Two-Tone Cheesecake

I've been making Cheesecakes here and there since my first year of marriage.  They came out good, but you could tell I had much to learn. Over the years, I've continued to practice this art of Cheesecake making and I have to tell you, it's a dessert I love to make and I love watching people enjoy it. 

Picture taken with iPhone

I've told you all about how I like to make desserts for the Father's on Father's Day. Josh got his Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake and My dad (Step-Dad) got his Chocolate Chip Cookies and so my dad, since he was visiting in town, got his choice of dessert. He wanted Cheesecake. So I gave my dad my awesome cheesecake magazine and he took his time flipping through it until he came across the Two-Tone Cheesecake and said,"Thats the one I want for Father's Day." 

I want to preface this before I start in on to much more of the recipe. By all the raves I got from this cheesecake, it could possibly be the best one I've ever made. My sister who obsesses over The Cheesecake Factory's cheesecakes, said,' It's the best one I've ever tasted." and My dad kept thanking me for it. And Josh also said, " I think it's your best ever, bebe." ( Bebe is the nickname he's dubbed me ;)

This is a time consuming Cheesecake ( aren't they all ) and it should be given the time it needs to do it's thing. Otherwise, you may just lose out on all the tasty yummy flavors going on in the this dessert.

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees and get started on the crust of the cheesecake. First you need to grease up your Spring-Form Pan.  You need 6 TB of melted butter and 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 6 TB of sugar.  The original recipe calls for chocolate graham cracker crumbs, but I couldn't find chocolate graham crackers anywhere, only cinnamon. So I used the original Graham crackers and Josh commented on how the chocolate crust might of been to much with this recipe...because this is a rich cheesecake. Combine the sugar and crumbs together and pour in the melted butter.

Make sure the butter is evenly distributed so that all the crumbs are coated.

Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake in you oven for 10 minutes. And then let it cool on a wire rack.

Now it's time to get started on the Cream Cheese mixture. You'll need 4 8oz packages of cream cheese...yeah...that is a lot of cheesecake and you'll need every bit of it. Hopefully, you've let it sit out on your counter for a good while, because it needs to be softened. But if your in a rush, it won't hurt to put them in a bowl and zap them in the microwave for a few seconds. Start with 20 secs and take it from there.

To the cream cheese, add 1 3/4 cups of sugar and beat until it becomes smooth.

You might need to stop your mixer a few times because with 4 pkgs of cream cheese, the paddle or beaters gets full quick and the mixture needs to be redistributed a few times. 

When the cream cheese and sugar is smooth, add in 3/4 cups of  heavy whipping cream, gradually. 

In a small bowl crack 4 eggs and beat them lightly and add them to the cream cheese mixture and beat on  a low speed.

When everything has been combined, reserve 3 1/2 cups of the cream cheese and pour it into a bowl.

Now abandon the mess you've probably made in your kitchen and it's time to start on a new mess.  Take 6 oz of semi-sweet baking chocolate and melt it and let it cool.

When your chocolate has cooled, pour the 3 1/2 cups of reserved cheesecake over the chocolate and give it a good mix.

Mmm, chocolate!!!

Pour the chocolate cheesecake mixture over your cooled crust.

Now here is the tricky part. Very carefully, take the leftover batter and pour it over the chocolate batter, making sure when you spread it to not disturb the chocolate to much. At this point you get to place the spring-form pan back on the baking sheet and place that back in the oven at 325 for 65-75 minutes. My Cheesecake, took the whole 75 minutes to bake.

The center will not be set when you take it out of the oven, but that's okay. It will firm and set as it cools.  And the sides of your cheesecake may deflate a little bit, that is also okay :) When the cheesecake is done baking, cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen and then cool the cheesecake for an additional hour. (See what I mean about this cheesecake..it's time consuming.)

When the cheesecake has just about cooled, get busy working on the chocolate topping.  Take 4 more oz of semi sweet chocolate and melt it in a bowl in the microwave again. Meanwhile, take 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and pour it into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Pour over melted chocolate, and whisk until smooth and let it cool down a bit. Then pour it over the cheesecake and chill in the fridge. 

