Saturday, May 18, 2013

What's for Dinner: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake

Continuing my streak of incorporating nuts with my cheesecake, Friday I made a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake.

This time, I experimented with a graham cracker base. Three cheesecakes, three different bases so far. Each one, very different but oh so good. Click here and here for my other cheesecake recipes so far.

 For today's version, you need:
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
  • 5 tablespoons of [unsalted] butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup of macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
  • 2 [8 ounce] packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 can of condensed milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
  • 1 cup of white chocolate chip morsels, melted
To make your cheesecake:
  1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Combine the butter and graham crackers. Press the mixture into the bottom [and across the lower sides if you would like] of your springform pan to form the crust.
  3. Roughly chop your macadamia nuts. Sprinkle evenly over the graham cracker crust layer.
  4. Next, in a large bowl, beat your cream cheese until it is smooth. Add in the condensed milk and beat the mixture well [until it is evenly incorporated].
  5. Next, add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Do not over beat the mixture, just beat it until your mixture is smooth.
  6. Add in the melted white chocolate. Combine.
  7. Pour your cheesecake batter on top of the macadamia nut layer.
  8. Bake [in your preheated oven] for about 70 minutes. Or until edges are light brown and center is almost set. I'd keep an eye on it staring around the one hour mark.
  9. Let it cool [and completely set] for at least several hours [if you have the will power] before cutting into it. 
Tip: for presentation purposes, I drizzled the top of my homemade cheesecake with [store-bought] caramel. This part is totally optional.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Posted by Summaiyah Hyder at 11:15 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

What's for Dinner: Homemade Seasoned Croutons

Most people enjoy their croutons with salads. I like doing that just the same but... I love eating croutons with fish!

Weird combination? Perhaps. But I just love what the warm tilapia does to the croutons. Kinda crunchy, but kinda moist. Just perfect.

I've been wanting to experiment with making my own croutons for a while since I eat them so much, so today I did just that. And let's just say: somethings are just better bought.

While I LOVED the fact that I got to personalize it and whatnot, cutting the bread wasn't exactly fun. I gave up after about one third of the loaf. Now if someone would cube the bread for me, I'd be more than happy to make the croutons at home more often.

I loved how they turned out - the taste was great. And I loved that I knew exactly what was in it... because I made it!

 Here's what I used:
  • Loaf of [store-bought] bread.
  • Olive oil
  • Garlic powder
  • Parsley flakes
  • Basil leaves
  • Black pepper
Once you get the bread cubed, it's very easy to make. I just don't have the patience to cut through the crusty bread.
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line the baking stray with foil for easy cleanup.
  2. Add cubed bread pieces to the baking sheet.
  3. Drizzle [lightly] the bread with olive oil.
  4. Sprinkle on garlic powder, parsley flakes, basil leaves, and black pepper. Or whatever you want! The fun part of making your own things at home is you get to choose the flavors you want and love.
  5. Bake in your preheated oven for 10 minutes. Or until they are lightly brown and crunchy!

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Posted by Summaiyah Hyder at 7:50 PM 5 comments
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Monday, May 13, 2013

What's for Dinner: Chocolate Chip and Toffee Cookie Cups

So my chocolate chip cookie recipe that I used to make my Mini Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Cookie Cups a few days ago? I used that same recipe for another version [version two?] of "cookie cups" Saturday night. This time, I used a combination of milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and toffee bits! I think I liked this version even better than the peanut butter and chocolate morsel one!

From my base cookie recipe, the only change made was the amount of each morsels and the addition of the toffee bits.

You need:
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/4 a cup of granulated sugar
  • 1/2 a cup of [packed] light-brown sugar
  • 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup PLUS two tablespoons of all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chip morsels
  • 1/2 cup of white chocolate chip morsels
  • 2 tablespoons of [Heath] Toffee Bits
To make them:
  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Spray your non-stick mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray as an extra precaution.
  2. In a bowl, add your butter along with both type of the sugars and then beat on low to medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. 
  3. Next: add in the salt, vanilla, and egg. Beat until everything is well mixed together. Add in your flour and baking soda and mix to combine everything. Lastly, stir in the milk chocolate and white chocolate morsels, along with the toffee bits.
  4. Take even sized amounts of dough, and place into each individual muffin cup[?].
  5. Bake in your preheated oven for 14 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
I let them cool for a few minutes each time, but they each came out pretty easily otherwise.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:


Posted by Summaiyah Hyder at 1:47 PM 4 comments
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Saturday, May 11, 2013

What's for Dinner: Homemade Crepes

So earlier today, I was craving something sweet (this is happening way too often lately). For a long while, I couldn't think of what I wanted... but finally I thought to make crepes!

They were delicious! Today, I served it alongside ice cream, chocolate sauce and strawberries, In the past, I've done a combination of strawberries, bananas and whipped cream [that I put inside the crepes and rolled up]. Both are sure to satisfy a sweet tooth!

I tried, of course, to make it as healthy as I could. I didn't put any oil in my crepe batter and limited [powdered] sugar to about a tablespoon. You couldn't even tell the oil was missing, and it tasted great.


For my crepes, I used:
  • 1 cup of [all purpose] flour
  • 1 and 1/4 cups of [1%] milk
  • 1 tablespoon of [powdered] sugar
  • 1 egg
Note: I used powdered sugar so it incorporated in the batter easily.

 To make the crepes:
  1. Mix all the ingredients for the crepes together, until it is of a nice [and thin] consistency. And no lumps.
  2. Over low to low-medium heat, heat up a non-stick pan that is sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
  3. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan, making sure to quickly swirl the batter around in the pan so the whole bottom of the pan is coated in a nice and thin layer. It cooks very quickly, so you have to be quick and also keep an eye on it.
  4. Cook for about a minute [or until the bottom is lightly golden brown] before flipping the crepe and letting it cook for another minute [or until it too is golden brown]. I found it to be easiest to flip the crepes using my hand. It's so delicate that with a utensil it was breaking.
  5. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
The above quantities made about 8-9 crepes.

Be creative in what you use to serve along them: basically whatever you like!

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Posted by Summaiyah Hyder at 2:58 PM 6 comments
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