Mini New York Cheesecakes

Okay. I want to make dessert. I want to make a yummy dessert. No, strike that, I want to make a really great, turn someone into putty in your hands, yummy dessert. Wait, but it has to travel well and be easy to make. (Not asking for too much, am I?) The downside? There’s just two of us and how much dessert does anyone really want left over. And throwing away dessert is not an option.

Enter small batch baking and the genius of Christina over at Dessert for Two. She is my go-to site for this sort of thing. These Mini New York Style Cheesecakes were not just good … they were delicious … they were phenomenal. They were so simple to make, they can be thrown together at any short notice.

You know a recipe is successful when someone looks across the table at you, grinning from ear to ear, and the only word that could be mustered is ‘WOW’. And, yes, after that reaction, I will make these for you again and again.

I may experiment a little and instead of the sauce Christina made, cherries, or blueberries, or … well, the possibilities are endless!

This recipe makes 4 mini cheesecakes, using a regular cupcake pan.

• 6 ozs cream cheese, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 C + 2 T sugar
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1/2 t lemon juice
• 4 Nilla wafers (or other small cookies)

For the sauce:

• ¼ C sour cream
• 2 T brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375.

Add 4 paper cupcake liners to a cupcake/muffin pan.

Drop a cookie in each liner, flat side down.

NOTE: I used a cookie and a half. The Nilla wafer doesn’t quite fill the entire bottom, and I’m a crusty kind of gal (no comments). I also thought that a few smashed graham crackers with butter might work.

In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice. Beat very well until combined.

NOTE: You are going to look at this batter and think it’s just not going to be enough or too much, but it’s the perfect amount!

Divide the mixture between the cups and bake for 15 minutes.

Let cakes cool completely, then refrigerate at least 4 hours.

NOTE: They’re a bit puffy when they come out, but as they cool they fall a bit.

When ready to serve, stir together the sour cream and brown sugar and pour on top of each cake.

NOTE: I zested a bit of lemon on top of each just to make them look pretty – not that they lasted long enough to be seen as pretty. Also, I removed them from the paper liners before serving. Good thing too! Can’t have anyone sitting at the table LICKING paper cupcake liners!

Key Lime Pie

Many moons ago, while having dinner at my brother-in-law’s restaurant, I was treated to his Key Lime Pie. I was instantly in love. Smooth, frozen, not too sweet, limey puckering goodness.

I begged for this recipe. It was one of those things that you just had to re-create at home … and I have, many, many times over the years, mostly at my son Tommy’s request.

I made this for him the night before he moved to New Zealand … sigh, that child is sorely missed … and had most of the blog post written, but was very dissatisfied with the resulting photos of the finished pie. Not my fault. Sometimes it’s very hard to make something you are about to put on the table … NO. I WANT TO CUT IT NOW. I CAN’T WAIT! Such was the case with the Key Lime Pie.

Communications with my chickadee is difficult … busy schedules, massive time difference, and boy children are uncommunicative under the best of circumstances.

Suddenly on Facebook a note pops up … ‘Mom, I want to make your Key Lime Pie. Would you send me the recipe and walk me through it.’ I was quite chuffed. Asking for MY help, wanting to recreate something that brings him fond (and missed) memories of home, a chance to spend some (although virtual) time with my boy, his curiosity and desire to be in the kitchen, take your pick. They were all good and plucked at my heartstrings.

So, off the recipe went through the internet. It’s a pretty simple recipe, but as a newcomer to the kitchen, the task was a bit daunting. Many emails went back and forth with questions. Three Skype sessions for further clarification.

Truthfully, when I began to cook, after I had left home, I had NO CLUE whatsoever about recipes, pots and pans, spices, herbs. I had ONE cookbook, the Joy of Cooking. But, I had my Mom. I spent years in the kitchen, listening to her cook, smelling how things came together, occasionally watching her cook. I really had no interest in jumping in to cook. When I was first on my own and staring at ingredients with no clue of where to go with them or how to begin, I would call her and ask … “How do I make a pot roast?”, “How do I make beef stew?”, “What about tomato sauce?” And these questions came repeatedly. She must have felt much the same way I do now … I did something right, sparked an interest, traditions of flavor passed on to another generation.

