oreos

i've recently started to frequent BJ's Wholesale Club. What can I say? I have a toddler who eats me out of house and home. i buy in bulk. the worst thing one can do when going to these kind of stores is go there hungry. on this particular day i went there starving. not a good idea. when i arrived back home and started unpacking the groceries i realized i bought what seemed to be everything that could possibly NOT be good for you. chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. frozen yogurt bars. graham crackers (i must say, my son will eat these). pasta. cheese slices. veggie chips. and oreos. yep, that's right a big ol' box of oreos. my husband's face lit up like a christmas tree when he came across the box of oreos as it is one of his favorite junk food items. i too love oreos, but having a ginormous box of them in the house is not a good idea.

so naturally i wanted to bake something to at least get rid of some of the oreos. what could be better than an oreo cheesecake? (have i mentioned that any kind of cheesecake is my all time favorite dessert? you'll start to pick up on a cheesecake baking trend as my blog progresses.) i started researching oreo cheesecake recipes and stumbled across a blog, Handle the Heat, which had a recipe for "Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes". i've already told you cheesecake is my favorite dessert, but cupcakes are my second favorite, and oreo cookies are my third favorite. JACKPOT! i couldn't wait to make them.

mama says: i always try to take recipes and add my own little flair. for this one, i added white chocolate chips to the batter. i topped each cupcake with whip cream and a fresh raspberry. divine!

mama's drink: you know it...Bailey's Irish Cream! i also think a cappuccino would be amazing with these or a big tall glass of ice cold milk.

COOKIES and CREAM CHEESECAKE CUPCAKES
adapted from Handle the Heat, originally from "Martha Stewart's Cupcakes"

INGREDIENTS
42 cream filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos. 30 left whole, 12 coarsely chopped
2 lbs cream cheese, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 c. sour cream
pinch of salt
1 c. white chocolate chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies and white chocolate chips if using by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 25 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Remove from tins before serving.

bananas

this weekend was bananas. b! a! n! a! nas! ok, sorry. a little ode to gwen stefani. i'm not a fan of bananas. if, and i stress if, i eat one, it has to be at my definition of perfectly ripe. it can't have an ounce of green on it and if there is brown on it, lightly speckled will only do. it's not worth the hassle to try and find that perfect banana. however, my husband and son, are completely different stories. my husband will only eat banana pancakes and will eat banana breads, banana muffins, banana cookies (are there such things), by the bucket loads. my 17 month old son, has a morning routine where he walks straight into the kitchen, points to the corner where our fruit basket sits and says, "nanana, nanana, nanana" (you get my drift), until i pick the banana out of the basket and peel it for him. in which he then tries to shove the whole thing into his mouth. the rest of the day, he wanders into the kitchen, and the whole scenario repeats itself again.....

needless to say, i buy bananas in bulk. whenever i'm at the store, i pick up a bunch. i can't keep them in stock in my house. this past week, though, the bunch that i bought seemed to ripen really quickly. they were solid brown before i knew it. what do i do with all these bananas? wait a few more days until the weekend and make banana pancakes for the boys? i can't, the smell of overly ripe bananas makes me gag. another loaf of banana bread? nah. seems to elementary. a banana cake? hmmm, now we're getting somewhere. banana cheesecake? bingo! i may not be a fan of bananas, but the one thing i am a fan of, is cheesecake!

i instantly googled banana cheesecake recipes and stumbled across a version of the one below from one of my favorite food blogs, vanilla sugar blog. it called for a topping of caramel rum sauce, which sounds amazing, but i just didn't have the time to make it. instead i bought the caramel sauce for sundaes and drizzled that on top. it was fabulous. my father in law, who is very particular about "his cheesecake" told me i should package it up and sell it.

mama says: also bought in bulk in my house are graham crackers for my son. instead of using graham cracker crumbs, i coarsely ground whole graham crackers. the thick chunks of graham crackers mixed in with some fine crumbs was divine.
along with the store bought caramel sauce, i cut a banana in thick chunks and placed it on top. oh, and of course, some homemade whipped cream.

mama's drink: uh, hello?!? bailey's irish cream! or any coffee based drink will do too.

