Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake - Easily Coffee's Best Friend

This picture was stolen from Food Wanderings in Asia, check her recipe for the original

Someone asked me the other day, if you could be any type of dessert, what dessert would you be? (That never happened.) But without skipping a beat I said a coffee cake. See there are few desserts in the food universe that are allowed to jump meal times. One of these are the danish and the other is the coffee cake. And this coffee cake, is the king of all coffee cakes. I don't care if you're allergic to strawberries, or if you're lactose intolerant, what doesn't kill you makes you happier. This Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake has everything that you could possibly want in a dessert and a breakfast. So take your epinepherine shot so we can get started. 

Preheat your oven to 350. 
Because this dessert is composed of four different layers I'll go over each layer individually before assembly. 

For the cake I'm gonna start by combining my flour and sugar in a bowl. Take your butter that is reasonably cold, not frozen but definitely not melted, and cut the butter into the flour. If you don't have a pastry cutter then buy one, but if you're too cheap to do that, you can use two forks and some elbow grease. By the way that's not an extra ingredient, it's just a saying. If you want to skip all the hard work than a food processor can also be used. Once the mixture resembles coarse crumbs measure off 3/4 of a cup and set aside. This is going to be our traditional coffee cake crumb topping. 

Continuing with the rest of the cake batter, add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and combine well. In another bowl whisk together your yogurt, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla. I've tried this recipe with sour cream and it worked beautifully, but what I've been meaning to try is using greek yogurt. I assume because the water has been strained out of the yogurt the cake would be a little drier, but if someone is willing to take the risk please comment below on how it worked out. 

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir thoroughly. It'll look really ugly, but do not panic. Those lumps will smooth out in the oven. 




I knew I was meant to make this cake because God told me so. It turns out I had exactly 1 cup of cream cheese left, the exact amount to make this recipe! I know I was as stoked as you were. 

So now it's time to make the cheese layer, which could not be any simpler. With a whisk, or a mixer, beat your room temperature cream cheese until smooth. I cannot stress room temperature enough, save us both the trouble and just leave it out early. To our smooth cream cheese we are going to add in the egg and sugar and blend thoroughly. Now that that's done we can move on to the jam. 

If you were making your own jam, which I'm not, the recipe would follow. My ol' friend Martha provided this recipe.
Strawberry Jam 
For me, I'm just going to use my local costco's standard strawberry preserves. Microwave this for 30 seconds or until it's runny and shines. By the way, I forgot to do this and mine was really hard to spread, but I'll explain that more later.

We have all of our layers ready so let's assemble. Spray an 8 inch spring form pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment. The circle doesn't have to be exact, it's only for extra protection. We don't need any accidents, if you know what I mean. Pour the batter into the mold, and using a spoon, push the batter a half an inch up the sides to create a well to pour in the cream cheese. It's crucial that when you pour in the cream cheese, you do not let it touch the sides of the pan. Be very careful. After this dollop your teaspoons of jam onto the cheese center and spread an even layer over the cake. After you are satisfied with your spreading skills, sprinkle the reserved crumble on top. I never took a jam spreading class so my spreading was a little funky. I was too embarrassed to show you how mine looked so I just didn't. 

You want to bake this for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is golden, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Don't bother testing the cake until after 40 minutes. When you think it's ready let the cake rest with the oven door ajar. I just stuck a spoon in the oven door. Keep it in their for about 10 minutes, this will help the cream cheese part to not crack. After letting it rest, set it on the counter top until it's cool enough to handle. After it's cool enough to handle unmold it and chuck it into the fridge to completely cool. I was too impatient and I cut it before it was ready. Completely ruined one side of the cake, but I wasn't worried cause it still tasted amazing. 

Your tribulations will be rewarded for this is one of the most moist, delicious, beautiful desserts on the market. Some people even call this visual poetry, looking at the picture I have to agree. When you serve this to your friends they'll be amazed, and more importantly proper hierarchy will be restored. So I really, really hope you give this a try. And as always, 

Chow!

So beautiful

Recipe

For the Cake and Crumble
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into chunks
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sour cream or yogurt with one tablespoon of lemon juice
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Filling
8oz or 1 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg

Jam

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Strawberry Jam

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Chocolate Bailey's Irish Cream Cheesecake - A Little Booze Never Hurt Anyone

My Photoshoping skills couldn't make up for the fact that I waited way too late to take this picture.

Happy Day After Black Friday I hope ya'll had a wonderful holiday but, it's time to get back to work. Toiling away in the kitchen, testing recipes and writing blogs. I know, such a tough life. I can't complain though if I get to eat cakes like this after; so let's dispense with the cordial banter and get started. 

I'm not saying I'm an alcoholic but, every chance that presents itself I have to take advantage of it. Sometimes I even play a game where I see how much booze I can slip into a dessert without someone noticing. I'm not sure if I won or lost, I can't really remember anything after that. But that's not the point seeing that this blog is about cooking and not about my personal life. 

