are so yummy right when they come out of the oven, when the caramel is still gooey. Also great dunked in milk. I got this recipe from thenerdswife.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 cups cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 pkg Rolos
A bit of sugar for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Unwrap the Rolo candies.
Beat sugars and butter until fluffy.
Add vanilla and eggs to mixture.
beat until combined.
Combine flour, cocoa, and soda.
Add flour mixture to fluffy mixture.
Shape about a teaspoon of dough around each Rolo.
Be sure to cover it completely.
You want it to be about the size of a golf ball.
Optional- Press one side of the dough ball into the leftover sugar. Place sugar-side up on a baking sheet, about two inches apart.
Bake 8-10 minutes.

Cream Cheese Cucumber Spread

Grayson's nurse has been losing weight by eating healthier food in proper portion sizes and exercising. So since it's January and all, and we're in sugar detox mode from the holidays, Olivia and I have decided to give it a try, too. We had salad last night and tonight I made some pita sandwiches -- with whole wheat pita bread, tomatoes, lettuce, green onions, and some left over shredded beef. I am sure we would have immediately died if we were to cut back cold turkey, so I had to make this spread to make sure we would all survive through the night. I would have used plain non-fat yogurt if I would have had it--actually, no I wouldn't have. It just cannot replace the cream cheese without some major bad side effects. Forget it. This is good. Spread it on wraps, bagel sandwiches, pita sandwiches, or a toasted baguette.

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon dried dill

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Kosher salt to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate.

*Dave got a new mini food processor from a coworker for Christmas. I was so elated! I've never had a food processor. I chopped the cucumbers in the processor and then added all the remaining ingredients and wa-lah, it was done. I would recommend your coworker give you one for Christmas next year.

Pretzel Turtles

I got this recipe from Our Best Bites. It's super easy, cute and tasty. Yum! I love sweet and salty.

Ingredients:
Rolos
pretzels
M&M's

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place pretzels on cookie sheet. Top each pretzel with a Rolo. Cook in oven for 3-4 minutes. Squish an M&M on top. Done!

Hot Chocolate Bark

Alayna, Carson and I have been working all morning on treats for our neighbors and friends. It has been so much fun, and it's one of my favorite things to do during Christmas time. We made up this recipe because Alayna said we should make some like hot chocolate. Carson even helped crush the candy canes by trowing the bag on the floor.

Ingredients:
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups white chocolate chips or white candy coating
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
3 crushed candy canes

Directions:
Melt semisweet chocolate chips in microwave for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or until smooth. Spread thinly onto a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Next, melt the white chocolate same as the semisweet chocolate. Stir in the marshmallows and spread evenly over the semisweet chocolate. Sprinkle with candy canes. Chill in the fridge until hard. Break apart.

Lemon Spaghetti

Hey Hilary- here is that recipe, it is Rachel Ray's, but I don't think I put quite that much garlic in it as she does! It really does sound good, maybe I'll have to make it too! Love ya!

Ingredients

• Salt
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 3 turns of the pan
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• Handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup (10 or 12 leaves) fresh basil, very thinly sliced

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and drop the spaghetti into the pot.

Heat a large deep skillet over low heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil andgarlic and crushed red pepper flakes.

When the pasta has been cooking about 5 minutes, add lemonjuice, a ladle of the cooking water from the pasta and the cream to the garlic and oil. Raise heat a bit to bring sauce to a bubble.

Drain pasta when it still has a good bite to it, al dente. Add lemonzest and half of the cheese to the cream sauce. Season the sauce with salt, to taste. Add pasta to pan and turn off heat. Toss thepasta with sauce a minute or 2, allowing it time to soak up the sauce.

Top the plates of pasta or platter with remaining cheese, parsley and basil.

Recipe Request

Hey Alyssa, I was wondering if you would share your lemon spaghetti recipe. It's so yummy, I'm craving it. Love ya!