For the best results, make this cheesecake a day ahead of time before you need it. The recipe says it should chill overnight. But I didn't do that. I let it chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours before serving and it was incredible then...the slices the next day were even better.

I love the defined layers...so incredibly delicious!

Two-Tone Cheesecake

adapted from Taste of Home Cheesecakes and More Magazine

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

6 TB Sugar

6 TB butter, melted

Filling:

4 pkgs ( 8oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

4 eggs, slightly beaten

6 oz semisweet baking chocolate, melted and cooled

Topping:

4 oz semisweet baking chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, combine cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter. Press onto the bottom of a greased springform pan. Place on a bakin sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Gradually beat in cream. Add eggs, beat on low speed until just combined.

Remove 3 1/2 cups to a small bowl; gently stir in melted chocolate. Pour filling over crust. Carefully pour remaining filling over chocolate layer. Return to baking sheet. Bake at 325 for 65-75 minutes or until center is almost set.

Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen. Cool for 1 hour longer. Meanwhile, place chopped chocolate in a small bowl. 

In a sauce pan, bring cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Cool slightly; pour over the cheesecake. Cover and Chill overnight. Refrigerate leftovers.

This recipe is linked to:

Alli n Son's Sweet Tooth Friday, La Bella Vita's Fresh Food Friday, Comfy in the Kitchen's Feasting in Fellowship, Friday Potluck @ GirlChef ( Guest Host), Sweet as Sugar Cookies sweets for a Saturday, A Well-Seasoned Life's Sweet Indulgences Sunday, The Sweet Details Savory Sunday, Cupcake Apothecary's A themed bakers sunday, Bizzy B. Bakes' Bizzy Bakes

Bacon + Bruschetta = Mmmm

Artisan bread, writ large

Well, here I am again, back for the second night in a row. What insanity is this? Actually, it's not unusual for me to cook a couple of nights in row, but tonight it's because Chels is really feeling quite awful. My poor bebe is knocked down pretty hard with some very intense allergies that came on quite suddenly. We're not sure what has bloomed in the last couple of days, but we're both feeling it. Chels's allergies, however, are much, much worse than mine, so I'm trying to pick up a bit of the slack for her here! That being said, I'm pretty beat from a long week at work, so this may not be quite as insane as it usually is when I get behind the keyboard. The food, however, is nothing short of...really, really good!

Again, this is not a recipe. Bruschetta is fun. You make it up as you go along. I have served bruschetta four times in the last week (yeah, I'm on a pretty major bruschetta kick), and I've done it a bit differently each time. I would encourage you to give the basic concepts I'll outline here a shot, and then cut it loose and get creative. There are so many amazing things you can do with bruschetta. The bottom line is this - baste your crusty Italian bread with olive oil, and get it onto the grill. The rest is up to you (but it should involve Roma tomatoes). 

A very welcoming sight on the cutting board

This is something of a story. I was in Fred Meyer about a week ago, and I saw an advertisement for artisan bread. The picture showed the bread sliced up and laying on a hot grill with sliced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese laid on top. That, naturally, got me thinking. You have been party to my confessions about tomatoes and how I was, at one point, lost in my ignorance on the subject. Today, I am nothing short of absolutely wild about tomatoes, but none more so than Romas. For my first shot at this, I went with a basil bruschetta mix involving Romas, mozzarella, and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. It was very well received, and so I tried it again, with only the aforementioned sliced tomatoes and mozzarella. Lighter and simpler, but still extremely tasty, and so I did a mild twist the third time. This fourth time, however, was a little different. 

Where my Romas at?

I was planning on grilling an old favorite - a recipe we found a few years ago for grilled chicken bruschetta that does not involve bread. It's very, very tasty. But, around eleven in the morning, I called to check in on Chels, and she was not feeling well at all. In fact, she wanted to skip making dinner and just pick something up. I agreed to consider this, but the truth was, I had an idea nibbling at the corners of my mind. I had bacon in the fridge. Lots of bacon. 

