American Cheesecake

Unable to find pecans for pecan pie or pumpkin for pumpkin pie, she decided to make an American cheesecake for Thanksgiving. American cheesecake is quite different from German cheesecake. It is much creamier and more sweet than savory.

She couldn't remember any of the recipes she has used in the past, so she tried this one. The cheesecake part came out great but she was not so impressed with the crust. This could have been because she had to use German crackers instead of Graham crackers or maybe it just was not a great recipe (not sweet enough for her!). However, with some experimenting, we believe this recipe can definitely be first class in the future!

One large cheesecake (large!!!)

Crust:
~ 15 Graham crackers (she used Vollkorn crackers here in Germany)
2 Tbs butter

Filling:
4 (8oz) packages of cream cheese (important to use Philadelphia in Germany)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbs vanilla
1/4 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C) and get out a 9 inch springform pan

In a bowl, crumble the Graham crackers(quite fine) and add the 2 Tbs melted butter.









Once combined, push the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan.





Set aside and use a new bowl and mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. This was the first recipe that she used the new hand mixer and it made it so much easier than doing everything by hand!

Add the milk and eggs, mixing between each addition. Finally, mix in the sour cream, vanilla and flour.







Pour the filling (making sure it is smooth) onto the spread out cracker mixture.







Bake for one hour. After one hour, turn off the oven but DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! Let the cheesecake sit in the turned off oven for a few hours to keep it from cracking (or so the experts say, she let hers sit for more than 3 hours and it still had a huge crack).

Remove from oven after cooled and refrigerate until serving. This is when it is beneficial to live somewhere cold because we can use our balcony as an extra refrigerator :)
 

She served the cheesecake plain, but you can add a fruit topping or something else that makes it look fancy (and covers up any cracks).

Enjoy!

Onion Rings

It's a good thing we don't own a deep fryer or this could become a weekly addiction!

A bit time consuming but oh so worth it, these onion rings should be eaten quickly to be hot and fresh - not a problem with how good they are.


 
~ for four people:

1 onions, sliced into rings
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
3/4 cup bread crumbs
salt
oil for frying







Cut the onion into rings and separate. Mix flour, salt and baking powder.











Dip each ring into the flour mix and tap to shake off excess.







Set the onions aside and add the wet ingredients (egg and milk) and dip each onion into it so each side is well covered. Lay each onion ring on a wire rack to drip excess liquid off (for less mess, place wax paper under this).

 
Once the onions are no longer dripping, dip them into the bread crumbs.





Heat the oil (enough for deep frying) or medium-high. Once hot, add onion rings (a few at the time depending on how large your pot is) and cook for 2-3 minutes or until nicely browned.

Place on a paper towel to get rid of excess oil and then serve hot.

We recommend serving them with our meatball subs, but we are sure they also go with lots of things like Hamburgers or sausage.

Meatball Subs

Like we said in our Foolproof Meatballs entry, we originally made meatballs to make meatball subs.

Once the meatballs are made, making the sandwiches is a cinch. When you make them is also very flexible, either right when the meatballs are finished cooking, or warm them up and use them at another time. The actual making of the meatball subs takes only minutes.

Three subs:
1 baguette (or three sub rolls)
4-5 meatballs per sandwich
Mozzarella cheese
1 cup tomato sauce
Sugar, salt, pepper, seasonings



Heat the tomato sauce over the stove. Add a small amount of sugar, salt, pepper, and seasonings such as oregano and basil. Add the amount that tastes good to you!






Slice the rolls or baguette so you can make a sandwich (don't cut all the way through). Place the meatballs into the sandwich, cover with tomato sauce and cheese on top. Heat in the oven until the roll is warm and the cheese has melted. If you are making this when the meatballs are already cold, it is best to warm them up (in the microwave works fine) before making the sandwiches.







Serve with chips or fries. We made onion rings. Yum yum! This recipe is also coming soon!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

 

Sometimes you just want a little comfort food...








8 oz. of macaroni or other pasta of choice
3 Tbs of butter
1/4 cup of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp sweet paprika, plus extra for on top
2 1/2 cups 2% milk (we used 1% and it worked)
3 cups grated cheddar cheese (we used a little less and couldn't find cheddar but it was still great!)

Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C)

Boil the pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

 
While the pasta is cooking you can start the sauce.  Melt the butter in a pot or pan over medium heat. Add the flour, salt, dry mustard (we used regular mustard because we had no dry mustard), and 1/8 tsp paprika. Still constantly for about three minutes.









Add milk and whisk constantly for about 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.










