Peanut Butter Cheesecake

After the Christmas Holiday I had a few cream cheese containers left over and I had no idea what to do with them. Then I had a craving for peanut butter. Which lead me to this wonderful recipe for a peanut butter cheesecake:

Crust:

1 c. graham cracker crumbs (44 wafers)
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar and butter in bowl. Press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Remove.

Filling:

2 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 tbsp. flour
4 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. grape jelly (for topping) or drizzle chocolate

Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, peanut butter and flour at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in milk; pour into crust.

Bake in preheated oven 55 minutes. Remove. Loosen cake.

Stir jelly until smooth; drizzle over cheesecake in lattice design. Refrigerate.

Serving Size: 10.

(courtesy of cooks.com)

I highly suggest that after you make it invite tons of people over to share it. It is extremely rich and delicious. You'll only need a tiny sliver to enjoy this delectable treat.

I also suggest using chocolate instead of grape jelly as a topping. It makes it 100x better.

Valentine's Buche de Noel

I love Buche de Noel (Yule Log) at Christmas time. I tried it out at Christmas and failed horribly. For Valentine's Day I wanted to try to redeem myself but I didn't want the traditional yule log. I found the perfect recipe for the cake part:

Buche De Noel (from cooks.com)

4 egg yolks
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 egg whites
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. sifted cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored; gradually beat in 1/4 cup of sugar and vanilla.

Beat egg white until almost stiff; gradually beat in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until stiff. Fold yolks into whites.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt three times; add to egg mixture and fold in.

Bake in greased, waxed-paper lined 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1-inch jelly roll pan at 375°F for 12 minutes.

Loosen sides, turn out on towel sprinkled with confectioners sugar; remove paper, trim crusts, roll quickly with sheet paper on inside of roll and wrap in sugared towel. Let cool, then unroll and remove paper.

For the inside I used a Flavored Sweetened Whipped Cream recipe from Betty Crocker cookbook:

1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
3 tablespoons granulated or powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix together on high speed until soft peaks form (very important). I also added a little bit more cinnamon and a tiny bit of cinnamon extract to give it more kick. I added some food coloring to give it a more Valentine's look.

Then after you put the whipped cream on the inside of the cake, roll it back up.

For the outside I suggest a traditional chocolate butter cream frosting. Be careful not to make too much frosting (it's always been my problem). This time I added whipped cream instead of milk to the frosting to make it more light and fluffy. Turns out that was Cory's favorite part.

And this is the end result:


Don't forget that there is plenty of room for your own creativity. You can change the color to anything and add your own flavoring to any part of it. Enjoy!