Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Last Sunday, food blogger Jennifer Perillo's husband suffered a massive and unexpected heart attack and passed away. He loved peanut butter cream pie, and as a tribute to him, Jennifer asked everyone to join her in celebrating his life and honoring his memory by making the dessert he loved so much. 

I have never met Jennifer Perillo, and until last week I had never read her blog. In fact, I probably would have never known of her existence if it weren't for a delicious-looking peanut butter pie entry on FoodGawker early last week. In the last several days there has been an amazing influx of peanut butter cream pie entries on both TasteSpotting and FoodGawker, as hundreds of food bloggers rushed to support Jennifer. 

To be honest, I feel a little strange making a dessert for someone I've never met, and who likely won't even know what I've done. I also can't wholly relate to Jennifer's experience, as I've been fortunate enough to never  have  experienced the loss of someone dear to me. But, I'm so awed by the love and support complete strangers have shown for Jennifer and her family that I can't help but want to do my part as well. So, here's my pie for Mikey Perillo, and my best wishes for his family.

Peanut Butter Cream Pie (Adapted from the Running With Tweezer's blog)

Ingredients:
(Crust)
- 1-1/4 chocolate cookie crumbs (I used crushed Oreos)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, melted

(Filling)

- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp butter, softened

- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- Melted chocolate and butterscotch ganache for garnish (Optional! I had butterscotch ganache leftover from when I made those butterbeer cupcakes, and I thought it would be a nice touch.)

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 375.
(2) Combine cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter until the mixture has the texture of crumbly, wet sand. Press into the bottom of a pie plate.
** I opted out of the pie dish and divided my mixture between 2 mini spring-form pans.
(3) Bake crusts for 6-8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

(4) In a mixing bowl, cream together peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth.
(5) Whip cream in a separate bowl, then fold into the peanut butter mixture.
(6) Spoon filling on top of your crust.
** In my case, divide evenly between two mini spring-forms.
(7) Drizzle with melted chocolate and butterscotch ganache.
(8) Refrigerate until you're ready to serve -- the longer it spends in the fridge, the firmer the filling.
(9) Serve immediately, plain or with ice cream.

Turtle Cheesecake Truffles

I meant to make these for Dan's mom on Mother's Day, since turtle chocolate is one of her favorite candy treats. But, things got busy and I didn't have time to whip up a batch of truffles before our trip to Boston last weekend. I ended up buying her some Godiva chocolates, but I really wish I could have given her some of these turtle truffles. Maybe next year.

Word on the street is that grocery stores actually sell bags of crushed graham crackers. I don't know which stores these are, but I've never seen one that sold graham cracker crumbs. Every time I make cheese cake I have to crush my own frickin' crackers. FYI, crushing crackers with the bottom of a glass is way more effective than using a food processor.

I had two containers of marscapone cheese left over from the last time I made tiramisu, so I decided to use that for my cheesecake base instead of the usual Philadelphia cream cheese. I originally thought that three months in the fridge would have ruined the marscapone, but it was totally fine. That makes me a little worried about the amount of preservatives in the stuff, but...I'm not going to think about that right now.

Remember how much trouble I had coating those chocolate chip cookie dough truffles? No problems this time! Jade over at the Steamy Kitchen blog had the perfect method for dipping truffles: (1) make sure the melted chocolate is nice and liquid-y, (2) drop the cheesecake ball into the mixture and make sure it's well  covered, then (3) lift it out with a fork and let the excess chocolate run out through the tines of the fork. Voila!

Oh man, these truffles are so good. They actually taste like cheesecake! Which is already good in and of itself, but when you cover it in chocolate, drizzle it with caramel, and top it with nuts...amazing!

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of the Steamy Kitchen Blog.

For other delicious chocolate recipes, click here.

Apple Cheesecake Cupcakes

Last night I was seized with the most irresistible urge to bake something. But what to bake? Nothing chocolate. I'm sick of chocolate, if you can believe it. Maybe a pie? Nah, too much work -- no pre-made pie crusts in the freezer, and I'll be damned if I'm going to start rolling out my own crust at 9pm on a Wednesday. Then I remembered that Dan had been talking earlier in the day about his love of apple turnovers and sugary apple filling. Apple cheesecake cupcakes are topped with something similar to apple pie filling...

