This Classical Life

I’ve made this in both 8 and 10 inch versions and it’s been very well received by cheesecake lovers as well as those who don’t typically delight in cheesecake. This is a great first cheesecake recipe, it’s fairly simple, does not require much hands on work and the very thick layer of ganache on the top covers a multitude of cracks. You need to make the crust and bake the cheesecake one day and do the ganache layer 4 hours or more before you serve it (more is even better.) But, it will be waiting, ready to delight, as you assemble the rest of dinner!
This will serve 12-16. The 10 inch version will serve 20, adjust by multiplying all ingredients by 1.5. When in doubt, go big, remembering that cheesecake freezes well, just stick it in the fridge a day before to defrost.

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

THE CRUST
14-15oz of chocolate cookies (wafer, teddy grahams, etc.)
1 stick + 1 Tb of butter, melted

Grind cookies in food processor until crumbs, add melted butter and combine in food processor until it’s a consistent mixture. If you have trouble finding chocolate wafers, you can also use dietary biscuits + cocoa. I tend to use a mix of all of the above! Spray the bottom of an 8″ spring-form pan with cooking spray and make a ring extension adding another 2″ of height via double walled aluminum foil to the outside of the pan. Press the crust mixture firmly in the bottom of the pan (not the sides.) Stick the pan in the fridge while you make the cheesecake. Continue reading Very Chocolate Cheesecake

I know this is a little late for Shrove Tuesday celebrating, but I’ll remind you next year!

GINGERBREAD PANCAKES
(inspired by Kerbey Lane in Austin, but it’s been so long since I’ve eaten there, I can’t verify the authenticity)

Cream together:
6 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar

Add, then mix well:
1 cup buttermilk*
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup coffee (brewed)
2 tsp vanilla

In a seperate bowl, combine dry ingredients:
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 Tbs. cloves
2 Tbs. cinnamom
2 Tbs. ginger
1.5 Tbs. nutmeg

Add dry ingredients to wet, mixing gently. When combined, mix in:
1 stick of butter, melted

This makes about 7-8 thick, plate sized pancakes. SUPER thick. Cut back a tsp of baking soda or so if you prefer less cake-y pancakes.

* buttermilk is easy to make: 1 c. milk + 1 Tbs. lemon juice or vinegar, I let it stand for a half hour or so, but you could probably push it to even 5 or 10 minutes in a pinch.

I am planning to post more recipes on the blog again, it’s the easiest way for me to keep track of and find recipes I like with my personal tweaks. One of my goals this year is to introduce the girls to more Asian food. We usually eat it and serve them something else. This was a successful first step, Kate ate all of hers, and Lexi ate a good bit as well. This is enough for 5-6 adults as a complete meal, more if you did a side salad, etc. But I wanted to make extra because I figured the leftovers would be awesome and they were.

CHICKEN LO MEIN
12 oz lo mein noodles (in the asian section of the grocery store, can also use linguine)
2 Tbs. canola oil
2 b/s chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
at least 1/2 large sweet onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
3-4 carrots
1 cup snow peas
6-8 ounces mushrooms (of your choice)
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup chicken broth
3 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. oyster sauce (also found in the asian section)
2 Tbs. sesame oil Continue reading Chicken Lo Mein

‘Tis the season for baked treats. Here are two of my holiday staples.

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CRACK (aka Matzoh Crack)
I make these just like this recipe. I use 5 sheets of matzoh (never saltines, not sure why) which is more than my biggest cookie sheet fits (it’s not that large) – A cookie sheet and an 8×8 baking dish. I originally put good slivered almonds on some but most people prefer it with sea salt.

SOFT MOLASSES COOKIES
This dough is refrigerated and will keep well for several days or a week, which means I can keep baking them fresh. They are really tasty and different enough to seem distinct for the holidays, even though they are good enough to serve year round.

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
white sugar for rolling

Cream together butter, brown sugar and egg until well combined. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda and spices in a separate bowl. Stir them into the molasses mixture 3/4 cup or so at a time. Cover the dough and chill for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. These cookies are on the line whether to grease or not, so grease your cookie sheets if they tend to make things stick. Roll the dough into balls (these work well small or medium) and then roll the balls in sugar to coat.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. These are supposed to be chewy! I typically take mine off the cookie sheets faster than most other cookies (2 minutes) to cool on wire racks.

These have been a big hit this autumn!

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice or combo of cinnamon/ginger/nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
6-8 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 13×9 with parchment paper. Whisk together flour and pumpkin pie spice. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla just until combined. Add pumpkin puree (at this stage it looks kind of curdled.) Gently mix in dry ingredients just until combined and fold in chocolate chips. Bake for 30-40 minutes – mine lightly brown but a toothpick test yields moist crumbs (think brownies.) Partially cool before you lift out using the parchment paper and cut into squares. This recipe is for a FUDGY consistency, if you want something more cake-like, cream the butter at room temperature and add 1 tsp baking soda to the dry ingredients.