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Sunday, October 8, 2017

S'mores Cheesecake

Hi!

As I have stated in the earlier post, I have been experimenting a lot with cheesecakes. When is the best time to experiment? During celebrations of course! My girl Amal just joined the 26 y/o club a couple of weeks back.  As an adult, I really have trouble thinking of things to get my friends. Mind you most of them make more money than I do and can afford more things than me (I am still a poor student remember? :p) I always have and still believe that the best gifts are either 1)experiential or 2) homemade. So I chose the latter of course because with our busy schedules there are no way we could have gone anywhere adventurous.

Three years back, I made Amal an Oreo Cheesecake and this year I though long and hard about what flavours she may like. Chocolates! Making chocolate cakes/chocolate cheesecakes are too mainstream! So I decided to make S’mores Cheesecake instead because why not? There were only 5 of us I made a smaller version of the cake. I simply use 1/3 of the recipe and bake the cake in a 6" pan.







S'mores Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese (750g), room temperature
3 eggs
2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
¼ cup milk
a dash of vanilla essence
1 ¼  cup of finely crushed graham crackers
¼   to ½ cup of melted butter
½ of 165g Cadbury Chocolate Bar cut into chunks

Topping
½ of 165g Cadbury Chocolate Bar (melted)
Marshmallows
Digestive biscuit chunks
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (300 degrees if using a dark non-stick spring form) the insides of a 9-inch spring form with parchment paper. Set aside
  2. In a bowl, mix the crushed graham crackers and melted butter together. Press firmly on the bottom and the sides of spring form.
  3. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
  4. In the meantime, mix the cream and sugar together using an electric mixer until well blended.
  5. Add in the flour and continue beating.
  6. Add in milk and vanilla essence and eggs and beat until combined.
  7. Using a spoon, mix in the chunks of chocolate bar into the batter.
  8. Pour the cream cheese batter onto the baked crust.
  9. Bake for 35 -45 minutes. The middle should still jiggle while the sides are slightly firm to touch.
  10. Let cool in the oven.
  11. Once cooled, let it set in the fridge for 3 hours minimum.
To decorate;
    1. Melt the remaining chocolate bar using the microwave of the double boiler method.
    2. Cover the top of the cheesecake with the melted chocolate.
    3. Burn the marshmallow using a blow torch or broil them under the broiler for a couple of seconds until it reaches your preferred burnt level.
    4. Arrange the burnt marshmallows and biscuit chunks on the cheesecake.


Birthday girl loves her cheesecake and I love her! Happy Birthday Amal!<3


Bon appetite!

Love,
Soffy

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Piña Colada Cheesecake

Hi!

It was exactly a year ago since I last posted anything here! That is just crazy! Well, it was certainly a crazy decision to work full time while studying part time anyways. I work Mondays to

Saturdays(most Saturdays) and I have classes 2 or 3 times a week at night. Sundays are used to get my shit together i.e. laundry, make sure my husband still knows that I love him and also finish endless papers and assignments. How did I manage? A lot of crying for sure.

The thing about having so much stress yet having no time to release it was just crazy. I used to love spending my alone time in the kitchen (I still do) but there was just no time. Whenever I have free time, I sleep. It was like having a baby where I have to wake up in the middle of the night finishing off assignments/group projects that I did not have time to do during the day. 

I just quit my job last Thursday so I can finish off my remaining modules full time. Is that a good idea? I hope so. :)

As I am now a student again, I have a bit more time to spend in the kitchen. I have been brewing up a storm lately. Yesterday, I made something that I have ALWAYS wanted to bake. Piña Colada Cheesecake! My mom's and I favourite mocktail; Piña Colada (minus the rum obvs!). We are tropical girls after all! Who can resist the tanginess of pineapple mixed with the creaminess of coconut milk. Now imagine those flavours with cream cheese. It was a tropical paradise really! 





Piña Colada Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese (750g), room temperature
3 eggs
2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 can of crushed pineapple (from a 567g can), drained 
1 ¼  cup of finely crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup of melted butter
2 tablespoon of coconut oil



  1. Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (300 degrees if using a dark nonstick spring form)
  2. Line the insides of a 9-inch spring form with parchment paper. Set aside
  3. In a bowl, mix the crushed graham crackers, melted butter and coconut oil together. Press firmly on the bottom and the sides of spring form.
  4. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
  5. In the meantime, mix the cream and sugar together using an electric mixer until well blended.
  6. Add in the flour and continue beating.
  7. Add in cocnut milk , crushed pineapple and eggs and beat until combined.
  8. Pour the cream cheese batter onto the baked crust.
  9. Bake for 35 -45 minutes. The middle should still jiggle while the sides are slightly firm to touch.
  10. Let cool in the oven. 
  11. Once cooled, let it set in the fridge for 3 hours minimum before cutting and serving.



(Optional) Serve with remaining crushed pineapple and roasted desiccated coconut.


It was so easy to make and it tasted DIVINE!



I will certainly update my other cheesecake experiments soon!

Bon Appétit!

Love,
Soffy