What's the deal with bacon anyway? I really generally despise pork. I simply do not enjoy the flavor. Not a big pork chop fan either. I do, however, love sausage and bacon. Bacon, as everyone knows, makes everything better. Is it because it's so bad for you? Is it because its primary byproduct is fat? I would say we can be fairly certain that this is why bacon holds such an appeal. It's the forbidden fruit concept. No doubt about it. 

Anyhow, I wasn't really sure what direction I was going to go until after I got home. Remember? No recipe? I'm one of those people who really enjoys cooking while following a recipe meticulously...and cooking while following no recipe at all. Both techniques are rewarding in their own ways. Cooking from a recipe is a great way to appreciate someone else's success - kind of like admiring a piece of art. Or maybe more like playing from sheet music - you're participating in the recreation of something wonderful, but the idea wasn't yours - but you can still appreciate and enjoy the idea nonetheless. Cooking without a recipe is something Chels and I have just barely begun to do, and I don't anticipate it's something we'll do too often - we don't really have enough experience to always know what is going to work well. The way we're doing it now is much like reverse-engineering. You see an excellent idea, and then instead of finding a recipe or asking how it was done, you decide to figure it out yourself, and add your own touches and twists along the way.

Cooking bacon outdoors

Well, we had already planned to thaw out chicken breast, so we went through with that. However, instead of three, we just did one. I had Chels throw the chicken breast into a store bought balsamic herb marinade while I was on my way home, which worked out really well. Once home, I fired up the grill, threw the bacon onto an old cookie sheet, and set the bacon and the chicken breast side by side over the fire. Now, as for the topping...

You know what? This is easier to show than to explain. Follow along with me, if you would...

Before we "enter the bowl" (that's where most of the action is taking place here), there's a little cutting board prep involved.

I started by dicing four Roma tomatoes
(two down, two to go)

Into the bowl with my diced Romas

I ground some black peppercorn into the bowl...

Followed by a generous sprinkling of basil...

A couple tablespoons of the leftover marinade

A little break from the bowl sent me back to cutting board to dice up my chicken and crumble my bacon, both hot off the grill...

Snacking too zealously will reduce your stockpile with haste

Add the diced chicken (if there's any left post-snacking)

Add the crumbled bacon...

Top GENEROUSLY with mozzarella cheese

Stir to combine - make sure it is mixed up good!

And the topping is done! See how much fun that was? And you could go anywhere with those ingredients. Axe the bacon, drizzle in lime juice, change your marinade to something with "mesquite" in the title, sub in monterey jack for your mozzarella, dice a chile into the bowl, throw out the basil and add cilantro, etc, etc, etc. You get the picture. 

Time to baste the bread with olive oil and throw it on the grill. 

Tasty breads getting tastier

It doesn't get any harder, either. Stays super simple. Top your bread with the mixture you created in the magical bowl, close the lid, and grill to taste. Want a little char? Need some carcinogens in your diet? Go there. Want to just barely melt the cheese and keep the bread moist? Do it. It will be delicious no matter what. 

Topped and ready to go

And then? Why, eat immediately, of course! 

My plate

This bruschetta is no appetizer, obviously. This is a full-on meal, I would say, for around three people. 

Food always looks better outdoors...

Well, until next time (when maybe I'll be rested and back to my crazy self), enjoy!

Go eat!

This recipe is linked to:
My Sweet and Savory's Let's Do Brunch

Weekly Menu 6/27-7/3

So how was everyone's weekends?? I hope there was sun and warm weather and that your were not plagued with any yucky allergies. Josh and I have been fighting them off with boxes of kleenex and meds and it works and it doesn't. Friday was pure awfulness for me. I sneezed and blew my nose the entire day and I tried to not itch my eyes to much, because it sucks when you do.

The weekend we stopped by the Farmer's Markets and had a blast. We picked up some Snap Peas, Rhubarb, Asparagus, and radishes. The colors of the produce are so vivid and beautiful, and the prices so affordable. Josh and I are already making plans to go every Saturday that he has off. It's just wayy to much fun!

