Sweets for the Sweet

 

 

 

 

 

Friday is Valentines Day and although many women like to be wined and dined I prefer to stay at home and fix my husbands favorite meal and dessert.  After all it was just last week that we went out to dinner twice because of my birthday and call me crazy but I think that Valentine's Day is also for him. 

So here is a recipe for Cheesecake that I adapted to make into a Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake that my husband adores and my hips grow another 3 inches just looking at. 

This Cheesecake is also a non-baking cheesecake so if you've any fear about cracks in your cheesecake this will aleve all those fears.  There is some cooking involved but it involves on top of the stove rather than in the stove.  So let's get cooking.......

First you will want to make a graham cracker crust and you'll also want to have a 9-inch spring form pan. 

So to make the graham cracker crust you'll need....wait for it....graham crackers. 

There a few schools of thought on the graham crackers...some people do somewhat of a cookie base by baking something like a sugar cookie base or some people do vanilla wafers and some people do something that resembles an actual cake base.  Me, I like the graham cracker crust...but you are free to do what ever crust you desire.                                                                                                           

As you can see in the above picture I have put 1 sleeve of the graham crackers in a bag and I have used a rolling pin to smash them into teeny tiny pieces.  You can also use a food processor to do this and I have done it that way in the past but sometimes I just like the act of smashing all those graham crackers the old fashioned way. 

I've also found that 1 sleeve of crackers adds up to about 1 1/4 cups of graham crackers which is just perfect for a 9 inch spring form pan with enough to go about 1/2 way up the sides.  So add a little sugar to your mixture and some melted butter and put it in your pan.

 Evenly distribute it as well as you can.

 Here's how I like to get it nice and smooth and even.  I use one of my metal measuring cups....the 1 cup measure to be exact.  It fits nicely into the curved surface of the pan and does a fine job of taking the extra crumbs up the side as well. 

See...all finished and a nice job to boot.  Now put this in the fridge and lets get to the best part of this dessert and that's the cheesecake mixture. 

So here we have the beginnings of the only "cooked" part of this recipe.  You need 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin, some sugar, some salt, 3 egg yolks and a cup of whole milk. 

You want to beat the milk and egg yolks together really, really well.  Then you want to put the envelopes of gelatin, the sugar and the salt in a saucepan. 

When the egg yolks and milk are mixed really well together,add it to the dry ingredients in the saucepan and mix it really well.   

Then put it on the stove over medium heat and cook until it thickens and it coats a spoon so that you can draw a line through it and the line stays there. 

Yep, that's ready....now set that aside to cool and lets get to the other part.  

Take 3 packages of cream cheese...that's 3 - 8 oz. packages and put them in the bowl of a standing mixer.  It's best to let the cream cheese come to room temperature and I actually let it sit out over night to make sure that it stays nice and creamy. 

Then add 1 teaspoon of almond extract and mix that in really well.  Then add about 1/3 of Amaretto Liquore.  This just happens to be my favorite brand of Amaretto and I really think that it tastes better than the one that is advertised on the T.V.  and cheaper as well.  But taste is subjective so use what you like to drink.  Mix this very well scraping down the sides of the bowl often.   

Once all is mixed together you want to put this in the fridge until the mixture begins to mound up. 

Now remember that you had 3 egg yolks....well there were 3 egg whites that went with them and you are going to take a mixer and start beating them till they get frothy.  Then you will slowly add 1/4 cup of sugar very slowly and beat until you get stiff peaks. 

Once the egg whites are stiff and the mixture that's in the fridge has begun to mound you can add the egg whites and 1 cup of sour cream to the mixture until it's all incorporated.  And you are ready to begin assembling. 

 

 

I take a small bowl and fill it with some chocolate chips...semi-sweet, bittersweet, milk chocolate...what ever floats your boat.  The above picture did not turn out as well as I had intended....I think the flash went off and so it's a little hard to tell that that is a small bowl with chocolate chips in it.  I'm using semi-sweet chips here. 

I carefully microwave them and then put the small bowl in a larger bowl of boiling hot water to keep them melted and dripable (is that a real word?).

Anyway, start by putting as much or as little of chocolate on the base of the crust.  Then put your cheesecake mixture.  

Continue to layer the chocolate in drips and drabs with either a spoon or a fork in between the layers of the cheesecake mixture.  So you have graham cracker crust, some chocolate dribbles, cheesecake mixture, chocolate dribbles, cheesecake mixture until you are done.  This particular recipe will completely fill up a 9 inch spring form pan.  You can put it in a larger pan if you like it will just not be as thick.  It's all in how you want the dessert to look. 

