Cheesecake!

It's been a while. Welcome back! Know that while I wasn't doing much blogging, I was still baking and cooking and actually remembering to take pictures! A few weekends ago was opening weekend of pheasant season in South Dakota. Don't worry, this isn't pheasant flavored cheesecake, it was just my excuse to make the cheesecake. This particular cheesecake was tested on the Melstad family, and we like our desserts.

This particular recipe uses a Rice Crispy crust and Mom's cheesecake recipe.


Cheesecake:
5 8oz. pkg cream cheese
1 1/4 C sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 Tbsp Domata gluten-free baking mix.

Cream sugar and cream cheese together, then add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and mix.

Add any toppings you want (I personally like chocolate chips and candy canes) or split the batter in half and add cocoa to the mix (to taste - I did a rich, dark chocolate) and marble or layer it together.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Then turn oven to 300 degrees and bake for 1 hour. Do not remove pan from oven while temperature adjusts.

Top with whatever your tastebuds fancy and enjoy!

Revisiting Bob

In the past, I've found Bob's Red Mill products to be lacking in the flavor (particularly sugar and fat) department...but I had a mix, and needed a safe potluck option. So I mixed the Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix together, and baked it as a cookie bar.

I almost didn't bake it, as Mom always taught me that the cookie will taste like the dough...This dough had a very strong bean flour flavor, and I was scared. I made a quick chocolate frosting (1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 stick of butter and about 2 tsp. Cardamom) hoping to cover some of the bean flavor.

I pulled the bars out of the oven, frosted them, and walked out the door (did I mention that I was also running a little late?) and presented my un-tasted experiment to the potluck. It ended up not being bad. It was still very crumbly (I'm glad I didn't make cookies), and the frosting was great. I probably will stick with my Domata flour for now, but this would definitely be an OK substitute for a graham cracker crust if necessary.

And sorry, no pictures...I finished off the last one last night :)

Birthday Cake

Today is my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!!!  My family loves cake (and all desserts for that matter) and once again there was a dillema about the cake. Some would concede to the fact that cake is not necessary - but not in this family. I have found that making GF cupcakes (and frosting them first) is a great way to mark which cake I can eat. We do not need a whole GF cake when I am the only one eating it.

So we pulled out a local church cookbook and found a recipe for chocolate cake. It tastes delicious, but it fell. I'm going to try it again with additional flour before posting the recipe becuase the cakes fell, but it's delicious and the cream-cheese frosting makes it even better.

Mom says she can't tell, and everyone else likes them too. I told them they had to save a few for me to eat tonight :)

Cake crisis averted successfully.

Now it's time to marinade the steaks.

Graham Cracker Crust Substitute

I am a blessed lady to have a whole family making sure that I still get my desserts :) This idea came thanks to one of my dear grandmas.

When she makes desserts that call for a graham cracker crust, she crunches up rice cereal (like Rice Crispies, an off-brand of them, or Rice Chex) and uses them in place of graham crackers in the crust.  It's simple, tastes good (albeit a little different) and best of all, makes it safe for me to eat. It's especially good with her homemade no-bake cheesecake!

Grandma's Refrigerator Cheesecake
Crust:
2 cups rice ceral crumbs*
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix together and pack on bottom of 9x13 pan or set aside to layer in parfait dishes
*May use cocoa crispies or fruity pebbles for this crust - depending on what the filling is. Omit extra sugar as the cereal is plenty sweetened.

Filling:
1 box lemon jello
1 cup sugar
8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
1 can evaporated milk or 1 1/2 - 2 Cups whipping cream

Dissolve jello in 4-5 oz hot water and cool with 4-5 oz cold water.
Cool till syrupy.
Mix in sugar and cream cheese.
Beat until smooth.
Whip evaporated milk or cream until fluffy.
Add to cream cheese mixture.
Fold together and pour onto crust or layer with crust in parfait dishes.
Refrigerate and serve when chilled to taste.