Remove the pot from the heat and stir in two cups of cheese.






By this time your pasta should be finished. Either in the pot (if large enough) or the pot the pasta was boiled in, mix the pasta and sauce together. If you really really love cheese, pour half of the pasta into an oven safe dish, add 1/2 cup cheese, pour the other half of the pasta over it and add the other 1/2 cup cheese. If you are like us and do not need it so crazy cheesy, add all the pasta at once and only add a little cheese on top to make it look nice. Sprinkle with paprika.





Bake for 25-30 minutes or until slightly brown and dry on top.










We enjoyed our mac and cheese with broccoli and sausage but it could also be a meal on its own.

This recipe is from Kitchen Treaty

Traditional American Pancakes

He is not a fan of American breakfast, he makes this quite clear, but every once in a while he will humor her by letting her serve a very American breakfast.

You can imagine it caught her by complete surprise when last Sunday he sat on the couch and announced that he felt like American pancakes. She didn't even give him the time to change his mind, within seconds she was in the kitchen whipping of a batch of this American classic :)

We made this full recipe because it used only one egg (and who wants to use only half an egg!?!) but it made a lot!


1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 Tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs white sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 Tbs butter, melted





Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Pour in the milk, egg and melted butter. Mix until the batter is smooth.

Heat a griddle (or frying pan) on medium heat with a small amount of oil. We find it is best to put a oil on a paper towel and gently rub the bottom of the griddle.



It is important to be patient when making pancakes. The pan needs to be very hot before you start but you also do not want the heat turned up too high because the outsides will get brown and the insides will still be raw.

Use a 1/4 cup scoop to transfer the batter onto the griddle. It is up to you if you would like a very large, very small, or medium pancakes.





Let cook (don't play with them or even peak!) until the pancakes start to form small bubbles. When this happens you know it is time to flip them. Flip and cook for another minute until golden brown.





If you are making many pancakes and want to serve them all at once, heat the oven on low and let them stay in there until the rest are finished.

Serve with maple syrup (the proper way!) or if you are like us and don't have any maple syrup in the house, Nutella, cinnamon and sugar, or peanut butter.



If you want something a bit different, try our Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

This traditional recipe was found on allrecipes.com, but there are many recipes out there and all about the same!

Simple Vanilla Cupcakes with Rich Chocolate Frosting

Last Saturday was chaotic. We had lots to do and even though we woke up early to make everything fit, we went non-stop until our heads hit the pillow  that night.

While he was downtown getting some things we needed, she realized that in under an hour we had a birthday party to attend and no cake or cupcakes to bring. She whipped up these cup cakes, from initial idea to walking out the door in under forty minutes. Just what we needed on a day with no time to spare!

She only made 12 cupcakes but here is the original recipe for 24:

2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
200 g butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 Tbs vanilla
1 cup milk

Thick chocolate frosting:
125 g butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 Tbs milk
1 Tbs vanilla

Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 170 C (340 F) and prepare your muffin cups (we use silicon ones but paper ones work just as well).

Cream the butter - she did this by hand and it was quite a workout!

Add the sugar, about 1/3 at a time and beat between each addition. The batter should be fluffy and the sugar should be almost completely dissolved. 

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat between each addition. Also add the vanilla.

Sift the flour and baking powder and add to the mixture, again about 1/3 at a time. Beat on low until the flour is completely combined with the batter.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake linings (each about 3/4 full) and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Once finished, remove from the oven and let cool before frosting.

Frosting:

Cream the butter, sugar and cocoa (sift the cocoa first to keep it from being too clumpy). Add the milk and vanilla. Beat until fluffy (by hand or with a mixture).

The cupcakes can be frosted simply with a knife or by using a large icing tip. Large icing tips are extremely useful to have on hand. In a few seconds you can frost a cupcake and it looks much more fancy  than flat frosting.


These recipes were both adopted from bestrecipes.au. The cupcakes are recipe #6950 and the frosting is recipe #6486

Summer Milkshakes

Summer has finally come to Frankfurt (and we cross our fingers that it actually stays). Summer means to us, picnics on the river, BBQ, cool drinks and ice cream. We decided to combine these last two things and made delicious summer milkshakes!

Milkshakes are only starting to becoming known in Germany, and in all honestly, they are extremely unimpressive here. We recommend saving your money and making milkshakes at home. This way you can get the flavor and thickness you want at almost no cost.

We made two types of milkshake last week. Banana for him, chocolate chip for her.




