Homemade Style Chocolate layered Cheesecake

Can I just say that I find Cheesecake the hardest thing to bake and perfect; It is so difficult! But I decided to challenge myself this week and bake it. And hey, it turned out pretty good :) There was no purpose as to why I baked it, I just wanted to :) But I was craving something chocolate hence why I stuck in the chocolate layer at the bottom ;)

Lets begin by preheating the oven to 300 degrees this time!

Crust
In a medium bowl, combine
2 cups of Gram Crackers Crumbs
1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of melted butter
Press the crust into the bottom and 1 inch up the side of the spring form pan. Bake for 6 minutes and let it cool

Chocolate Layer
Using a double boiler, melt
6 (1 ounce) squares of semi-sweet chocolate
6 tablespoons of butter
After that is completely melter, whisk in
1/2 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons of All-Purpose Flour
Pour into the bottom of the cooled crust and bake for 15 minutes.

Cheesecake Layer
In a large bowl, beat together
2 packets of cream cheese
3/4 cups of sugar
Beat until creamy. Then add 3 large eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Then beat in,
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup of sour cream

Once all is well combined, pour onto the chocolate layer and bake for 1 hour. When you pull it out, the top of the cheesecake should be a little wobbly. When it is all done, gently run a knife around the edge of the cake to release the crust from the sides of the pan. Let cool completely. Once cooled, set in fridge for about 8 hours before serving.

and there you have it! It doesn't sound difficult, which it's not, the difficult part is just mastering it. For cheesecake, everything has to be be to the T, if you do one thing slightly wrong, it could not come out how you would want it :(

Mmm.. so delicious. The chocolate layer definitely adds a little Umph to it :)
I hope you enjoy!

<3

Balmy Brownies

I made these for a surprise for my brother and sister in law... well it was supposed to be a surprise anyways. My sister gave it away. But they loved them! My brother said they were fudgey just like he likes them. They fall apart very easily and are very moist. Any brownie fan would love these!

Before anything -- preheat the oven to 350 degrees -- like always

Before you begin, here is a little secret! This will make it a lot easier to take the brownies out of the pan once they are all baked. Before pouring the batter into the pan, put a layer of tin foil that covers the bottom and sides. Then, spray the tin foil with Pam and proceed by pouring the batter onto the tin foil into the pan.

Gather together
4 sticks of unsalted butter
12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 ounces of unsweetened Baker's chocolate
Melt these together in a medium bowl over simmering water. Once everything is blended together and completely melted, take off the stove and set aside to let cool only slightly.

In a medium bowl, stir (don't beat)
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons of pure vanilla
2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
Then pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and stir until combined. Allow to cool until room temperature

In a large bowl, swift together
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
Then add the cooled chocolate mixture into the bowl and stir together. Now, Pour into a 12 X 18 pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Once the 20 minutes is up, put a baking sheet over the brownies to prevent air from getting to the brownies and to keep air from getting out. Bake for another 15 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. DO NOT OVER BAKE! let cool before cutting into 20 large beastly squares.

Dirt Cupcakes

Sounds appetizing right? Well, maybe this will change your mind…

I'm gonna have to say, The frosting is the best part -- its a FUDGE frosting

Oooh they taste as good as they look! They are absolutely amazing. Alright, so everything I put on here I'm going to think it is amazing.. BUT I found that the best way to keep them moist is to – after they come out of the oven, let them cool only slightly, so when they are still warm out of the oven put them into a container (it would take multiple containers to fit all of them) and then leave it out at room temperature and continue eating them from there.

You want to make these now don't you... :) well preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla
8 ounces of sour cream
pour into cupcake liners about 2/3 full (CAREFUL they rise!) and back for about 16 to 18 minutes

easy right?

now for the delectable frosting --

In a medium saucepan, combine
1 cup of Heavy Cream
1 cup of Sugar
bring to a boil over medium-high heat. then reduce to a simmer for 6 minutes, stirring frequently. now take the saucepan of the heat and add the
5 ounces of unsweetened chocolate squares
1 stick of butter
once melted and smooth, let cool for 10 minutes
then whisk in 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and set aside.

now, place 30 to 40 chocolate sandwich cookies into a resealable plastic bag. now start CRUSHING!
Once you have put the frosting on the cupcakes, sprinkle the frosting with cookie crumbs and top it off with gummy worms :)

Cinna buns

 For these, they were very good. Although, I used wheat flour rather than all purpose flour and I feel as though if i used all purpose flour, it would have tasted a great deal better. So that is what I recommend. My mom wanted me to bake something a little healthier since my dad kept eating all my goodies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees!

