Chocolate Drizzled Strawberry Cheesecake Squares

It was around Valenttine's Day when we, my Valentine and I, were out shopping and noticed some Chocolate Covered Strawberries and instantly started craving some. The next day on my first visit to a Whole Foods store we sampled some cheesecake. Even though I did love the cheesecake, I refused to pay their crazy price when I have a recipe that is just as tasty and costs WAY less.The store certainly left a good impression on me overall for many reasons. I swear it wasn't just the cheesecake sample that won me over! 

A photo from the first batch of squares.

I decided to surprise my Valentine with a take on Chocolate Covered Strawberries. The original plan was to make Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake Pops, but that didn't work so well. So, I just decided to drizzle the chocolate on the squares. Perfection! In short, that is the story that led to this post. What a post this is for me...

I've always loved be a little helper in the kitchen. I haven't always been camera shy...It's time for a change.

Around my little world and group of friends it's been mentioned numerous times that I should start a YouTube cooking show. I've been SO hesitant to do so. After much thought on my part and conversation with others, I've decided to start taking the steps to get there. It will still be a while before I do a full on show, but I really did enjoy making the following tutorial. That said, I'm still building the confidence to be on camera and record myself giving directions. Have you ever really listened to yourself on a video or audio recording? I think it's so odd, but I'm kind of loving it! 

The following tutorial is the FIRST I have ever done. It's not up to the standards I strive for, but I'm pretty happy with it overall. I have PLENTY to learn in this process and I hope you'll learn right along with me. One of the biggest things to learn is how to be more myself on camera and/or recording. Evoking the positive and fun emotions I have while cooking certainly doesn't pop through as I wish it had in this video. All said, I'm excited (slightly nervous) to share this video. This is just the start of bigger and better things here at Creandé. 



To make the cheesecake grab the recipes below and watch the video. There is also a picture tutorial below showing you how to turn the cheesecake into the squares. Have fun!

Graham Cracker Crust        [Printable Recipe]

yields 2 9" pie crust or one 9x13 glass dish.

Ingredients:

3 cups crumbled graham crackers (about 20 squares or 10 whole grahams)

2/3 cup sugar

12 Tablespoons better, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º

1. Crush graham crackers. 

2. While butter melts mix sugar into the graham crackers in a medium bowl.

3. Once butter has melted add it to the graham/sugar mixture. Mix with a fork until evenly combined.

4. Press into baking pan(s) or glass dish and bake for 7 minutes. Cool completely.

Strawberry Sauce        [Printable Recipe]

Ingredients:

15.5 ounce frozen strawberries, thawed

2 teaspoons Cornstarch

1 Tablespoon cold water

Directions:

1. Place thawed strawberries in a small saucepan and heat until simmer. 

2. Turn off burner and remove pan from heat. With a stick blender or regular blender…blend the strawberries until smooth.

3. Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl.

4. Return strawberries to the saucepan and whisk in cornstarch/water mixture. 

5. Cook until thickened. 

6. Cool completely.

Simple Cheesecake        [Printable Recipe]

From: creande.com 

Recipe yields 2 cheesecakes or 1 9x13.

Ingredients:

• 2 pre-made graham cracker pie shells or crust recipe (here)

• 4 - 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste 
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
• 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat one to 350 and have a pan of water in the oven…see note below.
2. In the bowl of a mixer combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and vanilla bean and beat until light and creamy. 
3. Add the flour to the cream cheese mixture and beat until just smooth.
4. Add the sour cream and beat until mixed well.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, until just mixed.
6. Pour the batter into prepared pie shells. 
7. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. switch oven rack halfway through. Cheesecakes are done when the center is almost set. If the cheesecake starts to crack, it IS done! Not over done, it will still be fine, but it shouldn't crack.
8. Let the cheesecake cool completely and the refrigerate for at least 4 hours. As hard as it may be to not eat the cheesecakes when cool, they MUST cool in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Drizzled Strawberry Cheesecake Square Tutorial

Steps 1 & 2: Cut the 2 short ends of the cheesecake off. These are curved and won't sit when you try to drizzle them. But! Don't discard them...EAT THEM! haha After that cut the cheesecake into three segments. 

Steps 3&4: Take the cheesecake, a segment at a time, and cut it into two with a hot knife. To get the knife hot, run it under hot water and shake, easily, off the water. Do this after each cut.

Steps 5&6: Cut the segment into quarters and then into 12 pieces.

Step 7: Line the counter with parchment paper. Place squares on a cooling rack. Prepare chocolate.

Step 8: Melt chocolate (I used Wilton Candy Melts)  over a pan of water on low heat.

Step 9: Once the chocolate has melted with a spoon drizzle chocolate over the squares. You can chose to drizzle in an direction. 