Tonight we made some Fish Tacos and they were so incredible!!! We only took finished product pictures and I tried to convince Josh just to use those to blog them, but he enjoyed the whole cooking process so much that he really wants to take picture for everyone to see and enjoy. We had a lot of fun making the dish together. And for dessert, I made The Pioneer Woman's Raspberry Crisp and OH MY GOSH, it was incredible!!! Josh can't stop talking about it and my girls cleaned their bowls. I did take some pictures, but alas, as I started working with the berries, I discovered some were going bad, which badly depleted my stash. So instead of 2 1/2 cups I ended up with about 1 1/2 cups of Raspberries. But the Crisp was truly a masterpiece. So I will make it again and blog it for sure.

Monday

Ginger Shrimp and Snap Peas with Steamed rice- We came across this recipe when we bought this beautiful stainless steel grill mesh pan and we've been excited to use it!

Tuesday

Grilling Hot Dogs and maybe some fresh fruit...if it doesn't rain

Wednesday

Homemade Pizza- We didn't make it last weekend...

Thursday

Honey Ginger Chicken Stir Fry with Steamed Rice, we might be adding a few new ingredients ;)

Friday

Beef Burgers With Peanut Chipolte BBQ Sauce

Saturday

Oriental Chicken Salad...with some sort of bread side...not sure yet.

Sunday

Not really sure...we all know I like to leave Sunday's pretty much open

Just a heads up everyone, Josh's grandparents who are missionaries and founders of The African Bible College, will be in town all next week, and when they are here, we like to spend a lot of time with them since we only see them for about a week during the summer. Usually we spend every evening over there and that means we have dinner there. So I'll make sure I have back up meals here, but I'm sure we'll be there. 

Desserts/treats

I'm going to experiment with some rhubarb this week. The Pioneer Woman did a post on it last week and it looked incredible, so I'm feeling brave...Rhubarb Cobbler, here I come!

My mom's Peanut Butter & Butterscotch Crispies for Josh's lunch....Not sure if this is a recipe I have permission to blog or not...I hope so, because it's so good :)

And I just came across this recipe today and now I'm dying to make it Blueberry Crumb Bars! I have
2 lbs of blueberries sitting in my fridge just begging to be used in this recipe!

Can you all believe 4th of July is next week?! It just blows my mind!

Fajita Fun!

Fajitas.

I know that to many of you, the love of fajitas is a foregone conclusion. "Fajitas?" you say, "Of course, I love fajitas! Who doesn't love fajitas?" Well, at this point I would agree with you, but it was not always so...

A long time ago, in a land far, far away...No, actually, nevermind. About four years ago, right here, I did not love fajitas. There. I said it. Years of therapy and counseling couldn't get me there, but just now, in this place, with you as my witnesses, I made it happen. I confess. It's true.

Why? Simple. The vegetables scared me. I was never a picky eater, but I am the avowed foe of onions, and I, at one point, was not the world's biggest fan of bell peppers. Crazy. Or tomatoes. Unimaginable. Anyone who has read this blog, shall we say, more than 0.3 times, knows that Chels and I do a substantial amount of cooking with both tomatoes and bell peppers. But, this is one of the wonderful things that comes of taking on cooking as a hobby - you either discover that you were crazy (check!) or you simply develop tastes you did not previously possess. In this case, it's a little of both (okay, maybe a lot of the crazy thing). Now, as for the onions...

Okay, look, I'm trying. I'm still deeply opposed to onions. I still believe they were, at least originally, spawned deep in the pit of hell. That being said, I have been made to see that grilling can be something of an exorcism for these demonic vegetables. After grilling, they can be, well, how shall I say this...tasty? That might be something of a bridge too far.

(This paragraph in parentheses exists for the express purpose of apologizing to my brother-in-law, and to his family, onion farmers and/or lovers all. Let it be known that my comments regarding onions are primarily in jest. Additionally, I extend apologies for the sacrilegious ways in which I have referred to the onions, as they are obviously God's creations. Perhaps something like flies, where we will be able to ask the "why" questions in Heaven...)

