I'm Thankful For Cheesecake

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family and friends. 

If like me, you love Halloween and are still clinging on for dear life to all things Halloween then this cheesecake is just for you. This year I bought five pumpkins with the intention of making Pumpkin Cheesecake and so while at the Pumpkin patch for the second time (don't judge me) I picked up two Crown Prince Pumpkins. These are known to be the best for baking and also they look really cool because they’re blue.

At the bottom I will link all three sites I used to make the Pumpkin Puree, the cheesecake, and the pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice does not include pumpkin by the way, who knew. I had a look around for the best, quickest, and easiest Pumpkin Cheesecake recipes. The most straight forward one I found was a baked cheesecake and I was very apprehensive about this. Let’s just say me and baked cheesecake have a troubled past. My first two attempts were a bit lack lustre, but I wasn't giving up, I was up for the challenge. 

To begin you need to prepare your pumpkin puree. You can make this well in advance as you can refrigerate or freeze this once it’s made. To get the best result, make sure to buy a baking pumpkin. Cut this in half scoop out the seeds and stringy bits and sprinkle with a little salt. Place the pumpkin halves into the oven with the insides facing the lined baking tray. Bake until it becomes soft, and the skin is coming away. Then you’ll need to remove the skin and blend up the flesh. Now you have yourself some delicious pumpkin puree. You can use this technique on other similar vegetables and you can also use this to make different desserts. 

The easiest part of this whole recipe is to make your pumpkin spice. This can also be made in advance and stored in a jar for use in whatever takes your fancy. You make pumpkin spice by combining ground cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, ground allspice & ground cloves. That’s it, its super easy and smells delicious if you just want to use it to add Autumn scents to your house. 

Now on to the fun part, the cheesecake. 

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C and line the bottom of a 9-inch round tin. Using one that has a removable base is the best option. 

2. In a bowl combine your crushed biscuit of choice, butter, granulated sugar, and the pumpkin pie spice that you created earlier. Press onto bottom of your tin and 1 inch up the side if you want. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes and then remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. 

3. If you are using a water bath to bake your cheesecake you can begin to boil a large pot of water. You do not need to use a water bath if you don’t want to, however this can cause cracks. I didn’t use one myself and it worked out pretty well. 

4. Using a mixer combine cream cheese, granulated sugar and brown sugar until the mixture becomes fluffy. Add in your eggs, pumpkin puree and heavy cream. Mix this until fully combined. Add in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice and mix well. 

5. Pour your mixture into your prepared base. If you are using a water bath place your pan into a larger pan and pour the boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. 

6. Bake for 60 minutes and then crack the oven door, turn the heat off, and let the cheesecake rest in the cooling oven for one hour. Allow 6 hours for your cheesecake to cool and set in the fridge before serving.

And there you have it, Pumpkin cheesecake. I added a little cream to the top of mine for a little extra flare and also cream goes so well with pumpkin desserts. This is a perfect Halloween, Thanksgiving or even just Autumn dessert. So next time you find yourself picking up pumpkins or other similar vegetables and want to create something a little different, why not give this cheesecake recipe a try. I really enjoyed making this. It was pretty straight forward and it was delicious. My first successful baked cheesecake. Links for all recipes are below and I've also added some pictures for you to enjoy.

Thanks for checking in.

Caz xx

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a78588/how-to-make-pumpkin-pie-spice/

https://www.inspiredtaste.net/35527/easy-pumpkin-puree-recipe/

https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-cheesecake/

Charly’s Cheesecakes Goes On The Road

It might have taken a while, but I can now tick this one off my bucket-list. I finally got to try Charly’s Cheesecakes. For those of you who don’t know Charly’s Cheesecakes is generally based in Waterford. It was created by Derek who has 20+ years of experience as a chef. The name Charly’s Cheesecakes was inspired by Charly, Derek’s little helper in the kitchen.

Charly’s Cheesecakes will literally make your cheesecake dreams come true. If you can think of a flavour Derek will create it for you. They offer local delivery and cater to birthday cake orders too.

