Plum Cake, Version #9

In my quest for the perfect plum cake, I have now baked version #9.  It is with Quark and oil dough.  It was good, but the crust was drier that I want.  I will go back to baking powder in the dough.  Version #8 is the favorite so far.  Plum season is almost over, so we have to wait until next year for Version #10.....

Instant Pot Cheesecake Sucess!

I have been reading up on Instant Pots and since I don't have a working oven in the kitchen yet, I
though this might be useful to me.  I did a bunch of research and then found the one I wanted on a neighborhood garage sale site.  It was in new condition and the price was right, so I brought it home and looked at it for a few weeks.  I finally got up the nerve to hard boil some eggs in it.  And I didn't blow up the house, so I tried a few more things.  I made Macaroni and Cheese (Owen, mac and cheese expert like it!) I cooked potatoes for potato salad, and I made pork chops and I made cube steaks, everything has turned out very well.

 I also saw that people were making cheesecakes in their instant pots.....so of course I had to try it.  You need a 7" springform pan.  I already own at least 2 of every size spring form pan they make, except....you guessed it, no 7"!  Amazon helped me rectify that, because I couldn't find that size in any store.











After looking at various cheesecake recipes, I decided to try the Blueberry cheesecake recipe because blueberries were on sale at Aldi.  So here it is!  A Blueberry Cheesecake "baked" in the Instant Pot!  It turned out great!  My taste testers loved it!  There will be more cheesecakes that will come out of this pot in the future.

Cremschnitten

We made Cremschnitten at Jonathan's request today.  They turned out great!

Kristin, however, didn't think there was enough filling in hers, so she added some on the side.....

A Baking Post

We interrupt our stitching to bring you some baking!  You may not know this, but I usually bake every Friday during the school year, so that I can bribe the staff at German school with some goodies.  It makes for a happy staff that stays year after year even though the little heathens might be driving them crazy.  This week I baked crinkle cookies.  This is itself isn't anything special but....I baked the chocolate crinkle cookies with the help of my new kitchen gadget.  I received this attachment for the Kitchenaid for Christmas from my children.  It is this great little gadget that weighs the ingredients and then sifts them into the mixer bowl.







I found the chocolate crinkle cookie recipe on you tube while I was watching videos on how to use  the attachment, and these cookies were on the video, so I just had to try out my new little gadget and make the cookies.  And while I was at it, I remembered a recipe for lemon crinkle cookies I wanted to try. 

My youngest and her family stopped by on Friday evening and felt the need to taste the cookies, and just loved them, especially the lemon cookies.  The German School staff unanimously agreed that they both turned out great!  All the taste testers agreed!

I will be making them again!

A New Cheesecake

I was asked to bring a dessert to a party Saturday evening.   I wanted something festive and Christmasy, but not a tray of cookies (I haven't finished baking cookies yet this year).  I googled and came up with a recipe from the Betty Crocker site: Double Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake.   I made a few slight changes to the recipe.  I added 3/4 of a teaspoon of peppermint extract to the batter, and instead of making a ganache for the topping, I used a jar of fudge ice cream topping.  The cheesecake was a hit, and I came home with an empty platter.....

Weekend Baking

This past weekend I made a Lemon Meringue Cheesecake.  It turned out quite yummy!  It could even stand alone as a lemon cheesecake without the lemon curd and meringue on top! 

I always have trouble with meringue on top of a pie or cake, it always ends of shrinking no matter how well I 'seal' it.  Will have to practice some more.

Even so, it was well received.  My taste testers finished every last crumb!

Easter Sunday Eats

 For the first time ever, I attempted to make Salz Kipfel.  I got the recipe from a friend, it was her husband's grandmother's recipe that she wrote down after watching it being made, and it is a bit sketchy.   But they turned out pretty good!  I have made note of a few tweeks for the next time I make it. 

Here is the rest of the Easter Buffet.  There were only 9 of us, and I am used to cooking for 20 or 30.....we had ham, cheesy potatoes, German Apple pancake, deviled eggs, kale salad, veggies, fruit, and Kipfel.  I made a fruit torte for dessert.

Some Baking....

I made this "Apple of Your Eye" cheesecake twice in the past few weeks.  One, I took to Thanksgiving at my son's house and the other for the German School staff this past weekend. 

Turned out great both times with no leftovers.

Back to Baking

I haven't baked in forever!  So, this weekend, I decided to bake.  Boy was I out of practice.  My trusty Kitchenaide Mixer and I forgot how to get along, and I ended up with batter all over the kitchen and me, in my hair,....well, it wasn't pretty.

