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Desserts
Cheese Cake OH SO RICH
Every recipe for cheese cake calls for a 9 or 10 inch springform pan, eh! All you really need is a pan that will hold this size of cheesecake. So, if you have a DEEP, big pan that you can put in the oven, use it. And butter it really good other wise the graham crackers will stick to it.
1 1/2 to 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
Mix these ingredients and line the pan with it, if you are using a springform pan, just line the bottom. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl mix:
5 8oz cream cheese, softened
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup lime juice
1 Tbls. vanilla
1/4 cup flour
1 cup heavy cream
Add 2 packs of the cream cheese and 2 eggs and the sugar to get this going. Then add the rest of the fattening stuff, using an electric blender whip it and whip it good. This will take you about 5 minutes to get it mixed really good. (Unless you have a weenie mixer like mine) I ALWAYS sift the flour into any thing I make, so don't be in a hurry and just drop the flour into the mixture, LUMPS we need to avoid lumps! So, you must be done with whipping it, pour it into the pan and put it in a pre-heated oven of 350 degrees and bake that precious delicacy for an hour and 10 minutes. Turn the oven off but leave the cake in for at least 3 to 5 hours and then chill it over night. You HAVE to chill it, other wise if you go to eat any at this point, well, let me put it this way DON'T!!!! This will feed anywhere from 1 to 15 people, depending on how big of oinkers you have there. I should know, there are only 2 of us, and I make this.
CHOCOLATE BAVARIAN CREAM
In all my travels around in Europe, this desert brought me out of my chair and into the kitchen BEGGING for the recipe. I have made it here at home many times and it has never been anything but WOW! If you like chocolate, rum and whipped cream, you are going to love this one. It is almost a custard made with chocolate of course. You are going to have to have a mold, so if you don't have one, GO GET ONE! Find one that is different, this deserves all the extras you can do to make it look as brilliant as it is going to taste. It will serve 4 to 6 people. (or just 2 if that's all you're having for dinner!)
Vegetable oil
3 cups whole milk
4 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate, grated
3 oz. Sugar
4 egg yolks
2 TBS gelatin
4 oz. Strong coffee (see note)
1 tsp. vanilla
5 oz. Heavy cream
2 TBS rum
I hope you have a pastry brush, cause your going to need to brush the inside of this mold with the vegetable oil and then turn the mold upside down to let it drain the excess oil out. Put a paper towel underneath it.
In a medium saucepan heat the milk and chocolate over medium heat stirring to melt the chocolate. Once melted, take off the heat.
In a medium bowl, add the sugar and make a well in the middle of it. Drop the egg yolks, one at a time and with a spoon beat the yolks slowly mixing with the sugar, continue till all the yolks are in and mixed with the sugar.
Pour the warm milk and chocolate in a thin stream on to the sugar mixture, beating it at the same time.
Place a large pan, one-third filled with water over high heat. Bring just to a boil and then turn down to low. Put the bowl with the sugar in the water and stir slowly until the custard starts to stick to the spoon. Make sure this is on low heat, you don't want the custard to curl! When this is done, remove it from the heat and set aside.
In another small saucepan over LOW heat, dissolve the gelatin in the coffee. Add the vanilla and stir. Once the gelatin in completely dissolved, stir it into the custard.
Now strain the custard through a sieve into yet another bowl. Place this bowl over ice that is in yet another bowl. Stir constantly till it thickens.
Now, in yet another bowl, whip that cream with a wisk until it is thick but not stiff. Now fold the cream and the rum into the custard and now you can pour it into that mold. Cover the mold with foil or waxed paper and put in the fridge for about 6 hours. It HAS to be completely set!!!!!
Are you ready to serve it? Dip the bottom of the mold into hot water just for a second, and then run a knife around the edge to loosen it and then , take a cold plate,yes, a cold plate, put it on top of the custard and quickly turn it over. You should have your hard work ready to eat. You can top each serving with more whipped cream. It was worth it, wasn't it!!!
Now, I also have an Orange Bavarian Cream~~~INTERESTED???? Let me know, and put the gloves on!!
NOTE: Go to the Mocha Butter recipe on the coffee syrup
BRANDY SNAPS
Long gone are the days where you can go to a fine 5 star restaurant and get Brandy Snaps. I wonder if it is because they are a little work and the people just HAVE to have them once they have tasted them. For anyone who has been over to Europe and not had Brandy Snaps, well, I bring them to you here in America. If any of you out there like Cannoli's , then you just have to, you have to, try Brandy Snaps. Now making them is a bit of a chore, but oh so worth the effort.