I can’t tell you how many times I tried to turn a road trip around Ireland in the direction of Waterford lol. It never worked out so I kept my fingers crossed that Derek would take his cheesecakes on the road to Dublin. So, you can imagine my excitement when I discovered that he had in fact taken his cheesecakes to Dublin and was here for the whole month of July and hopefully longer still.

If you’re interested, you can try these Cheesecakes in Merrion Square Food Market on Thursdays or on Fridays in The Phibsborough Food Market. With its vast array of flavours and the sneaky little samples, you’ll be spoiled for choice.

In case we don’t get another chance to visit his stand while it’s in Dublin, we had to get a few flavours. We got Toblerone, Curly Wurly, Strawberry and Black Forest. We also grabbed some profiteroles while we were at it. Every bite was delicious, and every flavour was worth the wait.

With plenty of food truck choices and even some jewellery stands on top of Charly’s cheesecakes the markets are well worth the visit.

Happy eating foodies!!

Caz xoxo

Henry Grattans Do Cheesecake Take Two

 

With the recent government announcement that indoor dining is yet again being postponed I’ve decided to give one of my favourite spots a second shoutout. Henry Grattans of Celbridge is offering outdoor dining at the moment and throughout the lockdown they also offered collection and delivery options to keep us foodie fans ticking over. If you can, go out for some food and drinks and keep Irish hospitality going. So many of our favourite places won’t make it through this new postponement. So, if your favourite place is offering collection/delivery or outdoor dining, put the pots and pans down and treat yourself to someone else cooking for a change lol. 

The boyfriend and I put in a last-minute booking at Henry Grattans for his birthday recently for lunch. We were delighted to get a spot. When we showed up, we noticed they had a large gazebo set up outside to accommodate outdoor dining. It was spacious and seemed like a nice spot for lunch however when we gave our name, we were brought to what I think was their old smoking area. It was a small wooden area to the other side of the pub that could only hold maybe 6/7 tables. It was intimate and was lovely for our lunch date. We felt spoiled. If you can choose, I would recommend getting a table in here, especially if it’s a date.

We were not rushed in fact I think we were there well over two hours. I say this as other places we considered booking were still implementing the old rule of 105 minutes and you’re out. They left us to ourselves to enjoy our food and drinks.

They offer a huge range of choices for all and will accommodate picky eaters lol. The staff are all lovely and they are following all government guidelines to make sure your visit is a safe one.

Above is a picture of the absolutely delicious strawberry cheesecake that I ordered. As always it was perfectly executed, and the presentation is world class.

Stay safe and happy eating foodies!!

Caz xoxo

Birthday Cheesecake

I never get cheesecake for my birthday I always get the pink version of the Manning's buttercream cake every year. I know that sounds weird coming from me because I'm literally over here preaching about cheesecake but I never really considered it before. When we were allowed eat out it was my go to dessert, I can make it myself and well I always think it'll go to waste with not many people in the family eating it...I know, weirdos!!

Anyways my boyfriend however decided to surprise me with an early birthday celebration with all the trimmings and he got me a birthday cheesecake that he said was all for me. He's a keeper. I didn't want any to go to waste so instead it's all been going to my waist lol

He bought the cheesecake from The Natural Bakery in Maynooth. It's located in Manor Mills shopping centre. We had never shopped at the bakery before but had often salivated while walking passed the window. They always had a lemon cheesecake sitting in the window. Hopefully that's for display purposes and it's not just the lemon cheesecake getting left behind. Go buy the lemon cheesecake people, I've never tasted a lemon cheesecake that I didn’t liked.

The lemon cheesecake was left behind on this occasion too though because my boyfriend asked for the best one and the White Chocolate and Raspberry cheesecake was recommended. He couldn't remember what flavour it was when he unveiled it to me but that's okay with my mad cheesecake skills I knew what it was straight away lol It was a great recommendation.

It was lovely and very fluffy in consistency. The raspberries were mixed into the cream cheese layer making it a surprise with every bite. It was topped with white chocolate shavings which made it pretty and tasty.