After foraging through all of my cookbooks I couldn't find a decent cheesecake recipe that ticked all my boxes. Naturally I decided to create my own, knowingly winning over my mom by adding her favorite Bailey's Irish Cream. But then I felt guilty so I made a chocolate mousse to satisfy my dad. This gave birth to a new Post-Black Friday Chow inspired chow-fection. 

Take 3 tablespoons of butter and the cream cheese out to soften. You don't need to do what I did and leave the whole thing out. We'll use them later. So to start we're going to blind bake our chocolate graham cracker crust. When a recipe calls to blind bake something it means to bake without the filling. In your mini food processor pulse together the crackers, the sugar, your melted butter, salt, and cocoa powder. All you want is the mixture to resemble wet crumbs and when you press them together they slightly hold their shape. 

Grease a 9x9 inch pan, I used a spring-form but you are welcome to use any form of pan you want. A very helpful tip I learned is not to throw away the wrapper from your butter. There's always some grease stuck to the paper and you can use that to oil your pan. Dump the crumbs and using your knuckles or the back of spoon, pack the crumbs into one even layer. Bake in the middle of the oven at 400, uncovered, for 6-9 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Although mine tasted good I would have liked a more a chocolatey flavor. So keep in mind that the picture does not represent what yours might look like. In the recipe below I adjusted the measurements. Let it cool. I threw mine in the freezer.. 

Now, while the crust is cooling we can make the cheesecake. Because we had just come back from our holiday shopping I was really tired so I used a hand mixer, but you could totally make this without. Whip the heavy cream and the sugar until it reaches stiff peaks. Reserve that in a separate bowl. Combine the vanilla and eggs and beat until pale and smooth.

Where'd you come from Mickey?

Add 4 tablespoons of brown sugar. This will add a richness that you won't get with white sugar. Your butter and cream cheese should be super soft by now. Cream the cheese and the butter into the mixture until it's nice and smooth. Now it's time to add in the secret ingredient. Well not that secret seeing that it's in the title but anyways add the booze. I really love the flavor and the richness the Irish cream adds to this dish, plus I think it's a delicious variation to the standard plain cheesecake. Lastly toss in 2 tablespoons of instant coffee. I'm sure you knew that coffee and chocolate work good together, but did you know that coffee and Bailey's do as well. So due to the transitive property of equality the three must all work wonders together. Don't give me that look you learned that in 6th grade Trigonometry. 

Fold the reserved whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and pour onto the crust. Place the cheesecake in a pan tall enough to pour water halfway up the side. Instead of pouring the water in and then moving it to the oven. I put the pan on the oven rack and then pour the water in. It's much easier that way. Turn the oven down to 325 and bake the cheesecake for 45-55 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown but the center jiggles. 

In the meantime let's make the chocolate mousse. In a saucepan separate 4 yolks and add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 3/4 of a cup of heavy cream. Stir this on medium low or until it can coat the back of a spoon. Strain the mixture to ensure that you're left with a smooth mousse and transfer it back onto the stove to melt the chocolate. I just used the regular, semi sweet chocolate chips that you can find at Costco. Of course you could use good, expensive chocolate, in fact I debated to, but I wanted to make this recipe as accessible as possible to everyone. Turn the heat on low and toss the chocolate in. The residual heat should be enough to slowly melt the chocolate. Also throw in 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Because the cacao levels in the chocolate aren't very high, the cocoa powder will give the chocolate a deeper, chocolatey flavor. Add in the tiniest bit of vanilla and two tablespoons of Bailey's. We're not done yet. Take the rest of the heavy cream (1 1/4 cups) and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk this until stiff peaks, just like what we did with the cheesecake. To make this a mousse we need to fold in our whipped cream. Take the first third of cream and stir that in, just to loosen the mixture. After that you need to be careful not to pop the air bubbles. Fold it until you cannot see any streaks of white. Refrigerate until cold. It should be slightly thick but once it cools it'll thicken even more. When everything is chilled, about twenty minutes, top the cake with the mousse. Fridge again.

I made the fatal mistake of waiting until dark to take these pictures so keep in mind that this looks way better in person.


When everyone is ready to eat, unmold the pan and serve. 
The smooth mousse rolls into the light rich cheesecake and the chocolate crust provides that crunch that the cake needs. Not only can you taste the coffee and the chocolate, two combinations that work so well together, but the Bailey's flavor runs throughout. Trust me all your friends will go crazy over this. Thanks for joining me on another chow-fectionary creation. And as always, 

Chow!


