Tag Archives: baking

Yum Factor

Blueberry Cheesecake

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Blueberry CheesecakeLast August, a dear friend of mine celebrated her birthday and I promised that I would bake her favorite on her birthday, Blueberry Cheesecake. Incidentally, it was in one of my baking goals for this year, so it’s just convenient that I’d be able to bake it and I can give it as a present for a friend on her birthday (and possibly on Christmas too).

Looking around online, I tried to find the easiest cheesecake recipe I can find and I got this Blueberry Cheesecake recipe from one of Noemi‘s blogs. It seemed easy enough, so I decided to stock up the ingredients and cook it. My mom is really supportive of my baking endeavors, so she readily bought the ingredients for me.

Who knew ingredients for Blueberry Cheesecake can be so expensive?

Anyway, I’ve plurked about this while I was cooking it (too lazy to find the actual Plurk to link — will do tomorrow) but the photo on the left is the actual thing I cooked. Yum yum, it still makes me hungry. :D

Some notes on this:

  • As Noemi mentioned, it’s not too sweet. I like it that way, as the blueberry really gives its sweetness.
  • The ones I cooked are thinner than the usual cheesecakes since I used a thinner pan. I ended up having two thin cheesecakes instead of one. No one’s complaining. :P
  • Blueberry is yummy. :D So is the cheese part of the cake after it has been baked. I can’t stop nibbling on it — I personally think I can eat a cheesecake plain. :P
  • I personally think the walnut is optional, as it gives kind of a weird taste with the crust. I tried grinding it on the second try, but it’s taste is really distinct that it turns off some people. Next time I’ll try cooking it without the walnut in the crust.

Yummy dessert, especially after it has been chilled. :D I’d definitely cook this again, and next time try it with different toppings. I think this wouldn’t be good with those on diet or on weight loss pills, but I can use a lighter kind of cream cheese (those with less fat) so it will be a bit less guilty. :P

Next on the list! This cheesecake. Or an apple pie. Or a double layered chocolate cake! Yum!

Yum Factor

Easy Apple Crisp

As mentioned in my Friday’s Feast, I embarked in another “culinary” endeavor this weekend. Ever since baking the Chocolate Revel Bars a month ago, I started feeling the need to bake again like I did back in high school. So now I’m easing myself into the baking slowly, partly because I don’t have time and partly because baked goodies means more flabs coming in. So I’m doing it one weekend at a time.

Apple CrispLast weekend I cooked some Coconut Macaroons which didn’t really turn out as yummy as I thought it would be (the almond extract made it taste too much like it had liquor in it), and Monday found me looking for recipes for an apple pie because it’s one of my dreams to bake a perfect apple pie (along with the perfect double layer chocolate cake). The recipe search brought me to this: Easy Apple Crisp. The recipe looked easy and a lot of people were raving about it in the website, so I copied it and was all set to make it for the weekend. :)

I modified the recipe a bit from the original one, based on the suggestions of the commenters. Here we go:

EASY APPLE CRISP

7 small apples – peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup water
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
  2. Arrange apples in an even layer in the baking dish. Sprinkle 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp nutmeg over apples.
  3. Put 1 tsp vanilla in 1 cup water and pour over apples.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and butter. Stir until well blended, mixture will be crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over apples, covering hem.
  5. Bake in oven for 50-55 minutes.

Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or ice cream. Makes 12 servings.

Apple Crisp with Ice Cream

Some notes on this creation:

  • The pre-baking mixture looks the same with the post-baked. The usual “stick a toothpick in the middle of the batter to see if it’s clean” or “wait until it is golden brown” is not applicable since the toothpick will not come out clean and the mixture on top does not turn into golden brown after. The difference between the baked and not baked product is that the apple has carmelized (is that the right term?) and you can see some goo on the sides from the heat when it’s baked. :) Slicing it through, you’ll see semi-translucent apples with lots of apple gooey-ness inside. Yum.
  • This really tastes yummier with ice cream (see picture — sorry it’s blurry; Captain Tal took it. That’s cookies and cream flavored ice cream). Of course, it’s a lot sweeter, so if you plan to make this and serve with ice cream, lessen the sugar to 3/4 cup. Yes, putting ice cream or whipped cream on it, it’s just become a lot fattening. :P
  • The one I made is quite thin, because I used a big pan to cook it. A smaller pan would make it thicker, or add more apples. :P
  • Speaking of apples, I think different kinds of apples would give a different taste to this. Try using green apples or the big ones (is that Fuji apples?) to see how it would taste like.
  • Other variations in the recipe include: putting lemon juice on apples, mixing oats with the flour mixture and sprinkling nuts on top.

Yes, it’s yummy! I’ll be serving it in our SFC household later. :) I’ll do some experimenting with it in the next few weeks when I have the chance to get some apples.  Next up on the baking list: chocolate chip cookies! Yum. :9