#306_Father's Day2011: Hubby's Favorite Desserts

For Father's Day I made hubby his top 3 favorite desserts.....
gotta spoil the big guy a little ya know because he is special.

1. No-Bake cheese cake. (For recipe, click here)
2. Strawberry Pie (for recipe, click here)
3. Hummingbird Cake. (For recipe, click here).


Beignet Strawberry Shortcake for the cook.
(For the Strawberry Shortcake recipe click here.)

Chicken Salad Sandwich Fillings in Bread Cones

To make the Bread Cones, click here
For Chicken Salad sandwich filling, click here.

Grandson loved all of the above!!
Yum-O!!!

#249_The Perfect Cheesecake

Cheesecake with Oreo crust

Cheesecake with spongecake crust

New York cheesecake

What makes a perfect cheesecake?

A reader of this blog sent me an e-mail and asked me if I have a recipe for a cheesecake that is moist, rich, dense and doesn't crack while baking. Sounds like these are the qualities of a PERFECT cheesecake. Mine sometimes cracks, and sometimes doesn't. I guess it depends on how I bake it. Prepping is the real easy part of making cheeses cake, i.e. mixing the ingredients, pouring batter into the pan, etc., but baking it is another story. The cheesecake batter becomes temperamental (like a human being) as soon as you place it in the oven. Oven temperature and timing are critical factors to baking a perfect cheese cake.

I promised Myrna that I will post my recipe here the first time I will have a chance to blog, unfortunately, I don't blog that much anymore because of my hectic schedule, so I will reveal my secret and refer you to a site which helped me perfected a recipe. Here's the link:

http://www.baking911.com/cakes/cheesecake101.htm

and here's the link to the recipe I used for the cheesecake in the middle picture:

http://www.recipesecrets.net/forums/recipe-exchange/24608-juniors-famous-no-1-cheesecake-5-variations.html

( I didn't use a hot knife to slice them that's why the sliced pieces are not so smooth)

To Myrna and everyone else who reads this blog, I hope this info helps, but remember, practice makes a

PERFECT CHEESE CAKE

not the oven! (jk!)just kidding!

#40_No-Bake Cheesecakes

I found this recipe on the label of Cool Whip topping over 20 years ago and since then it has been in my family and has become my husband's favorite kind of cheesecake.

This cheesecake is irresistibly delish and very easy to make. It is a "no-bake" and "no-cook" kind. How easy can that be? You can make this dessert in 10 minutes, but you have to wait about 5 hours though before you can slice it up. It needs to be chilled first.

The main ingredients are: graham cracker crust, cream cheese, sour cream and cool whip....and of course, your favorite toppings.

For toppings you can use your favorite canned fruit pie fillings or toppings as pictured above or you can make your own out of fresh fruits. ( Blueberry pie filling is missing from the picture)


These are mini or personal sizsepie crusts ready to be filled with CreamCheese fillings. I love using these ready crusts because they cut down on my preparation time by half. They are so convenient and make baking a little easier.

Don't these look like fruit tarts? I don't understand why they are called cheesecakes as they look more of tarts or pies than cakes.

Here's the recipe for 2 cheesecakes:

2 (9 inch) graham cracker pie crusts
1 brick (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip topping
1 can fruit pie filling or topping

Procedure:
1) Cream together cream cheese and sugar
2) Stir in sour cream and vanilla
3) Fold in the Cool Whip (do not stir or mix...just fold)
4) Fill the crusts equally with the cream cheese mixture
5) Top with your favorite fruit pie fillings
5) Chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours before slicing

Note from Mamely:

1) The pie crusts will stand up to the pie fillings a lot better if you brush them with egg wash (egg yolk and 2 tbsp. milk) then bake them in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for just 3 minutes. Cool before filling.