(This paragraph in parentheses exists for the express purpose of apologizing for the previous paragraph, in which I again insulted onions and made what some might construe as sacrilegious comments regarding the creation of onions and activities in which one might participate in in the afterlife.)

I believe God has a sense of humor. I believe my brother-in-law has one, too. I hope you do as well, or you might want to go read a different blog. After these last four paragraphs, I'm quite certain no one believes I do.

Where was I? Oh, yes, not liking fajitas. I've always considered myself a fan of authentic, or at least semi-authentic, Mexican food. I tell you, south of the border, they get it right in the dinner department. Growing up on the Mexican border, and with a father who spent many of his teen summer weekends in Tijuana, Acapulco, and the general vicinity of Baja California, it's just something you had to learn to appreciate. Oh, and there was that five year time period where we had a jalapeno plant down the street. Anyhow, all of this is to say, fajitas are simply not authentic Mexican food, but, if you're a purist, you shouldn't let that turn you off. It's this simple - fajitas generally involve grilling, spicy meat, avocados, other amazing vegetables, chiles, monterey jack cheese, tortillas, beans, and salsa. Where could you possibly go wrong? Easy answer - it's pretty hard to mess this up.

So, to make a short story incredibly, ridiculously, inexcusably long, I learned to love fajitas by trying them. And my very first one won me over. Not just to fajitas, but also to grilled onions! I should have known that innocent fajita concealed evil deep within...

Bottom line with this recipe: There is no recipe. I wing it every time. Make it up as I go along. The ingredients are so good, the combinations so natural, and the results so mouth-watering, you can pretty much put it together however the heck you want and end up with a masterpiece. That being said, let's go ahead and dig into, shall we say, some "tips."

Start by marinating your meat. You don't have to do anything fancy. I use a $2 bottle of marinade from the local grocery store (Lawry's is great if it's on sale). For this meal, I prefer Baja Chipotle marinade. Throw your meat in with the marinade and let it do it's thing. Generally, I use stir fry steak and one chicken breast (more if you have company!). Stir fry steak, if anyone is not familiar, is thin, succulent strips of steak that marinate deeply and cook fast. It's also pretty cheap!

Marinating Steak & Chicken

With Lawry's (and a lot of the store brand marinades), 30 minutes is really all it takes! Hence that clever 30-minute marinade moniker. Wow. Alliteration city, here we come. Anyhow. So, while that is going on, you'll want to be chopping away at the veggies. And just the veggies. Not your fingers. I tried that last week - not as tasty, much more expensive, and much more time-consuming. And, might I add, the veggies are beautiful. I used one of the less evil onions (yellow?), a red bell pepper (I would have added a green one as well, but I was all out), and an anaheim chile. The anaheim chiles are insanely gorgeous, by the way. They almost look fake. 

L to R: Slightly less evil onion, tomatoes on the vine,
avocado, anaheim chile, and red bell pepper

Now, my lovely wife has this amazing ceramic grill pan from Rachael Ray's marvelous collection of affordable but awesome cookware. I always use it to grill the veggies for fajitas, which I do outdoors on the grill, of course. 

Insanely awesome grill pan with insanely evil chef's knife that hates my fingers

So, you've all been party to my incessant diatribes on the virtues of making sure your cooking environment is attractive. Use colorful food, beautiful pans, and, whenever possible, cook outdoors. The outdoors, you see, is naturally attractive. Unless you're like my beautiful bride and you are currently suffering from horrible allergy attacks. But I digress. 

Cook outdoors. And mow the lawn.

Obviously, the grill needs to be preheated and greased or sprayed with something (such as my trusty companion, Pam's Grilling Spray - product placement alert!). Once that has been done, I recommend creating two heat zones. Keep one side of grill very hot (medium high) for the chicken breast, and the other side lower (medium low) for the steak. These steak strips are very thin, and they will burn to a crisp if they are grilled over too much direct heat. 

Two heat zones

Next, get those veggies going. If at all possible, grill them in their nifty grill pan outdoors. Drizzle them generously with extra virgin olive oil, which not only adds an amazing flavor, but also keeps them from sticking. Something about cooking them outdoors gives them this incredible smoky flavor. Basically, your whole backyard smells like Chevys. Mine does! 

