S'mores Cheesecake

I happened to find a bit of time during my post-midterms weekend to bake this S'mores Cheesecake for a potluck. Sadly, my baking has become a by request only thing that happens once in a time. But, this recipe was great! It tasted just like a s'more!!

The recipe specifies that the cheesecake needs to be chilled for 8 hours before you put the marshmallow on top. You do really need to do that. I didn't and the marshmallow topping became a bit oozy and made a nice sticky mess. Also, you definitely HAVE to brown the marshmallow topping under the broiler or use a creme brule torch, if you have one. It was the best finishing touch and really added the essential s'mores flavor to the cheesecake. However, watch your cheesecake closely while it's under the broiler. I was amazing by just how quickly it started to smolder.

If you'd like to make your own S'mores Cheesecake, check out the recipe here.

Salted Caramel and Pecan Cheesecake

Recently, it seems like I've been making a ton of cupcakes for Dessert Nights. I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence or if I was inspired by how tasty the Irish Carbomb Cupcakes were for St Patrick's Day. I've consciously tried to deviate from cupcakes in the last couple of weeks. I realized that it has been over a year since my first ever cheesecake attempt and decided to try another one.

Salted Caramel has been all of the rage lately. It's in everything from ice cream flavors to Starbucks drinks. It's also a great topping for cheesecake since that's usually rich and the sweetness of the caramel would be a nice complement. I happened upon this great recipe from Bake or Break. The recipe is super easy. For those of you who want a great easy dessert, this is it. Honestly, the toughest thing was the caramel and that's the easiest thing to cheat on by just using a jar. If you don't have a mixer, it will take more elbow grease to make sure that the cream cheese is light enough, but nothing that you can't handle. You will definitely be rewarded with a tasty cheesecake that's sure to excite your taste buds.

I did learn that nuts are more popular with the dessert night crew than I previously thought. I only put the pecans on half of the cheesecake to cater to those who don't like nuts, and that side was gone before anyone had barely gotten into the nut-free side.

Stay tuned to hear about next week's ice cream experiment and survey results.

Amaretto Cheesecake Bars. Really?

Dessert night has been in existence for almost a year now. Sometimes the recipes result in particularly amazing dessert and sometimes they're just ok. Never before have I actually not wanted to serve what was made because it was so unflavorful. I guess there had to be a first for this. It was this week's Amaretto Cheesecake Bars.

Last September, I made a very tasty Chocolate Amaretto Cake so I thought I'd give another amaretto flavored dessert a try. I found this recipe on Cookie Madness who has had great recipes in the past (remember that awesome Pumpkin Bread?). Sadly, I was thoroughly disappointed. These cookie bars were slightly labor intensive which led me to have slightly higher expectations for the outcome than I would if the recipe was very easy. Nonetheless, these bars were relatively flavorless which was slightly disappointing. They were definitely dessert-like because they were sweet, but the crust didn't really have any sort of a flavor to it. The lack of flavor in the crust would have been fine if they amaretto cheesecake filling was really flavorful. It wasn't. The amaretto flavor slowly accumulated as you ate the bar, but even at the end it didn't taste strongly of anything.

If you're considering making an amaretto flavored dessert, I'd recommend sticking to the Chocolate Amaretto Cake and skipping the cheesecake bars. Btw, the cake will be making an appearance at ChuThis's famous annual superbowl party!!!

Should you really want to make these Amaretto Cheesecake Bars, the recipe is here. Let me know if you have any questions for how to make it more flavorful.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake & Scallion & Brie Stuffed Burgers

Last night was quite the culmination of a variety of different culinary experiences and requests that lead to the meal. Let me back up a bit and explain.

About two weeks ago when Garrett finalized his schedule (ok, at least part of it) for his visit to CA and told me that he was going to be in town over a Tuesday night, I immediately invited him to dessert night and being the out of town guest for the evening, also asked for his dessert of choice. Much deliberation ensued. Eventually, he decided that he wanted Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, thus the cheesecake portion of the meal.

The burger idea came from a series of events that led me to the new Food & Wine magazine. At brunch with my family on Mother's Day at the Corkscrew Restaurant in Carmel Valley, I saw a cheeseburger with Gruyere instead of the usual cheddar. It sounded amazing, but alas I didn't order it. I was later reading through my latest edition of Food & Wine where I found a recipe for Scallion & Brie stuffed burgers. It sounded amazing given my love for brie. As usual, I look for excuses to cook for others because I'm not a huge eater myself and don't like tons of leftovers. So, last night was the perfect excuse to make these little guys.

They tasted amazing, but were rather hard to put together so the two hamburger patties didn't separate as they were cooked. J did an awesome job cooking the burgers!!! And Garrett was very helpful chopping everything that we needed for the meal.

All in all, it was a very yummy evening.

Here's Candace attempting to devour the cheesecake.