Most of my cooking came straight from my childhood dinner table. My mother is a wonderful cook (though she chronically does not read a new recipe through, and some fabulous recipes have come from those booboos) Her mother was a wonderful cook. My, have I come a long way. Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Grandma.

So off Tommy went into the terrifying place known as the kitchen, armed with this recipe, lots of advice, and the support of three generations of women who have lovingly fed him.

After what seemed like many joyful hours of back and forth … Ta-da! Pie done. Great feelings of accomplishment from his end … and mine. The culinary torch is being passed on. The pie was great. Gone in a sitting.

Thanks for the lend of the great pie photo, little one. I’m proud of your success and applaud your adventurous spirit!

Crust:

• 1 section of graham crackers, crushed
• 2 oz butter, melted

Filling:

• Juice of 6 limes, plus zest
• 5 large egg yolks
• 2 cans sweetened condensed milk

NOTE: I use regular limes, so I don’t have an exact liquid amount for subbing in key limes. They’re very difficult to come by in my neck of the woods, and using bottled is OUT.OF.THE.QUESTION!

Mix butter and crushed graham crackers. Use just enough butter so the crumbs hold together. Press crumb mixture into a 9″ pie plate to form crust. Freeze.

NOTE: You may need a little extra melted butter.

In a mixing bowl beat egg yolks until pale yellow.

While beating, slowly add condensed milk so eggs become smooth. Stir in lime juice and zest.

Fill crust with filling and freeze until firm.

NOTE: You can add a piping of whipped cream around the edge or plop dollops of whipped cream in top. In my house, the key lime pie stands alone, naked.

And this is what the pie looked like within MOMENTS!!

And this was gone before morning!

Apple Chips

This fabulous recipe for Caramelized Apple Chips is from the September 2012 Southern Living magazine. I know it’s been making the food blog rounds like wildfire, but I found this over at Tracey’s Culinary Adventures. I fell in love. It was bookmarked into my to do list. And there it sat. And sat. And sat.

And along came Winter Storm Athena, the nor’easter that slammed the Northeast so soon after our dear Sandy departed. Betcha didn’t know they named winter storms too! I surely didn’t. Gotta give it to those news guys … anything for a nifty logo and a theme song.

So here I am, locked away in my house AGAIN, dealing with the elements raging outside my windows and desperately trying to not write a letter to Mayor Bloomberg BEGGING him to stop repeating his announcements in Spanish. His Spanish makes my ears bleed and disturbs my sensibilities.

It seems within certain ethnicities, food and cooking is the solution to most of life’s problems. Some people eat to live, and others (like me and those I hold nearest and dearest) live to eat. We discuss lunch during breakfast, dinner during lunch, and what will we eat tomorrow during dinner.

Cooking. It’s MY solution to everything.  Oh, you’re sick? I’ll cook. You had a car accident? I’ll make you a little something. Fired from your job? How about a strudel? Locked in the house again ready to pull your hair out? APPLE CHIPS!

Now be forewarned. The apples need to be VERY thinly sliced. I think I sliced mine a little too thinly using my handy dandy handheld Kyocera Mandolin. It comes with a guard, don’t you know. Did I use it? NOPE. Everything went along swimmingly … well, until it didn’t. Slice, slice, slice, apple gets stuck, fingers kept going. You get the picture. USE THE GUARD.

These were really yummy, though very sweet. I think next time I’ll add a little lemon juice to the simple syrup and perhaps a sprinkle of cinnamon.

• 1 small apple (I used a Gala)
• 1 C sugar
• 1 C water

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place a wire rack inside of a rimmed baking sheet and spray the rack lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Cut the apple into very thin slices. You don’t need to core or peel the apple, but remove the seeds from the slices.

Add the sugar and water to a 3-qt saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add the apple slices and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until they are translucent and the syrup has reduced and thickened slightly.

Use tongs to remove the slices from the syrup and place them on the wire rack in a single layer.

Bake the apples for about 15-20 minutes, or until they’re golden in color. The baking time will vary depending on the thickness of your apple slices – I found the best indicator of doneness to be color. Don’t be concerned if the slices aren’t crisp when they become golden – mine definitely weren’t – the chips will crisp as they cool.

Transfer the chips to a sheet of waxed paper lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray and let them cool completely, about 10 minutes.

NOTE: With the exception of nearly taking the tips of three fingers off, these were really great. GUARD! USE THE GUARD! But, they make a quick and yummy snack!