Recipe

For the Crust
1 1/2 sleeves of graham crackers
1/2 tablespoon of  white sugar
2 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder
5 tablespoon of butter
pinch of salt

For the Cheesecake
1 cup of heavy cream
3 tablespoons of white sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of softened butter
3 cups of softened cream cheese
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of Bailey's Irish Cream
1 1/2 tablespoons of instant coffee granules or 1 1/2 tablespoons of strong coffee

For the Chocolate Mousse
4 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons of white sugar--divided
2 cups heavy cream--divided
1 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips--a.k.a 8 ounces of chocolate
2 tablespoons of Bailey's Irish Cream
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

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Chewy Coconut Bars - The Brownie's Lesser Known Cousin

The holidays lend me so much to be grateful for, my family, good health, and coconut bars! Well, less than good health after you eat them. But isn't that what the holidays are about. We suffer and scrape by on atkins and or weight watchers for the better part of the year just so we can eat chewy coconut bars today. This holiday season don't you think your family deserves to indulge a little, and what better way to gain back those 3 pounds than with this scrumptious chow-fection.

So before I start this recipe I want to get something off my chest. It's been really bugging me and, I don't think I can hold it in any longer. Okay...sigh...I guess here it goes. I really don't like n...uts in my desserts. Am I the only one who feels this way. I don't like it when you try to take a bite of something moist and chewy and then there's a nut obstructing your chew. It's like when you're on a date and you want to have this intimate moment with someone but your creepy friend is tagging along. Nuts are creepy friends. Actually that's where the origin of the word came from. When someone is being creepy, borderline stalkerish, you call them a nut. But anyways that's why in this recipe I didn't add any almonds or cashews, although you totally could and turn this into an homage to "almond joys". Keep in mind though I'm not saying that nuts do not have their place in the kitchen. I'm simply stating that I don't like them in my bars. Regardless they're going to taste great. However, such as cooking we live and learn and I did have some improvements to this recipe but you're just gonna have to read the post to find out.

Preheat your oven to 350. To start I'm going to cream together my butter and my sugar with my handy dandy spoonula. I didn't have the patience to do this but make sure you're butter is up to room temperature because that will make it a lot easier to incorporate into the sugar. Hence the lumps of butter in my batter. (In hindsight it really didn't matter)

If you look at the bottom of the post the recipe asks for packed brown sugar. What's the difference if I just scoop out a cup? Well if you've played with brown sugar you know that if you squeeze it it'll collapse. Volume measurements for brown sugar can only be precise if as a baker you have a consistent way of measuring. Otherwise you'll have cookies that are too sweet on tuesday, while one wednesday they'll be bland. The correct way to measure dry ingredients however, like flour, is to pile it in as lightly as you can and level off. Once your butter and sugar have creamed add in your eggs and your vanilla and combine. Also, as you can see, I didn't do that either and mine was a little harder to cream. In my defense my job isn't to show you how to do it,  it's to be the guinea pig to show you what not to do, so technically I did that on purpose. (Nice Save) By the way I just want to add that I'm not sponsored by Rubbermaid. The spoonula was just trying to let his family know that he's fine and to call the authorities to look into his kidnap. Just for the record I call it surprise adoption not kidnap.   Anyways, once it's all combined we can add in our dry ingredients, that would be the flour, the baking powder, and the salt.

With a batter like this one you don't need to worry too much about over mixing because it's not something like a muffin which needs to be light and fluffy. Next combine your coconut and the chocolate. Nuts are to also be added at this stage if you're feeling in that mood.

Right now is as good as any to tell you that I made a third mistake by not putting enough coconut. Not only are these called Chewy Coconut Bars, but the coconut provides the stability that the bars need when they are being cut. So as beautiful as mine turned out enhanced by a light coat of Photoshop, they could have been a million times better. But you won't make that mistake because I made it for you, your're welcome.

At this stage you should have a thick tan mixture resembling that of a brownie batter. Pour this into a greased 9 by 13 inch baking pan and evenly spread it around making sure to touch the corners of the pan with the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden and a toothpick comes out cleanly. Please please please do not cut into these hot. Because the butter content in this is pretty high if you cut into them warm they will most certainly fall apart. Once they have cold down, about 20 minutes. Transfer them to the refrigerator where you should hold them until they are nice and hard. Slice them in the pan and use a spatula to remove them. You can get 16 good sized pieces but if you're serving a large crowd cutting them in half will not offend anyone.

So there you have it my chewy coconut bars perfect for any holiday gatherings or just sharing with your loved ones. They definitely live up to their word and the nice part about them is they weren't too sweet. Although mine turned out delicious there were some flaws, but I only have confidence that you will thrive from my mistakes. Keep scrolling down for my *improved* recipe and check back soon for another delicious chow-fection. And as always,

Chow!