Baking in a small place...for a big cause. Part 1

Who just adores and loves their best friend? ...Silly question, I know. My best friend Stephanie holds a very special place in my life and heart. The past 7 years of my life have been brightened beyond anything I could imagine because of her existence in my life. 

I'm such a sap sometimes. ;-) 

Me and my dearest Stephanie getting ready to make dinner. :)

Stephanie and I love nothing better than to spend an evening, day, or whenever we can manage to get together in the kitchen and COOK! We would both love to own a restaurant and create/cook to our hearts content. Maybe someday our dream will come true...not maybe, it will if we want it to! 

....

The Cause: A benefit auction.

The benefit auction was for Stephanie and her husband, Matt. Matt was recently diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. After some doctors visits, tests, and a few surgeries, the medical bills began to pile. While they both work they are not offered health insurance. The auction went well and Stephanie and Matt were incredibly thankful for all that they did receive. :-)

When Stephanie asked me to do a dessert for the benefit auction she was having for her husband, there was no way I could say no. At first we had discussed a cake to just serve along with the meal available for purchase. In the end with decided to go with cupcakes, easier clean up and we could sell them separate! I wanted to make sure we had a variety so I managed to make 4 different cupcakes. 

The Baking: Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, and Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes!

I have to admit that for these cupcakes I did cheat a little and use box mixes from the store with added ingredients to make them a little better. While they may not taste to bad, I'd much prefer to make cakes from scratch. It's worth the extra effort when they turn out and taste delicious. I say when they turn out because I seem to have a difficulty getting the cake/cupcakes to turn out every time. This is what happened this time around...

fell in the center. look below for an even worse example. 

Here's the deal, I have no AC downstairs in my apartment and I have a small kitchen...it was HOT! I think I allowed the butter to get to warm so therefore it resulted in those cupcakes. Butter needs to be at room temperature (65-68 degrees) to get the correct amount of air into the batter. Lesson learned.

Now, on to a better picture of what I did manage to create...

While all the cupcakes did turn out, I'm just going to share one recipe (it was the best one). The Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake! The chocolate cake recipe was one I found here and it's been quite popular. I came across this recipe because making chocolate cake/cupcakes from scratch has yet to be a true success for me. I really do like this recipe, with one adjustment. I decided to not add the chocolate chips...It's still really great! The frosting recipe comes from a traditional whoopie pie filling, I just had the idea of adding peanut butter. Let me just say, I could eat that frosting all day. It paired perfect with the cupcake. To make this a Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake I simply filled the cupcake liners about half full and then placed a Reese's Mini (the new tiny ones) in the center and finished filling the cupcake liner. It was my plan to also add a peanut butter cup on top of the cupcake, but someone (don't look at me) ate too many Reese's ;-) Here are the recipes...be sure to check out the website here for any questions on the recipe...they give step by step photos!

Happy Baking!

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever

Recipe from http://www.kevinandamanda.com

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a very large bowl, mix together everything except chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan of choice (I normally use two 9-inch pie pans). For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then I do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that. It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch pie pans.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups powdered sugar

1 small jar marshmallow creme

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat shortening, marshmallow creme, and peanut butter. Mix until combined. Slowly add in powdered sugar followed by the vanilla. Mix until smooth. 

No Bake Cheesecake with Fresh Strawberries

What a way to kick off the warm weather (We finally have some here in Indiana) than with fresh Strawberries and a simple No Bake Cheesecake!

Grammie's Strawberry Filled Cupcakes

So I tried something that I've not done before...Filling cupcakes.

Having read through the begining of my new cookbook I thought I'd try a cake recipe from it. However, I didn't want to just make a cupcake. So, I thought that I'd make them extra special and use some of my Grandma's (hence the name) homemade strawberry jam. Was a good idea and the cupcakes did taste decent but not great, to no fault of the jam. I'm still trying to work up my baking supplies and ingredients. I have yet to get a scale and all that jazz to measure properly. The way most recipes were made in the cookbook were by weight. Now they do give you the cup amount to add, but it's important to follow the "dip n scoop" method. I think that's where I failed in this cupcake. The recipe used cake flour which I had to purchase, don't keep it in the cabinet. So, I took the bag out and dumped into the measuring cup rather than doing "dip n scoop". BAD IDEA! It doesn't help that I, still don't know why, I don't have a sifter and the flour was to be sifted. In the end, the cupcakes look AWESOME! Unfortunately, they were a little dry. Even after the filling and frosting, they didn't get much better. I will try this recipe again, but I will make sure to do it properly. Anywho, here are some pictures!

The cupcakes shortly after the oven. They look SO good!

Filled and iced with a very good Cream Cheese Frosting!

And a look inside. Kinda looks like a face sticking out it's tongue. lol