But, I did manage to make this strawberry cake with strawberry sauce.  Took it over to John's Saturday to have after dinner.  He loved it!  This recipe (found in facebook - Easy Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Sauce) is a keeper!

Another Cheesecake

This weekend's baking is a Double Decker Raspberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake.  It's a recipe I clipped from Bon Appetite Magazine at least 15 years ago, if not longer.  It is still available on line if you google the title. 

When I was going through recipes the other day, I realized how much I like this cheesecake (well, I never met a cheesecake I didn't like) and wondered why I don't make it very often. 

I baked it last night, and brought it to German School today, and there isn't a crumb left!  Between the teachers and volunteers, they just devoured it!   I will have to make it again real soon.

Baking Again

 Twins!  Well, almost.  My oldest daughter hasn't used her Kitchenaid Mixer since she got it 11 years ago as a wedding shower gift, so she decided to find it a new home.  I had been wanting to either upgrade my own basic Kitchenaid to a larger model or get a second one, and so the Artesian Kitchenaid found it's way to my house!  Now I can mix and bake twice as fast with out having to stop and wash the bowl and beater constantly.

 Here we have Bienenstich ( Bee Sting Cake).  I always thought this was really hard to make, but it really wasn't.  My taste testers really enjoyed it, they didn't leave a crumb!

I also made Almond Streusel Cherry Cheesecake Bars, ( a Betty Crocker recipe) which were also a big hit. 

This Weekend's Baking Adventures

 Today we explored monkey breads!  First up is an Apple Pie Monkey Bread.  It turned out great!

Then next offering is Orange Vanilla Monkey Bread.  I must confess that this is not the first time I made this recipe )(courtesy of the Pioneer Woman) and the first attempt was prettier but I didn't take a picture of that one.

Never the less, both tasted great, and the taste testers finished them off, and didn't leave a crumb.

More Cheesecake

This week's baking produced another cheesecake.  This one is call Hollywood Cheesecake from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecake cookbook.  I have made it before, but it has been a long time.  I wanted to use my heart shaped springform pan since it was still fairly close to Valentine's Day, and I knew this recipe worked in that pan, so here it is.  I guess it was good, my taste testers ate the whole thing.....and I didn't even get a tiny piece!

Baking again!

I finally found some motivation to bake again!  This time I made an Apple Crisp Cheesecake.  I have been wanting to try this recipe for quite some time, but something always got in the way.  The biggest obstacle was that it called for a 6 inch springform pan.  Since I love cheesecake, I have quite a collection of springform pans....2 10 inch, 2 9 inch, 1 8 inch and 1 heart shaped, but no 6 inch.  I check a bunch of stores that had baking pans and such, but one of them had 6 inch pans either.....until I checked JoAnn Fabrics....they had them!  They were on sale, and I had a coupon, so they weren't very expensive either (as opposed to the ones I saw on google)  So I bought two......

This Weekends Baking Adventures

 It was a busy week, and time was short, so I went to my freezer and pulled out a box of Apple Strudel and a box of Berry Strudel.  I picked these up at Aldi for just such a time, and everyone enjoyed them.  Next weekend I will back from scratch again.

Here is what the boxes look like, and you can find them in the freezer section at your local Aldi Market.

Adventures in Baking

T

This week's baking yielded a Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake with a Chocolate Ganache.......I love that word:   Ganache....and Chocolate...well, you get the picture.

It was yummy, and my taste testers agree, since there is nothing left, not even a crumb....

The Last of the Christmas Baking

 ....well, for this year!  First up are Honig Busserln.  Literally translated: Honey Kisses.  I am not fond of these, but one of my sons and my sister love these cookies. 

Lastly, Spritz Cookies.....these almost killed me.  I misread the recipe....twice!  This is the third attempt at the dough, and they finally turned out. This is my mother's recipe, but it is too stiff for my cookie spritzer....next year, I will have to use hers to get the desired effect.

Merry Christmas to one and all, stop by if you can, I have plenty of cookies!

More Christmas Baking

 First up, Kolatschki....the German Version.  they may not be pretty but they taste good!  I used my homemade jam, but it oozed out of some of them.  I need to work on this recipe a bit.

 Next:  Peanut Butter Blossoms.  I have never made this before and always thought they were hard to make, but they were quite easy and taste  good too!

This recipe is called Christmas Crack.  Homemade toffee pour over saltine crackers then baked, and topped with chocolate.  I forgot to add the sprinkles.

Almond Joy Cookies

Another new cookie recipe today, Almond Joy Cookies!  They are yummy!  Definitely a keeper.

More Cookie Baking

Today I baked Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.  Everyone loves Reeses Peanut Butter Cup candy, so when I came across this recipe for a cookie, I had to try it.  They came out yummy.