Drizzle generously with olive oil

At this point, you're going to spend something in the vicinity of ten minutes attending your veggies with a pair of small tongs, and your meat with a pair of large tongs. Could you get by with a single pair? Maybe, but what's the fun in that? How are you supposed to pull off the whole "look at me, fancy chef dual-wielding tongs" thing with only a single pair?

The chicken will obviously need to be flipped, as will the steak. Keep a very close eye on the steak - it won't take long. I also recommend removing the chicken breast when it's about half done and slicing it, then places the slices back on the grill to sear them. 

Grilling veggies outdoors and making the backyard smell like Chevys

The steak and chicken will look and smell unbelievably appetizing when you slice them up on the cutting board immediately after grilling. This is the part where you fit all of your guests with shock collars and set up an invisible fence around the grilling area. 

Fend off your guests with all available defensive weaponry

Now, the steak is, as I have mentioned 563 times, normally done first. Slice it or cube it (or slice it, then cube it) and throw it in the pan with the veggies, which should be nice and smoky-grlled by now. When the chicken is ready, do the same with it. Drizzle with more olive oil! Generously! Show that olive oil some love!

Now the smell is not just attracting your guests, but surrounding neighbors as well

Keep all of the ingredients going in the grill pan on medium high heat, tossing with the small tongs (you do have two pairs, right?) frequently. Meanwhile, stack your tortillas (I recommend soft taco size flour) on foil. Between each tortilla, sprinkle a little water. Close up the foil, and set the whole package on the top (warming) rack in your grill, with the burners set down to low. As the tortillas heat up, the water will evaporate, keeping them moist and soft. 

Tortillas? What tortillas? Bring me a fork!

At this point, you're basically done. Hopefully you have a loyal compadre in the kitchen slicing up the tomatoes and avocado, heating up some pinto beans, getting out the sour cream and taco sauce, and preparing the Mexican cheese blends. If not, well, heck, all of those neighbors gathered around doing nothing but salivating should be able to help out!

Protecting the fajitas from vagrants and passers-by is critical at this stage

Finally, put it all together. However, really.

How do you mess this up? By letting the neighbors steal it. 

If you want a recommended configuration, here it is. Start by laying the fajita mixture down the middle of the tortilla, and then cover with Mexican cheese blend. Top this with pinto beans, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, and taco sauce. 

An open face anyone could love

And you're done! You can do sides if you want, but the word to the wise here is that this is a meal in and of itself. All of your sides are in the fajita, and these things are danged filling. Two is about my max! That being said, enjoy! Eat as many as you want - you might as well get them before the neighbors do. 

Vibrant color, tantalizing smoky smell, and an intricate variety of tastes - what
more could you want? More effective weapons to fight off the hoard?

Chicken & Steak Fajitas

One chicken breast

Small package of stir fry steak

One bottle of 30-minute Baja Chipotle marinade

8 oz bag of Mexican cheese blends

Extra virgin olive oil (approx. 3 tbsp)

One avocado

One anaheim chile

Two medium tomatoes

One red bell pepper

Sour cream

Taco sauce

One small can of pinto beans

One yellow onion

1. Marinate steak and chicken in separate bowls for 30+ minutes
2. Chop up red bell pepper, anaheim chile, and yellow onion into strips and/or chunks, then place in grilling pan and drizzle generously with olive oil
3. Spray and preheat grill to medium heat, or, if possible, create two heat zones, one medium high and one medium low
4. Grill chicken breast until cooked through in medium high heat zone, while grilling steak in medium low heat zone
5. Grill vegetables in grill pan, tossing frequently with tongs and drizzling with additional olive oil as needed
6. Chop up meat when done and add to grill pan with vegetables. Continue to grill in pan with additional olive oil
7. Heat tortillas, and serve fajita mixture over tortillas, topped with the tomato and avocados, diced, as well as the sour cream, taco sauce, heated pinto beans, and cheese blends. 

This recipe is linked up to:
The high-Heeled Housewife favorite recipes