YWPWT - LITERARY PIE

Our February Theme on You want Pies with that, chosen by Mary the Food Librarian...."Literary Pie". After thinking over and over, I couldn't find nothing related until I remember that when I used to live in Brazil my favorite dessert was Romeo and Juliet ( cheese with guava ), that's the way they called it because like Romeo and Juliet, cheese and Guava go great together and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make this again. But instead of just the cheese, I made a cheesecake with a guava cream on top. This is so good, you need to try sometimes.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
2 pounds (four 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two
To make the crust:
1. Butter a 9-inch springform pan

2. Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. (I do this with my fingers.) Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides.

3. Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F and place the springform on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.

4. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
To make the cheesecake:
1. Put a kettle of water on to boil

2. Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and lives up to the creamy part of its name, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition—you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

3. Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in the roaster pan.

4. Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter will reach the brim of the pan. (If you have a pan with lower sides and have leftover batter, you can bake the batter in a buttered ramekin or small soufflé mold.) Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

5. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

6. After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

7. When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.
To make the topping:
Get about 2 cups of guava paste and put it on a pan in a medium heat until dissolves, you can add a couple tablespoons of water to make it easy to dissolve . After dissolved, you can spread all over the cheesecake. This is so yummi!!!

BAREFOOT BLOGGERS - Easy Sticky Buns!!!

This week recipes was chosen by Melissa of Made by Melissa. She chose the Easy Sticky Buns from Back To Basics.This is just delicious, flaky and sweet. I loved it and people at work also. My poor husband didn't even get a piece, because I took to the office and forgot to leave him some. WE dont need it anyways, we already need to loose the weight the way it is. But, I can't stop baking , I just love too much. Anyways, Here is the recipe..

Igredients:
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces

1 package (17.3 ounces/2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted for the filling

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup raisins

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down.Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2 inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon), and cool completely.

TFF - SPAGUETTI ALLA CARBONARA

1 pound dry spaghetti

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 ounces pancetta or slab bacon, cubed or sliced into small strips

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 large eggs1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving

Freshly ground black pepper

1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Directions

Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table

My comments on it:
Love it! Love it ! Love it! I made on Tuesday Night and let me tell you, I started a diet the day after....I ate so much of this, that I could consider a SIN...hahaha!!! Anyways...I asked the hubby to take a pic and here it is!

VERY MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE by bakeXperience

I dont have any picture yet, because I haven't tried, but her pics looked so good that I think its a good one. I will definitelly try this weekend.

Igredients:

2 1/2 c. cake flour

2 1/2 c. sugar

6 pcs. egg yolks

1 bar butter

3/4 c. cocoa powder

1/4 c. evaporated milk

1 1/2 tbsp. baking soda

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 c. mayonnaise or 1 tbsp. vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Cream butter until light and fluffy, add sugar and egg yolks, Dissolve cocoa powder in boiling water, Combine flour mixture (sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) alternately with cocoa into butter mixture. Incorporate milk in between, Stir in mayonnaise and vanilla. Batter becomes thin, Pour in a greased and lined pan. Bake for 40 mins at 350 F. (I used a 9x13" rectangular pan here. For other pan sizes, make sure to pour only up to 1/2 to 2/3 full so it won't overflow as the cake rises pretty much.)

FROSTING:

Ingredients:

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1/2 bar butter

1/2 c. evaporated milk

1/2 c. condensed milk

1/2 c. sugar

1 pc. egg yolk (optional).

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together while stirring constantly over medium heat until frosting becomes thick and spreadable

CHOCOLATE DESIRE!!! IN need of a good recipe!!! Help!!

oK...I wanted a good, moist chocolate cake....I started looking online and found a good recipe, but no igredients enough to make the cake, so I cheated and used a box one....and decided to use only the icing from the recipe!!! Let me tell you....The cake was ok, and the icing was way too soft....I could't get it to stay on the cake....You will see on the pics...Pretty Please....anyone out there with a good chocolate cake recipe and the good chocolate frosting also????? I would love that!!!

TFF - Ultimate Cheesecake

Ok, I did this a while back ( 2 weeks ago ) and let me tell you, BIG HIT. My whole family asked for the recipe and they were impressed how good this cheesecake was. I love Tyler recipes, I think he put so much flavor on everything and thats why I decided to join this group of great people making his recipes from his book or website. You can see the recipe below. I made some changes: I used chocolate ganache instead of blueberry topping. If you want be part of this blog , click here.

ULTIMATE CHEESECAKE

Ingredients
Crust:
2 cups finely ground graham crackers (about 30 squares)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
1 pound cream cheese, 2 (8-ounce) blocks, softened
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream
1 lemon, zested
1 dash vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the crust ingredients with a fork until evenly moistened. Lightly coat the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour the crumbs into the pan and, using the bottom of a measuring cup or the smooth bottom of a glass, press the crumbs down into the base and 1-inch up the sides. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.
For the Filling:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on low speed for 1 minute until smooth and free of any lumps. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue to beat slowly until combined. Gradually add sugar and beat until creamy, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. The batter should be well mixed but not over-beaten. Pour the filling into the crust-lined pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Set the cheesecake pan on a large piece of aluminum foil and fold up the sides around it. Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until the water is about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan; the foil will keep the water from seeping into the cheesecake. Bake for 45 minutes. The cheesecake should still jiggle (it will firm up after chilling), so be careful not to overcook. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Chill in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least 4 hours. Loosen the cheesecake from the sides of the pan by running a thin metal spatula around the inside rim. Unmold and transfer to a cake plate. Top with any ganache recipe that you desire.

Barefoot Bloggers - "Making banana pancakes, pretend like is the weekend now..." Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

My first recipe from Barefoot Bloggers and it came out great. I loved the texture and the flavor. I think Ina has great recipes and she knows how to entertain. Great personality.

This recipe was chosen by Karen of Something Sweet by Karen and here is the recipe and some pictures:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
2 extra-large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Unsalted butter
2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving
Pure maple syrup
Directions:
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Distribute a rounded tablespoon of bananas on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced bananas, butter and maple syrup.

Ok! Ok! The final product didn't look that good....But my pancakes kept burning and never cooking all the way. But still tasted good!!!

Pumpkin Bars by Paula Deen

I just love Paula Deen Y'all, I think she is so spontaneous and nice and I love the things she cook! I am not a big fan of pumpkin, but with my mother in law coming for dinner I wanted to make something she like, so I went on the website and found this recipe that have great reviews. Hope you guys like it.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.
To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

LOVE BISCUITS

Ok...I'm a really fan of biscuits...I love them with eggs, jelly, butter of plain. I decided to try and make a couple at the house. I took my BAKING cookbook and started looking. I wanted to do the 1st recipe, but I didn't have all the igredientes needed, so I did the one using heavy cream. It came out good, but I think I would have liked the other one better. Here are some pics! The hubby ate then with strawberry jelly.