BANANA CHEESECAKE
from Vanilla Sugar Blog

INGREDIENTS for CHEESECAKE
24 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
4 mashed bananas, really ripe
2 t. vanilla extract
1 t. fresh lemon juice

INGREDIENTS for CRUST
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 T. dark brown sugar (i used light brown sugar and it tasted fine)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
a pinch of kosher salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9" springform pan.

2. In a small bowl, mash the ripe bananas and sprinkle the teaspoon of lemon juice on top of them.

3. Mix all ingredients for the crust in the bottom of springform pan. Firmly pat the ingredients into the bottom of pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

4. In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one a time, beating well after each addition. Then add bananas and vanilla extract. Mix well.

5. Pour into crust. Bake for 1 hour or until center is not jiggly.

6. Cool in oven for 1-2 hours. Remove from oven. Chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

vanilla custard

have i mentioned yet that i work for an appliance manufacturer? maybe if i ever get my "about me" page up and running i will include that information, but for now, i do. i sell appliances. actually, i don't really sell them, i'm a manager of a high-end appliance gallery. yes, with expensive appliances, we don't call them showrooms, we call them galleries. i'm making jokes about the prices of these appliances, but all joking aside, they are really. amazing. appliances. so amazing that a few years ago i couldn't take coming home to my kitchen with lack-luster appliances anymore, so i convinced my husband to renovate our kitchen. i can now say my kitchen is fully equipped with these really. amazing. appliances.

so working for this company and loving to cook, allows me a few perks. one of them being i get to try out recipes. what could be better, right? they actually WANT me to cook while on the job! i cook for the fun of it and i cook for people. the other night we hosted a dinner. i was the head chef. the meal was simple. we try to show off the appliances, not the food. however, dessert, while still simple, was divine. it could very well be the simplest dessert i have ever made and yet so impressive.

mama says: a couple of notes here. 1.) the appliance this dessert was cooked in, was a steam oven. i'm going to assume most of you don't have a steam oven. the unfortunate part is i have yet to try these desserts in a standard oven using a bain-marie. why would i when i have a steam oven in my own home and a steam oven at work? i promise, once i experiment in the standard oven, i'll let you know. until then, do yourself a favor and buy a steam oven! 2.) the recipe calls for 4-6 oz. ramekins. i used martini glasses. the presentation was absolutely stunning.

mama's drink: if you still have some red wine left in your glass from dinner, continue to sip. if it's after dinner drink time, nothing goes better with these custards than Bailey's Irish Cream. or for those of you who aren't so, indulgent, a good hot cup of coffee will do too.

VANILLA CUSTARDS with BLACKBERRY COULIS
*Serves 12

INGREDIENTS for VANILLA CUSTARD:
1 quart heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6 large egg yolks
1 large egg
3/4 c. granulated sugar
Fresh Blackberries and Mint (for garnish)

INGREDIENTS for BLACKBERRY COULIS:
10-12 oz frozen blackberries
1 c. seedless blackberry jam
1/4 c. water

DIRECTIONS for CUSTARD:

1. Pour the cream into a heavy saucepan. Using the tip of a knife, split the bean lengthwise, then scrape the seeds free from both sides of the bean if using, into the cream and add the pod. Heat the cream over moderate heat until bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan but do not boil. Remove from heat and discard the vanilla pod.
2. Whisk together the yolks and egg and granulated sugar in a large bowl until well combined. Add hot cream in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly until combined. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup to remove any lumps.
   
3. Divide the custard evenly among twelve 4-ounce ramekins. Place ramekins in two perforated steam trays. Carefully slide trays into steam oven. Select CUSTOM or COOK mode at 212° F. Steam for 25 minutes or until custard are just set in the center. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.

DIRECTIONS for BLACKBERRY COULIS:

1. Heat frozen blackberries, water, and jam in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until berries become soft.
2. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Refrigerate sauce until ready to serve.
3. Just before serving, pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of blackberry coulis over custard, garnish with fresh blackberries, mint, and whip cream.

Recipe courtesy of www.mieleusa.com