My boyfriend got a Happy Birthday Caroline message added to it. This costs extra if anyone is considering a cheesecake for a celebration cake. I imagine this is to prevent any damage to the design on top of the cake. It would be a lot softer to the touch than most celebration cakes so therefore had to be added to the base holding the cake rather than the cake itself.

So let's just say I was a very happy girl celebrating turning 29 for the 3rd year in a row wink wink. I'm now considering cheesecakes for every celebration because why not? If no one else will eat it, it just means more for me haha

Thanks for checking in again guys. Make sure to like the social media pages (Instagram and Facebook). I'd really appreciate an aul like and share on the blog posts.

 Caz xoxo

Mini Eggs Cheesecake

Hey everyone, I’m back after a little hiatus. I did plan on blogging more in the first few months of the year but you know what they say “life’s what happens when you’re busy making plans”. 

 

This entry is a post-Easter recipe. If like me you have some Easter treats left over, you can use them for this. I decided to make a Mini Eggs Cheesecake. I love Mini Eggs and I still have a Mini Eggs Easter egg waiting for me to tuck into. I’m saving it for a rainy day lol So if you were lucky enough to get some Mini Eggs treats this past Easter and want to get creative here is the recipe for you.

 

This was probably the easiest cheesecake recipe I’ve attempted and it was super quick. It was also delicious, although I would warn you about your slice sizes. I went a bit too big and it can be a bit much. It’s definitely a moderation style dessert lol The original recipe that I followed says it is ready in 2 hours. I made it the night before I wanted it, just to be sure.

 

As usual I’m going to post my abridged version of the recipe but I will add the link to the original at the bottom. Let me know if you’ll be attempting this one. You can also substitute the Mini Eggs with your favourite treats. Let me know on my social media pages what you think.

 

Ingredients:

 

280g Digestive Biscuits (Chocolate if you like)

140g Unsalted Butter

3x Bags of Mini Eggs

550ml Double Cream - Whipped (50ml more if you are using it to decorate)

140g Icing Sugar

560g Cream Cheese

Juice of Half a Lemon

 

Recipe:

 

·     Crush the biscuits (I used a blender). You want the biscuit to resemble sand. Mix in the butter (melted) and line your tin with this mixture. 

 

·     Chop up your Mini Eggs (I would recommend making them small, you don’t want anyone breaking their teeth).

 

·     Mix the whipped cream (I also used a blender for this. 30 seconds and its whipped lol), icing sugar, cream cheese, lemon juice and chopped up Mini Egg pieces together. 

 

·     Pour your creamy mixture on top of your biscuit base and smooth it out. Pop it into the fridge over night.

 

·     Before serving, using any remaining Mini Eggs you have, decorate the top. You can also use some of the whipped cream as the original recipe states but I wasn’t a fan of this idea. 

 

 

And there you have it. A quick and easy no bake Mini Eggs Cheesecake. It’s still Easter to me so Happy Easter Everyone. I hope you all enjoy any treats you have left!! 

 

Caz xx 

Original Recipe:

https://www.tamingtwins.com/mini-egg-cheesecake/?fbclid=IwAR13elPbhzGzwJf8gbMg_lmTNP1dd8N6WX_Hfg0SS6J49IwR0kpdpCsloMs

Japanese Cheesecake

 

 

This weekend I made Japanese Cheesecake. If you remember from my news year resolutions post, I really wanted to try this. Glad I got that out of my system lol. I’m not going to lie, this was the most difficult cheesecake that I’ve attempted to make. I even found the ingredients hard to come by. One of the ingredients is cornstarch. If anyone knows where I can find that let me know because I could not find it anywhere. I instead opted for a substitute ingredient, tapioca and it’s not easy to work with. 

Another issue I came up against was the fact that you needed an electric whisk, which I unfortunately didn’t have to hand. My arms hate me for this fact and the process took around 90 minutes longer than it should have haha. 

