Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

My mum has made these yummy cupcakes since I was little. It was always a favorite at school birthday celebrations or as a treat at home. 

I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate cake, but these...these cupcakes with the airy chocolate cake and the big glop of cream cheese in the center.  These are amazing. 

I made the chocolate cake batter first and put it in the cupcake papers, then mixed up the cream cheese filling to drop into each cupcake.  These are the ultimate creamy filled cupcakes without having to inject the filling. 

I dropped a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese-chocolate chip mixture in each one and they are ready to bake.  

Here they are prefectly baked and ready to enjoy. 

The beautiful thing about putting chocolate chips into the cream cheese is that you end up with melted chcolate inside cream cheese INSIDE chocolate cake!  They are especially amazing when they're warm with a nice cold cup of milk. 

Ingredients:

Chocolate cake:

1 C. sugar

1 1/2 C. flour

1/4 C. cocoa

1 t. salt

1t. baking soda

1/2 c. oil

1 T. vinegar (white or apple cider)

1 t. vanilla

Cream cheese filling:

One 8 ox. package of cream cheese

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 C. sugar

1 pinch salt

6 oz. chocolate chips

Directions:

Cake: Mix all ingredients well and fill cupcake papers 1/3 to 1/2 full with the cake mixture.

Filling: In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt. Add the chocolate chips and mix together. 

Drop a large spoonful of the cream cheese-chocolate chip mixture on top of each cupcake in the raw batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until firm. 

Tall New York Cheesecake with Cherry Sauce

My husband absolutely LOVES cheesecake. It's not my favorite, but if it's homemade and has a fruit topping, I do enjoy it. But, it doesn't matter if I like it anyway. This particular cheesecake is for his birthday. His (ahem) 40th birthday.

He labors over my cake of multiple layers, buttercream and fondant. so I must make his favorite. I used the Tall and Creamy New York Cheesecake recipe by the NY Times. I figured a recipe right out of New York outta do the trick, right?  

I pureed grahm crakcers in the food processor to make the crumbs nice and fine, stirred in the sugar, salt and melted butter and then pressed it as evenly and as far up the sides of my 9 inch springform pan as I could. 

I mixed together the cream cheese filling and it filled the crust right to the brim. 

I was a bit concerned when it came out of the oven with this big crack in the side.  However, it calmed down a bit from it's Grand Canyon size crack to a smaller one as it cooled.  Plus, as it turns out, the crack was a nice little trap for the lovely cherry sauce. 

There you go. It's out of the springform pan. Thank goodness it didn't stick completely to the sides of the pan. Plus, that crack is barely as noticeable.  And, when the cherry sauce goes on top, you won't even notice. 

And, speaking of cherry sauce, here it is. I thought this bubbly deep red sauce was so gorgeous. I used frozen cherries to make this, but definitely didn't want to settle for just the gloopy canned stuff. I used this recipe which was very simple:

Ingredients:

3/4 C. sugar

2 t. cornstarch

1 pinch of salt

1/3 C. water

4 C. fresh tart red cherries or frozen unsweetened tart red cherries, pitted

Directions:

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Stir in water. Add the cherries and cook until thick and bubbly. 

I let the sauce cool a bit and then added it to the top of the cheesecake.

I didn't mind the sauce running down the sides as it is such a pretty color. It's the year of the sparkler at our house to celebrate birthdays instead of candles.  Happy birthday to my hubby!

Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

It was our third annual Christmas cinnamon rolls and they get better every year. There is nothing better than a cozy home decorated for the holidays and the smell of cinnamon rolls baking. I again followed the Paula Deen cinnamon roll recipe and the dough turned out nicely. I again rolled them using brown sugar instead of white sugar. I did try a lighter cream cheese frosting recipe this year though that turned out even better.

Recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 oz. cream cheese

7 T. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 t. vanilla extract

2 T. milk

1 1/2 C. powdered sugar

1/4 t. salt

Beat together the cream cheese and butter with a mixer until creamy. Mix in vanilla and milk and gradually stir in the powdered sugar and salt until smooth. 

Blackberry and Goat Cheese Bars

I love seeing all the fresh berries at the market each weekend and have enjoyed baking with blackberries lately, including the peach and blackberry tart I recently made. I could just sit and eat a whole bowl of berries or, better yet, cover them in custard and eat them.

These bars consisted of a shortbread crust, a layer of blackberry jam, and then the fresh berries drenched in a custard made with cream cheese and goat cheese.  I think they're supposed to be for dessert, but they were breakfast for my team meeting one morning. They weren't complaining.

Blackberries are so pretty. Last year, I made little meringue shells for them.

And, then the downpouring of custard.  And, not just any custard, but custard with goat cheese, fresh lemon juice and fresh lemon zest.

They're so good together.

The finished product...for dessert or breakfast.