The first time I made this recipe was 2 or 3 years ago, the summer of my 1L year. I was working at the FDA in Rockville, MD, but living in DC. My friend Karen, who was also working there, lived down the street from me, and we took the Metro to work together every morning. After several failed attempts to get her to go running with me after work (Dan was living with me that summer, but he is lazy), I devised a plan to change her mind. I whipped up a batch of these cupcakes, then casually started to bring her one every morning "for breakfast." Karen has IBS, so she is generally a light eater, but she has a weakness for cheesecake. After a few days of eating cheesecake for breakfast, she started feeling guilty about indulging her sweet tooth -- but, these cupcakes were too good to resist!  It was easy to bully her into working out with me after that. Love you, Karen!

When I made these cupcakes the Summer of Karen's Downfall, I used peach/mango topping, but any kind of fruit would work just as well. This was my first time using apples, but I think I like them the best. If an apple pie and a cheesecake were to fall in love, mate, and produce a baby, these cupcakes would be it. Dense and creamy, not too sweet, with a hint of tang from sour cream, and topped off with sweet apple pie filling. Yum!

Apple Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients:

(Cheesecake)
- 1-1/2 8oz packages of cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp cinnamon

(Sour cream topping)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp sugar

(Apple topping)
- 1 large apple, peeled/cored/diced
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp corn starch

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 300. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.
(2) In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy.
(3) Add eggs, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix well.
(4) Spoon cheesecake mixture into cupcake liners, each about 2/3 full.
(5) Bake for 40 minutes. Pull out of the oven and set aside to cool. Leave oven on, and do not remove cupcakes from the tin.
**Cupcakes will come out puffy, but the middle will sink in drastically -- this is good!
(6) In a small bowl, combine sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well.
(7) When cupcakes have cooled, spoon about a tablespoon of the sour cream topping into the sunken middles of each cupcake.
**Use more if necessary -- I like to see a heaping mound peeking over the edges of the cupcake.
(8) Stick cupcakes back in the oven for 5 more minutes.
(9) While you're waiting for the cupcakes to cool again, start the apple topping. Place apples in a small pot or saucepan, and cook on high heat.
(10) Add sugars and stir. The apples should start getting juicy right away.
(11) Add lemon juice and cinnamon. Keep stirring.
(12) When the apple pieces start to look soft, throw in the corn starch. This will thicken up the juices and leave you with something similar to preserves.
(13) Let the apple mixture cool before spooning on top of cupcakes.
(14) Cupcakes are good warm, but even better after some time in the fridge/freezer.

Almost No-Bake Cheesecake

True or false: I have been dying to get my hands on some mini spring-form pans so that I can make adorable, baby-sized cheesecakes? True. So true! I'm a total sucker for miniaturized versions of regular things. In college, my dorm was filled with all kinds of crap that I bought for the sole reason that they were tiny and cute. Miniature condiment jars, tiny milk cartons full of candy, baby staplers...I've gotten better with age, but sometimes I still can't help myself.

Look at how cute my new pans are! And they're so useful for portion-control. Now, instead of filling my fridge with a full-sized, fat-filled cheesecake, I can make tiny, guilt-free portions of the same delicious treat. Nevermind that Dan thinks it defeats the purpose when I end up making four mini-cheesecakes per batch anyway...

The beauty of this cheesecake is that it doesn't need to be baked. It just gets mixed and chilled over night before being served. The only reason it's called "Almost No-Bake Cheesecake" instead of "No-Bake Cheesecake" is that the graham cracker crusts spend a little time in the oven before the filling goes on top. Still, the cheesecake itself doesn't need to be baked at all.