This cheesecake is not my favourite. It’s not the worst cheesecake I’ve ever eaten but it’s just not something I’d rush back to make again. It’s completely different to the traditional cheesecake. You’ll see that you have to use a lot of egg to make this and in the end the taste gives that fact away. It’s like a strange sponge cake.

Below is a list of ingredients you will need if you want to try it yourself. There is also a step by step in my short hand. As always I have posted the link to the original at the bottom. Let me know what you think and if you are going to try it yourself.

 

Caz xx

 

Ingredients:

7 tablespoons of butter

100g cream cheese

130ml of milk

8 egg yolks

60g Flour

60g Cornstarch (or substitute)

13 egg whites

130g Granulated sugar

Hot water for baking

Choice of toppings for serving

 

Process:

Preheat your oven to 160°c.

Whisk the butter, cream cheese and milk together in a pot on low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth, then begin to slowly mix in the cream cheese mixture. Stir until combined. 

Sieve the flour and cornstarch into the mixture and continue whisking to remove lumps.

In another large bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand-mixer. Do this until soft peaks begin to form, then slowly add the sugar while you continue to beat. The peaks will stiffen.

Begin to fold the egg whites into the mixture. 

Line your tin with greaseproof paper. Pour the batter into the tin and shake to remove any air bubbles.

Place the pan into a larger baking tray lined with 2 paper-towels. Fill the larger tray with about 1 inch of hot water.

Bake for 25 minutes then reduce the heat to 140°c and bake for a further 55 minutes.

Remove the cake from the greaseproof paper straight away.

Serve with the toppings of your choice. 

https://tasty.co/recipe/fluffy-jiggly-japanese-cheesecake 

Henry Grattans Do Cheesecake

Just before we went into lockdown yet again, I finally got to visit somewhere on my bucket list, Henry Grattans. It is a pub and restaurant in the heart of Cellbridge. They also cater for functions, if we are ever allowed to host one of those again.

I have followed Henry Grattans on social media for ages and their dishes always look divine. I drive by them regularly to do a bit of shopping in the Aldi close by. I had to drop a lot of hints before himself finally got the message lol So we went as a little treat for the Christmas as our usual St. Stephen's Day treat could not go ahead. It's very cosy interior is very inviting. It has a very vintage style but yet doesn't look outdated. In fact I think it recently underwent a make over. The booths looked very comfy and I'd definitely like to try them out next time. 

Their menu is huge and they cater to many. We actually both had a look at the menu before we went and still hadn't decided by the time we arrived. Too much to choose from, we wanted it all lol. Myself and himself decided to go for the biggest burger on the menu the double house burger. It's served with onion rings and fries. I could not get my mouth around the burger or burgers as there were two, hence the name and all the fillings. It was absolutely delicious, I was a mess and could have done with a bib but it was definitely worth the effort haha.

As it was Christmas I thought I'd have some cocktails. We hadn't been out in forever with all the restrictions so I wanted to let my hair down. However, there were no cocktails unfortunately and I think this was due to a reduction in staff but they did have pink gin so I wasn't too disappointed. The added strawberries to my gin and tonic was sublime and I now do it myself when fixing myself a G & T. I like to be a little fancy, you know. 

Drum roll please...they had cheesecake of course. A Baileys cheesecake. You can see for yourself from the picture it was perfect. Presentation is everything, especially when it comes to pictures for someone's awesome blog lol. Dusted with chocolate and berry sauce and served with both ice cream and cream because let's face it who wants to have to choose. It was delicious and went down a treat. The menu states it is "Chef's Cheesecake" and you have to ask for details, which makes me believe there are other flavours for me to try. I'll just have to go back and try some more, when they re-open.

I was super happy to squeeze in a trip to Henry Grattans and I can't wait to get back. I would definitely recommend getting yourself to Henry Grattans when you can. Also if Henry Grattans is within your 5km limits you can avail of their click and collect service every weekend. So there's always that. 

I hope you enjoyed the blog post guys and hopefully I've given you somewhere new to try in the future. As always let me know if you've been or if you have a recommendation yourself. 

Caz xx