Recipe for Blackberry and Goat Cheese Bars

Adapted from a recipe by Scott Peacock in BHG

Ingredients

 

1C. unsalted butter (2 sticks) cut into 1-inch chunks

1/4 C. packed light brown sugar 

1/2 t. salt

2 C. unbleached all-purpose flour

Softened butter (for brushing sides of foil)

1 C. blackberry jam or preserves

1 pint (2 cups) fresh blackberries

1/2 - 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

4 oz. goat cheese

1/2 C. granulated sugar

1 T. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 T. finely shredded lemon zest

2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 t. pure vanilla

 

Directions

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with a 24-inch-long sheet of aluminum foil, leaving extra foil extending over ends (use these later to lift bars from pan); set aside. In a large bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until it just begins to blend and soften slightly, about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and salt, beat on low speed until incorporated, 30 seconds to 1 minute. With mixer off, add the 2 cups flour. Beat on low speed until flour is incorporated. Increase speed to medium, mix until ingredients form an even, cohesive dough.
Break dough into small chunks and distribute in prepared pan; with your fingers press dough into an even layer. Bake 20 minutes or until dough has begun to puff and is just set. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes.
Lightly brush exposed sides of foil with softened butter to keep filling from sticking. Spread jam evenly over crust.
Sprinkle evenly with blackberries.
With a lemon zester, remove peel from lemon, making sure to avoid bitter white pith.
In a large bowl beat cream cheese and goat cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Mix in granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon flour until blended. With mixer running, add egg, egg yolk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Pour custard batter evenly over berries. Tilt pan back and forth to distribute evenly. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until barely set. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool, about 1 hour; cover and transfer to refrigerator. Chill 2 hours. Top will crack slightly as it cools.
Use foil to lift the bars from pan. With a knife or metal spatula, support the sides of the bars while you gently peel the foil downward and away from sides of the bars.
Cut into long bars, peel foil from bottom, and transfer to cutting boars using side of a long knife or spatula. Cut into 24 squares

Applesauce Spice Muffins

I don't know whether I'd call these muffins or cupcakes. Anything with frosting on top seems to be more officially a cupcake. Either way, they are very tasty and would be perfect with a hot cup of tea or coffee - morning or afternoon. I had some leftover cream cheese frosting from the Valentine cupcakes and extra applesauce that my mother-in-law had made so this was the perfect recipe to come across. The taste is reminiscent of carrot cake with the mixture of spices that is used, but it is a smooth batter with the creamy frosting to finish it off. These were fairly easy to make, especially since I had the frosting already made. I actually chose to bake them just in the tins without cupcake papers and with using the baking spray, they came out of the muffin tins perfectly. I used to always question how much batter and how to easily get it in the tin. The easiest thing for me to do is scoop the batter in using a 1/4 cup measuring cup and just make sure they are all as even as possible so the muffins look consistent after they are baked. These would be perfect for a weekend treat for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. If you're interested in making them, check out the recipe from Martha Stewart. Again, my husbands' colleagues will be receiving a new treat tomorrow morning.

Strawberry Cream Cheese

I went to a friend's place for a play date and she had fresh strawberry cream cheese she bought from a local bakery to serve with bagels. I was just about to call and ask specifically where she bought it so I could get some, but I realized how very easy it would be to make. I used just three ingredients - cream cheese, confectioners (powdered) sugar and strawberries (see below for the recipe). You could add more powdered sugar if you like it to be sweeter, but it was so creamy, fresh and tasty on my toasted bagels for breakfast this past week. It was easy mixing all the ingredients together in my food processor as it chops the strawberries nicely. Or, you could finely chop the strawberries first and cream it together with a wooden spoon or spatula also. I stored it in an air tight container in the refrigerator and it kept nicely for several days. It would be a great idea for a brunch or breakfast gathering to make a few different kinds with a variety of fruits.

Recipe for Strawberry Cream Cheese

Mix the following together in a food processor:

8 oz. low-fat cream cheese, softened (1 box)

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 cup fresh strawberries (stemmed and hulled)

Valentine Cupcakes

I found some Valentine cupcake papers adorned hearts in my baking supplies and thought I would make some chocolate cupcakes for a Valentine's Day treat. I originally intended to make red velvet cupcakes and now know that I need to get gel food coloring as the liquid food coloring just doesn't go as far. And, while red velvet cupcakes are very pretty, I don't particularly like the idea of loading the cupcakes with food coloring. So, instead I just made chocolate cupcakes. I do always use cake flour to make cakes and cupcakes. If you haven't used it before, it's a much more fine flour that makes a more delicate cake. I decided to make cream cheese frosting as I had some extra cream cheese to use. I didn't pipe the frosting as cream cheese frosting doesn't stay put as nicely as butter cream, but used my new small offset spatula to frost them and topped them with some red sugar sprinkles. I ended up making a few dozen of these tasty treats so my husband had some happy colleagues at work the day after Valentine's Day!