This was my first time eating un-baked cheesecake, but I've decided that I'm never going back to baked cheesecake again. Each bite was just so light and fluffy in it's creaminess, not super dense like a regular cheesecake. And, whereas regular cheesecake sits like a rock in your stomach after just one slice, this cake slides down so easy and you don't feel like you've eaten much of anything at all. Guilt free! And...very dangerous for dieters! It's like Emily said after we demolished an entire cheesecake despite being uncomfortably full from lunch -- "It's scary how easy it is to eat this."

Almost No-Bake Cheesecake (Adapted from Closet Cooking's No-Bake Cheesecake recipe)

Ingredients: Makes enough for 2 4-inch springform pans.

(Crust)

- 1/2 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs. (About 8 crackers)

- 1 tbsp melted butter

- 1-1/2 tbsp brown sugar

(Filling)

- 8oz cream cheese

- 1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 1/4 cup sugar

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 325.

(2) Mix graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and brown sugar. Press into the bottoms of 2 4-inch spring form pans.

(3) Bake crust for 8 minutes. Set aside.

(4) In a large bowl, whip heavy cream with an electric beater until thick. Set aside.

(5) In a medium bowl, cream together sugar, lemon juice, and cream cheese. Gently fold into whipped cream mixture until well combined.

(6) Evenly divide filling between two pans, pouring it on top of the crust in each pan.

(7) Chill in the fridge overnight.

(8) Serve plain or with fruit topping.

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

Man, it's been a long and stressful week. In the last 3 days I have done the following: attended the last few classes of my law school career, wrapped up all my cases for clinic, stayed awake for 38 hours straight to do work, and written an 8000 word paper in one day. I am tired. My body really isn't as resilient as it used to be.

But this week hasn't been all bad. I got a job, for one thing. Far more universally exciting though -- my friend Emily finally opened her Etsy shop! The picture above is an example of one of the adorable, hand-sewn Iphone/Ipod cases currently on sale on her website. As her artistic director and designer, I can tell you that everything is awesome, and she'll be coming out with more options in the very near future (pencil pouches, wallets, etc.). Check out the rest of her wares at Emerlina Designs.

OK, back to the blueberry cheesecake bars. I really need to get a bigger food processor. Or a pastry cutter. Any time I need to make some type of crust, I end up having to crumb everything by hand with a fork because my mini-food processor is so small that it would take forever to do the job. My hands get so tired...

In Julie & Julia, after a bad day at work, Julie makes a chocolate pie and says to her husband: "I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say nothing, I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate, and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort." I know what you mean, Julie! It's such a comfort to know that any time I beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla, I'll get something fantastically delicious in no time at all. 

This recipe is super simple: it's just a layer of shortbread that's slathered with blueberry preserves and topped with cheesecake batter. I didn't think that would look very pretty though (we eat with our eyes, too!), and there were some frozen blueberries taking up space in the freezer, so I syrup-ified them and tossed them into the cheesecake too.

Pretty, right? Alright, so I went a little overboard with the swirling. I never know when to stop -- I usually just keep right on dragging the fork through the batter until the colors look less marbled and more muddy. But I managed to exert a little self-restraint this time and stopped before the whole thing turned into a murky, pale-purple mess.

Mmm. This turned out really well. The shortbread was buttery and delicious, the cheesecake part wasn't too sweet, and blueberries are tasty in any incarnation. I know calories don't count during finals, but I really need to get this out of my apartment before I inhale it all in one sitting...

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars (Recipe from Epicurious)

Ingredients:

(Shortbread crust)
- 1-1/2 sticks butter, cold and cut up into small pieces.
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt

(Cheesecake batter)
- 16 oz cream cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup blueberry preserves

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 350.
(2) Combine butter, flour, brown sugar and salt, pulse in food processor (or with a fork in bowl) until crumbly. Press into the bottom of a 13x9x2 pan. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden.
(3) While the shortbread is baking, beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Set aside.
(4) Pull the shortbread out of the oven. Slather with a thin layer of preserves while still hot.
(5) Pour cheesecake batter over the shortbread and preserves in the pan.

(6) Bake for 30 minutes, until the top of the cheesecake has become slightly puffy.
(7) Stick everything in the fridge for about an hour to cool off and firm up. Eat!