The Dough Mixture
In a large mixing bowl, beat
4 eggs
6 ounces of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
Then separately, combine
2 cups of lukewarm milk
4 ounces of margarine
now, combine the milk mixture with the egg mixture.
slowly add
4 cups of all purpose flour (beat well)
2 tablespoons of yeast
and another 4 cups of all purpose flour
mix on medium speed for 7 minutes. Then place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and let the dough rise to double its size (about an hour)

Roll dough into a 1 1/2 by 2-foot rectangle

The Filling
spread 4 ounces of margarine
sprinkle the entire surface with
2 cups of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
1 cup of chopped pecans
Now roll the dough into a cylinder shape starting with the bottom edge and cut 12 (or however many you can make) slices and place them onto an oiled pan to back for 15 minutes.

The Icing
Stir together
4 cups of powdered sugar
4 ounces of margarine
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of almond extract
and your golden!

Once the buns have baked their way to be golden brown, let cool and then feel free to cover them with the amount of icing you desire!

I hope you enjoy :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

These bring back memories of high school. These were the cupcakes that were always recommended that I would bake for people's birthdays, for any kind of special occasion, or even just to bring to school. Just like any cupcakes from scratch, these taste a hundred times better than the red velvet from the box or even the red velvet made in grocery store bakeries!

Its funny, out of all the things I have baked, these are probably the ones I have baked the most and I only have this one sorry of a picture… :)

The texture of these cupcakes are heavenly... so thick and moist. It was hard to find a good frosting that went with this cupcake but I think I was able to fix up a recipe that fits it just nice :)

Lets begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, Swift together

1 ¼ cup of all purpose flour

3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon of salt

In a larger bowl, use a mixer to beat

½ cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter that is at room temperature

1 cup of sugar

Make sure this is on high speed. Beat until light and fluffy (for about 5 minutes)

Reduce speed to low and add

2 eggs (one at a time)

Mix until incorporated.

Next add 2 tablespoons of red gel paste food coloring. Now, this is not just any ordinary food coloring. If you use ordinary food coloring you will not get the same texture. This is difficult to find, a lot of grocery stores do not have it. I always get mine from Michaels (the craft store).

With the mixer still on low, alternately add the flour mixture and 1 cup of sour cream – ½ cup each alternation. Mix until all is well incorporated.

In a very small bowl, combine

1 teaspoon of white vinegar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

Once fizzing has stopped, add it to the batter and mix well. Now you can divid the batter evenly into the cupcake holders. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Now for the Cream Cheese frosting! Mmm

In a mixer bowl, combine

1 packet (8 oz) of cream cheese

1 stick of butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 cups of confectioner’s sugar

1 cup of granulated sugar (this adds a little bit of texture to the frosting)

If you would like, you could add a garnish – pecans, fresh raspberries, or fresh strawberries would go great!!

Chocolate Truffle Tarts with Raspberry

This is my dads personal favorite. He wont stop begging me to make these again! This is the very first dessert I started to bake -- they were his father's day request :) You have to be a huge chocolate fan to love these! They are very rich.

Crust

First, use a fork to mix together

1 1/2 cups of fine chocolate wafer crumbs (from Oreo cookies or chocolate wafers, it doesnt matter which one)

6 tablespoons of melted butter

Then spray the cups of a cupcake pan with a vegetable spray. Cut out parchment or waxed paper to line the bottoms of the cupcake holders. Press the crumbs over the bottom and sides of the cupcake holders. build the sides up to about 1 1/2 inches.

Place a raspberry in the center of each crust

Truffle mixture

in a sauce pan, bring

1.2 cup of heavy cream

to a simmer over low heat

place 8 ounces of doos-quality bittersweet chocolate chopped in with the cream and mix until chocolate is melted. once melted, pour the chocolate into a bowl and add

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

and mix until smooth. set aside and let cool for 1 hour at room temperature.

once it was let sit, beat the chocolate at medium speed until it is thick and light colored

Fill the tarts with the truffle mixture and smooth the tops. you can also top it off with another raspberry :) this would call for about 12 raspberries if you were to do that. otherwise it would only take about 6.

refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.

And there you have it!! Very easy to make. This only makes about 6 servings but trust me, only one is more than someone can finish in one sitting (unless you are my dad) ;)