1/4 cup, plus 1 TBS unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. Ground good ginger
juice of 1/2 lemon
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 TBS Brandy
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a large baking sheet with half the tablespoon of butter. Coat the handle of a long wooden spoon with the rest of the tablespoon of butter.
In a medium sized saucepan, melt the remaining butter, sugar, and syrup over medium to low heat. When melted, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the flour, ginger and lemon juice until it is smooth.
Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the butter baking sheet, leaving about 3 to 4 inches between each spoonful.
Bake in oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until they are golden brown. Turn off the heat and open the oven door, but leave the snaps in the oven to keep warm. If they are allowed to cool, they will harden and break; you DO NOT want this to happen.
Using a PALETTE knife, (this is a long flat utensil usually used to ice cakes) remove one brandy snap at a time and curl it around the buttered wooden spoon handle. Slide the brandy snap off and repeat until you have finished. Now if the handle starts to dry out from the butter, REBUTTER IT!
Just before you are going to serve these, beat the cream with a wisk until very thick. Add the brandy and continue beating to keep thick. Fill your icing bag with the cream and pipe it into both sides. Make sure the snaps are filled and serve. Now if you like rum, go for the rum, but nothing beats brandy.
Cool Summertime Cake
Now this cake you can make any flavor you want. All you need is a cake mix or recipe, fruit flavors are best, a box of jello and whipped cream.
Make the cake, and while it is cooking, make your flavor of jello that you want to flavor it with. If you don't have any ideas, try going with a lemon cake and as for the jello, go with lime.Or if chocolate is more to your liking, use chocolate pudding in place of the jello. When the cake has cooked and cooled, and the jello has cooled a bit but not set, you need to put holes throughout the cake and then pour the jello over the cake and it will naturally go into the holes and soak down on the cake. Put the cake in the fridge and let it chill good, I suggest 2 hours or more, then when the cake has chilled, cover it with whipped cream and let it chill a bit more. This is a nice COLD refreshment is the heat of summer that will tickle your taste buds. And it's so easy to make.
MOCHA BUTTER CREAM FROSTING OR FILLING
1 cup unsalted butter softened
6 cups sifted confectioner's sugar (POWDERED)
3 egg yokes
1/4 cup Coffee Syrup (recipe to follow at bottom of this)
2 squares semisweet chocolate, melted
Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until you have that butter fluffy. Add half of the sugar slowly or it will go everywhere, mix this good. Add the egg yokes and keep that blender going cause this is going to take a while, and slowly finish adding the sugar. Add the coffee syrup and the chocolate and beat this until it is so fluffy it barks at you.
I like to use this as a filling for my chocolate cakes or between cookies, or just sit with the bowl and dip my fingers in and lick till the bowl is empty. Nahhhh, I lied, at least about the bowl being empty.
COFFEE SYRUP
Make a pot of VERY VERY strong coffee and put this coffee in pan and cook it over med.high heat until it is less than 1 cup. But watch it so it doesn't scorch. That's it. I store the rest of the coffee in a jar in the fridge just so it's there for future uses.
BANANAS BEAUHARNAIS
This is a great desert with bananas and rum and cream. It's not hard and lots of fun to eat.
serves 4
6 bananas
1 TBS sugar
6 TBS white rum
1/2 cup crushed macaroons
1 TBS melted unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a medium size baking dish with butter. Peel the bananas and put them in the backing dish. Sprinkle them with the sugar and the rum. Bake for 15 minutes. Take pan out of oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Now reset the oven to 325F.
Mix the crushed macaroons with the melted butter. Pour the cream over the bananas. Sprinkle the macaroon mixture on top of the cream. Now return the pan and bake for another 20 minutes. I told you it was easy.
Crème Brûlée French Toast
Serves 6
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 8 to 9-inch round loaf country style bread
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and half
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoon Grand Marnier
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a small, heavy saucepan, over moderate heat, melt the butter with the brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir until smooth. Pour into a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking dish.
Cut 6 1-inch thick slices from the center portion of bread, reserving ends for another use. Trim crusts.
Arrange the slices in one layer in the baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit.
In a bowl, beat together the eggs, half-and half, vanilla, Grand Marnier and salt until well mixed. Pour evenly over the bread.
Chill bread mixture, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.
Uncover and bring the bread to room temperature before baking - about 2 hours ahead of time.
Bake on the center rack of a preheated 350-degree oven, until puffed and the edges are pale golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve immediately.
Page last updated: Oct 27, 2007
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