 

So here's the recipe:

Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST

1 sleeve of graham crackers pulverized

2 `1/2 tablespoons sugar

6 1/2 to 6 3/4 tablespoons butter melted

 

CHEESECAKE FILLING

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 teaspoon salt

3 egg yolks

1 cup milk

3 pkg. (8 oz. size) cream cheese (at room temp.)

2 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 cup Ammaretto Liquore

3 egg whites (at room temp.)

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup sour cream (8 oz.)

semi-sweet chocolate chips...or bittersweet or milk chocolate

 

Make graham cracker crust: in a small bowl, combine crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and the butter; mix well with fork.  With back of spoon or measuring cup press the mixture evenly on the bottom of and up the sides of a 9 inch spring form pan.  Put into the refrigerator.

 

In a small heavy saucepan, combine gelatin, 3/4 cup sugar and the salt.  n small bowl, with wire whisk, beat egg yolks with milk until smooth, gradually stir into gelatin mixture, mix well.  Cook over medium heat, stirring until gelatin is dissolved and custard is thickened slightly (should form a coating on metal spoon) about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool for about 10 minutes.  In large bowl, with electric mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese, almond extract and the Amaretto.  Beat until smooth about 3 minutes.  Slowly add cooled custard, beating at low speed just to blend. 

 

Set mixture in the fridge or in a bowl of ice to chill, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds when lifted with spoon.  Meanwhile, at medium speed and using clean beaters, beat egg whites until soft peaks form when beater is slowly raised.  Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.  Add beaten egg whites and sour cream to cheese mixture; beat at low speed just until smooth.   

Pour some semi-sweet chocolate chips in a small bowl and microwave in 10 second increments until completely melted.

 

Now drizzle melted chocolate on crust, layer the cheesecake mixture then chocolate until done. 

Refrigerate until firm and well chilled at least 4 hours or overnight. 

Enjoy.

 

 

Sliding Doors

Ouch, that hurts. 
This is my truck and it got hit last night on the way home from dinner.  Let me start at the beginning.

So this week was my birthday and if you've read this blog for a little while you will also remember that it is also my sister's birthday.  We were born on the same day but 5 years apart.  I love sharing a birthday with her and we have our little rituals that we perform for no one but ourselves and we think we are both very clever...but I digress. 

We made a plan to celebrate together on Friday night at first and then at the last minute we changed it to Saturday night.  Sliding doors.

We first thought that we'd go eat one place and then changed our minds and went to another....sliding doors. 

Bob and I discussed taking the 4-Runner but then changed our minds and took the Dodge Truck....sliding doors.

Dinner was great, it was my husband and I, Chick and her husband and my dad.  Older brother and his wife were invited but didn't attend and that's just fine. 

So Bob and I are on the way home and we decide to get some ice cream and we're going to stop at an Austin institution "Amy's Ice Cream" but we miss the exit and decide to go on to another ice cream place that serves 31 Flavors.  Sliding doors.

We are about 10 to 12 miles from home and we're stopped at a red light...there are several cars in front of us and we are chatting away like normal.  Just as the light changes to green we are hit from behind. 

Ice Cream goes all over the cab of the truck, Bob's cap and glasses are thrown into the back seat and we are for but an instant stunned....what just happened?  We look at each other and I say..."We've been hit". 

Bob immediately gets out of the vehicle and I search for the hazard lights.  The woman who hit us is crying and telling us how sorry she is.  Bob tries to console her...it's an accident, that's why we have insurance etc....

He comes back to the truck and reaches for his cell phone and makes the call to 911. 

Police are there fairly quickly and we assure them that we are fine...a bit shook up but fine so no ambulance is needed. 

We know that there is damage....ABS light on dash will not go out as well as emergency brake light. Not to mention the back bumper and tailgate.   It will all be fixed and if one of us is hurt in the next couple of days we will certainly have it checked out as we both know that sometimes these things take a couple of days to appear. 

And today I'm actually more shook up about it than I was last night, must be adreline that keeps us going.....

So here's my thinking.....what if we'd decided to go on Friday night instead of Sat...would this still have happened?  What if we'd decided on the original restaurant?  What if we'd taken the 4-Runner instead of the Dodge?  What if  we'd stopped at the original ice cream place or the light had not changed when it did?  So many questions you can ask yourself all day long..sliding doors......

We will wait and see how my husband feels in the morning and take it from there about wether to see the Dr. or not.  I think he should be checked out regardless but he's a tough guy and it's hard to get him to see a Dr. for any reason unless bone or guts are showing. 

It could have been so much worse, but it wasn't and for that I am thankful and that's just more sliding doors.