Thursday, February 16, 2012

Chocolate Sugar Cookies





I found this chocolate sugar cookie recipe on Flour Child's baking blog.  I wanted to make these for the Superbowl but I couldn't find a single football cookie cutter :(.  Anyway here is Flour Child's recipe for chocolate sugar cookies:










Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon milk
    
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour





Preheat the oven to 375.


To Make The Cookies:
First beat the butter, sugar, cocoa, milk and vanilla together.
Then beat in the baking soda and flour.
Once all of the ingredients have been combined you can begin to roll out the dough,
dust your work surface with flour so that the dough doesn't stick or rip.
Use any cookie cutter to shape your cookies before placing them in the oven for 5 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool then enjoy! :)




Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Grandma's Homemade Cheesecake





Until recently I was not a fan of cheesecake; however, I have just recently become a big fan of cheesecake.  


Here is a simple recipe with a few tricks to make cheesecake :).






Ingredients:

  • 1lb Cottage Cheese
  • 1lb Cream Cheese
  • 1 1/2 Cups of Sugar
  • 4 Eggs
  • 1 Tsp Lemon Juice
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 4 TBSP Corn Starch
  • 4 TBSP Flour
  • 1 Stick of Butter
  • 1lb Sour Cream
Crust Ingredients:
- 1 Sleeve of Graham Crackers
- 1/4 Cup Sugar                      .
- 1 Stick of Melted Butter       .


To Bake:
Preheat the oven to 325
Use a springform pan if you have one.
Begin by making the crust, first,put all of the Graham crackers into a sealed Ziploc bag and smash the crackers until they make a fine powder.  Next pour the powder into your pan and add the sugar.  Finally add the melted butter to your mixture and use your hands to shape the crust.  The crust will cover the bottom of the pan and some of the sides, it will not cover the entire side of the cheesecake.  Now you can move on to create the cake batter.  Mix the ingredients together in the order they are listed in, DO NOT STOP STIRRING.  If you have a stand mixer it will come in handy because you need to continuously stir while adding each ingredient.  Once all of the ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth pour the batter into the crust.  If you are using a springform pan put a cookie sheet under the pan to catch the extra butter which will seep out from the bottom of the pan.  Bake the cake at 325 for 1 hour (DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR!), after it has baked for an hour turn the oven off but leave the cake in the oven for an additional hour and again DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR, not even for half a second!  After you have patiently waited 2 hours you may open the oven door and remove your cheesecake, however you must then continue to wait before you can eat the cheesecake because now it must sit in the fridge for at least an hour and a half.  I recommend leaving it over night.  Enjoy! :)