Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake with Pretzel Crust

Yep, it's a long handle. But this cheesecake deserves it. It was one of my contributions to our Easter dinner with friends and everyone loved it, describing it with words like "decadent" and "sinful." Rich yet not cloying, delightfully peanut-buttery without being overpoweringly so, everyone agreed this was a "do again" and pretty close to a perfect cheesecake. Many thanks and gratitude to the friend who posted the link on an online forum! For anyone else who would like to experience peanut butter cheesecake perfection, here it is: Peanut Butter Cheesecake Recipe.
 

I made two slight changes to the recipe: I only used 4 packages cream cheese (which still makes a very large cheesecake!) and I used 2 full cups of pretzel crumbs instead of 1 1/2. Next time I will make sure my pretzels are very finely ground - I left a few chunks and those seemed a little stale. Other than that, I won't change a thing!

Brown Butter Yeast Waffles

These were so amazing! I had been wanting to try them for awhile and finally did - so sorry I waited this long! I combined a couple of different recipes into this one and we loved it!

Brown Butter Yeast Waffles

2 cups whole milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Melt the butter in a light-colored skillet until lightly browned and nutty. (The butter will start to foam, then the foaming will subside and little brown bits will appear - these are bits of milk fat. Once you see these brown bits, take the butter off the heat so that it does not burn.) Set aside and let cool slightly.

Heat the milk in a separate saucepan until warm, mix in the brown sugar and yeast and set aside for 5-10 minutes, until bubbly.

In a large bowl (you will need room for expansion), mix together the flours and salt. Add the butter, vanilla and eggs to the milk mixture and then mix gently into the flour, stirring just til combined. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Cover and let sit at room temperature overnight.

In the morning, stir the batter and cook in a hot waffle iron until just barely golden brown. These waffles will be crisper and lighter than waffles made with baking powder/soda - if you let them get too much color they will be crunchy. If you take them out when they are just slightly golden, they will be perfect! The aroma while cooking is heavenly.

Serve with butter, maple syrup, and fresh strawberries if you have them. Ohhh, my, delicious!

Gnocchi!

Awhile back I had quite a bit of ricotta cheese left over from my first attempt at ravioli. I was looking up other uses for it and came across ricotta gnocchi, which sounded enchanting. We made them, and they were pretty good, but ever since I've been curious about the "original" gnocchi made from potatoes. Potatoes have been cheap and plentiful lately, so with lots of leftover mashed potatoes from Saturday's dinner, yesterday seemed like a great time to try them.

The only problem was, I couldn't find a recipe that used leftover mashed potatoes. So, like most things in my kitchen, I winged it. Maybe not a great idea for a food that most recipes describe as "tricky," "delicate," and "takes a few tries to really figure them out," but hey, that's never stopped me before. I mean, come on, how hard can they be with four ingredients: potatoes, egg, flour and a little salt.

I measured 1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes, mixed well with 1 egg and a dash of salt, and then added 1 cup flour, less than I thought I'd need (the dough is supposed to be very soft, almost sticky). I was instantly chagrined to discover that my flour was not mixing in, the dough was definitely not sticky and it appeared the whole thing would be an enormous, rubbery flop. But I gathered up the pieces and very gently kneaded them for a few turns. I actually came out with a lovely soft dough on the other side, not sticky but not stiff either.

Making the actual gnocchi is the fun part. You divide the dough in several sections, roll each into a long snake and then cut them to 1-inch lengths. Then, you roll them across the back of a fork or - what I found worked much better - the end of a whisk, where all the separate pieces come together into the handle. It is best if your thumb and the whisk stay well floured, because this part can get a little sticky. You want one side of the gnocchi to have lines from the whisk, and the other to have a small indentation from your thumb, both of which help your sauce to cling to the gnocchi (I didn't shape my ricotta gnocchi because I was short on time, and it really made the difference! I'll never make them un-shaped again!).

 

Place the finished gnocchi on a floured surface. Heat a pot of water to boiling and cook the gnocchi in batches, being sure not to crowd the pot. After they float to the top, continue cooking for two minutes or so, then remove to a serving bowl and cook the remaining gnocchi.

 

Serve with whatever sauce you like. I've seen a lot of butter and sage sauces recommended. The sauce we had last night was delicious, though I'm not sure I could duplicate it. I sauteed half an onion and about 5 cloves of garlic in a little olive oil and a smidgen of butter until nice and caramelized. Then, I added about 1/4 cup of leftover collard greens (also from Saturday night) that had been cooked with onion and balsamic vinegar, and maybe 1/3 cup of pasta sauce I had made for pizza last week. These all sat over very low heat while the gnocchi were cooking. When they were done I added about 2/3 cup of the cooking water to the sauce, stirred it well and let it bubble for a minute and then mixed with the gnocchi. It was amazing! I have to see if I can recreate it without all the leftovers at some point.

Here is our finished dish. We really enjoyed it and will be making them again soon!