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!

 

Another kale salad

It's not in the book, but this is a kale salad I must try!

photo from Design*Sponge

Simple meal plans: Follow the Book #3

Red Taters and Green Grannies
From Simply in Season
(Which is the primary cookbook source for meal plans for a while...)
Here's the low down...

Wash your taters and grannies.
(Granny Smiths, that is)

Julienne the taters and thinly slice the grannies.

Chop an onion and saute in a little oil.
I am experimenting with coconut oil. It sure smells nice and it doesn't smoke.

Add the taters and grannies to the pan.  Stir them and saute for a bit.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Add a tiny bit of water to the pan to prevent sticking.

Cover and let cook for about 15 minutes til tender.

Put 1/2 to a cup of sharp cheddar on top.

Place under the broiler til bubbly.

A note about this SIS recipe.  It was good. Comfort food.  We liked the tartness of the apples with the potatoes.  Once again, it needed a tiny bit of oomph.  I think if I'd used extra sharp cheddar that would have done the trick.  I'm really happy with the recipe but will remember to use a sharper, better cheese next time.

We ate this with pan-fried lemon pepper salmon and homemade bread.

Yum.  Yum.  Yum.

Muff! Muff!

Clara has turned into a muffin fiend! She loves muffins and asks for them every day. It started a few weeks ago when we had lots of bananas and made banana muffins.

When they were gone she kept asking for them, so we made up some pumpkin/carrot muffins with lots of flax seed. We finished those last Tuesday. Last Thursday, she was asking for muffins (muff!) and pointing to the cabinet where they usually live. So I said, "They are all gone (insert lip quivering, tears forming in the corners of her eyes...), but we can make more! Would you like to help Mama make more?" Instant excitement! This kid loves to cook. "Ape-eee! Ape-eee!" (translates: apron)

Getting the tins ready.

My fridge and cupboards were getting a little bare. I was holding out on grocery shopping until Saturday when I'd be in town anyway so I wouldn't have to drive there twice. So, again, we made up our own recipe. Ohhh, my. I don't know why I've always been wary of doing this with quick breads. I rarely use recipes when cooking anything else. I guess I've never felt sure enough about leavening and the wet to dry ratio to feel confident winging it, but today we did (after I glanced at a couple recipes for ideas) and these new "muffs" are sooo delicious! So if you've ever been afraid of disregarding a recipe and throwing in whatever you feel like, don't! Be creative and enjoy the results!

Inspecting the batter.

Here's what we did, using up bits and pieces of what I had in the house:

Mix in a bowl:
1 c white whole wheat flour
1/2 c ground oats (I grind them in my food processor and keep them on hand for adding to bread, pancakes, making PB balls with etc.)
1/2 c ground flax seeds (these I buy whole and grind in a coffee grinder)
1/4 c rolled oats
1/4 c untoasted wheat germ
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
a couple shakes of ginger

Add and stir to coat:
2 large carrots, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
3/4 c walnuts - toasted and pulsed in food processor until fine (Clara can't have chunks of nuts yet, too choke-y)
1/4 c raisins, chopped into small pieces

Mix in another bowl (or a liquid measuring cup if, like me, you try to use as few dishes as possible while baking):
1/2 c yogurt
1/4 c each oil, applesauce, honey and brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten

Add to dry ingredients, mix together and spoon into paper lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until done (I didn't really keep track). Makes 1 dozen regular muffins and 1 dozen mini muffins.





She loved them! They smelled amazing while they were baking (I think a large part of that was due to the walnut meal getting all toasty) and didn't disappoint when they came out. I think creative muffins will definitely be a regular in our house from now on.

Simple meal plans: Follow the Book #2

Sweet Potato Black Bean burritos were next up from Simply in Season.  The hardest thing about this recipe is peeling the sweet potatoes.  Not a job I particularly enjoy, but a good peeler makes it go faster, for sure.  Or you can ask the company who offers to help to do the job while you chop the onions.  That works, too.

I enjoyed these burritos.  I love sweet potatoes.  I love black beans.  I must say, however, that this recipe lacked a certain "umph."  The burritos were tasty, but just a little dull.  I was thinking that some jalapenos or chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (do chipotle peppers come any other way?) would jazz them up a bit.  I am a big fan of jazzy food. 

Soooo, I am linking to a recipe adapted from another of my favorite cookbooks, the Moosefood Low Fat Cookbook, because I think it sounds a little more like what I was hoping the SIS recipe would be.  Here's their version of Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos.

Also, I did use some enchilada sauce on top with a bit of sharp cheddar melted over it.  We ate these with our most favorite in the world kale salad, which I think I could happily eat every day.

Next up:  Red Taters and Green Grannies