Not quite sure how to make your own? Don't worry, it is easy! All you need is:



Ice cream (any flavor but we recommend starting with something basic like vanilla or chocolate)
Milk (not too much!)
Any extras you would like. For example, chocolate pieces, banana, other berries.
A blender (We don't have a blender so we used a hand mixer/puree thing. It was more difficult but it still worked!)





Scope the ice cream into the blender or a bowl if you will be using a different type of mixer.

Pour in milk (less than you would imagine!) For two scoops of ice cream you will want about 1/2 cup milk. Experiment and decide how thick you like your shake. It is always easier to add milk later than ice cream so start slow.











Add extras - Blend - Pour into a glass - Enjoy!

Magic in the Middle Cookies

From the King Aurthur Flour site
(But they really do look like this!)

She first made these cookies years and years ago when she was given a King Aurthur Flour cookbook for Christmas. She remembered them being good but for some reason never made them again...until last week. She promised a work colleague cookies so she got online and found the recipe on the King Author Flour website.

Lots of work but delicious and amazes everyone! Her tip to you - next time wait to make these until you have a dough rolling buddy!


Here is the recipe in grams. If you want it in ounces or by volume, visit the recipe online.

Cooke dough:
177 g flour
43 g cocoa powder or unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 tsp salt
99 g sugar (plus some extra for later)
106 g brown sugar
113 g butter (1 stick)
67 g smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg

Filling:
202 g peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
85 g powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).

First make the dough. Beat together the sugars, butter, peanut butter, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and beat again.

Next add the flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, and cocoa. Stir together until well blended.










Set aside the dough and next make the peanut butter filling by mixing together the peanut butter and powder sugar.







Flour your hands and roll the peanut butter filling into about 26 one-inch balls (26 must be the perfect number because she made about 30 and had to throw away the last four because she had run out of dough). Set the balls aside and pour some sugar onto a plate or into shallow bowl.










Take about one tablespoon of dough (about walnut size) and make an indentation with your thumb.

Cookie ball with PB

 


Add one ball of peanut butter filling to the indentation and work the chocolate outside around the peanut butter ball.

Roll in your hands until the peanut butter is completely covered and the dough is a nice ball. Roll in the sugar and place on a lightly greased or parchment paper covered tray.







Once all balls are formed and have been rolled in sugar, flatten the cookies with the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.

See what happens if you are not careful?

If you were careful about covering the peanut butter with the chocolate dough no peanut butter should show through.

Bake for seven to nine minutes or until set and they smell chocolatey.

Let cool on a rack and enjoy!

Forgot to take a picture until the next day at work - not very good :(

These cookies are not very sweet on the outside which makes the peanut butter a perfect match. The peanut butter also offers an unexpected surprise when people bit into them! 

Exploding Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies

These look like muffins but taste like chocolate chip cookies. Even better, take a bite and melted chocolate explodes into your mouth. The only negative? Just eat one and you are full...guess that means the leftovers last longer :)




10 cookies:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar
1 egg
1/2 Tbs vanilla
1 3/4 cups of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large block of milk chocolate (about 1 1/2 cups of chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C).

Take 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips and pour them into a plastic bag (like Ziploc). Lay flat and microwave for about 30-45 seconds or as long as it takes for the chips to melt. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy (we did this by hand but using a machine would be much easier). Add the egg and vanilla and beat again. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda to the wet mixture. Stir and then add the other 1 cup of chocolate chips. Stir until well combined.




Roll the dough into 20 evenly sized balls. Although the original recipe says to just do ten at first, we did all 20 to be sure that we would have enough to finish the recipe.








Flatten slightly ten of the balls and place each into the bottom of a muffin tin/cup.







Take your melted chocolate (should be slightly cool by now but if it is too cool microwave it again) and cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. This will make it easy to squeeze the chocolate onto the cookie dogh.

Squeeze some chocolate into each muffin cup. We did not use a lot and perhaps next time would use more (so don't hold back!)




Next, take the other ten cookie balls and flatten them slight. Use each cookie ball to top the cookie/chocolate cup. Slightly press around the sides to push the cookie together.

Bake for about 9 minutes.




~We baked our cookies and tried to eat them right away. The problem with this is that they fell apart when trying to get them out of the muffin cup (and looked  not cooked through to us) so we put them back in the oven. Later we realized we should have just let them sit a few minutes before trying to take them out of the muffin cups and they were cooked through. Ours ended up being a little over cooked after the second time in the oven. ~



You can microwave these cookies for a few seconds to make them warm and chewy before eating. We suggest serving them with a scoop of ice cream and drizzling any leftover chocolate on top. Yum!

This recipe was adapted from Kevin & Amanda