Recipe

Chewy Coconut Bars
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips (semi-sweet is substitutable)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or almonds (optional)
1 1/2 cup shredded coconut


This recipe was modified from from the amazing allrecipes.com so click the link to see the original

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Assorted Macaroons - Welcome to America

Oh boy! Macaroons! I sure love me some of those mini french sandwich cookies that are soooo in style right now. You're really showing us how to make those Chef Chow? EH-UH! That was supposed to be the sound a buzzer makes. No I'm showing you how to make the american coconut macaroons. You know the you always shy away from because they're way too sweet macaroons. The only difference is, mine are delicious!

Now I know not all of you think that they're overly sweet but I do, and so do the members of my weekly, overly sweet macaroons club. But you don't have to worry because I found two tricks to cut the sweetness of the macaroons so they taste just perfect! The first trick is to toast your coconut flakes before you actually bake the cookies. This way the initial sugar from the sweetened coconut gets caramelized, and all you're left with is a deep coconut flavor. My second tip is to add different flavorings. Macaroons are often too sweet because there's no flour or butter to absorb the sugar. Adding citrus or nuts can balance the flavor, and not to mention show people that you aren't just a one-trick pony. 

This year I made three different flavors, and at the end I couldn't pick a favorite. I made cranberry orange, double chocolate, and an homage to one of my favorite candy bars, "Almond Joy" macaroons. Dare I say they were all equally delicious. So to start these cookies we need to make our macaroon base. Which starts with the toasting of our sweetened coconut shreds. Which will go in a 350 oven. By the way if you want to use fresh coconut click the link to read my previous post on how to do that.

Sweetened Coconut Flakes

Sprinkle your coconut evenly on a baking sheet and slide them into the middle rack of your oven. Of course I took a picture of my greased mat but I ended up forgetting about it in the sink. Lucky for me though my coconut did not stick so I'm pretty proud of that. Yes, those are things that I'm proud of. Every 5 minutes stir the pan so everything crisps evenly. Your coconut flakes should take between 15- 20 minutes but don't leave the room. Coconut is notorious for burning. If it doesn't see you looking at it it'll get upset so watch it like a hawk...because it'll be watching you. *Dramatic Music*

But on a less creepy note after 15 minutes my coconut flakes looked like this. Oh so beautiful. You could really just eat them like this as a snack but your patience will be rewarded. So the next step is to make the meringue. A meringue is just egg whites beaten with sugar until thick and glossy. This is one of the few things I take out my hand mixer for because it's gonna take a while. Approximately 8-10 minutes with a hand mixer, or a stand mixer. Stop when you've reached stiff peaks. Which basically means that they should be able to hold their shape. You'll know when the wake of the meringue stays it's place. If you're still confused just look at the picture. Remember if your bowl is dirty or if some yolk leeches itself into your egg whites you won't reach desired stiffness. 

It's important that you whisk your eggs long enough because then your macaroons will fall apart. After your meringue has tripled in volume and has reached stiff peaks whisk in your vanilla and salt. 

Switch to your handy dandy spoonula and divide into three parts. Separate into bowls and fold in whatever flavorings you want, including your coconut. You can be as creative as you want in this step. Meringues are basically blank canvases so you can't really go wrong - unless you go wrong. The only thing you want to be mindful of is not to alter the consistency of the meringue. If you add too much liquid then your cookies will fall apart, and the same goes for adding too much other stuff. It's also important not to over mix these. All you want to do is fold the mixture until it's barely combined. Your mindset should be, I still have about 3 mixes left, I'll stop here. Remember when you're scooping these out they will continue to mix. The key is not to destroy those little air bubbles that are trapped in the meringue. You worked hard for those. By the way the variations and flavorings that I conjured up are in the recipe below so pop down there if you can't figure out what to put in yours. 

Now we are going to take our 1 inch ice cream scoop and plop them on a well greased cookie sheet. Try to make them all the same size, you should get about 12 macaroons per flavor. It depends on how precise you were at dividing those meringues, which in my case was not very well, but I have faith that you will do better. You can place these guys fairly close to each other because they won't expand, but for photography reasons I kept them a good distance apart. Place these in the middle rack of your preheated 350 oven, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the macaroons are golden brown. When you take these out they will be dry to the touch, the outsides will be golden, but they will still jiggle. That's normal as they cool they will firm up substantially and you'll be looking at one hell of a cookie, if I do say so myself. 

If you made these in the flavors that I suggested you should have three ascending shades of goldenness. The "almond joy" will be the lightest colored, the orange cranberry will be slightly tanner, and the chocolate will be the Tracy Morgan of the three. If you don't know who that is you should know I'm not a racist, but that's the first place my mind went. Just for the record I'm a huge fan so if you're reading this please comment below. 

Once you've finish taking pictures - which is optional, you're done!

I like to serve my assorted macaroons along side some coffee or on a festive holiday platter. Make sure you alternate flavors so people know you took the effort to create different types of macaroons. Why go through all the trouble if the message that, "I'm better than you", isn't getting across. 

Your friends and family will be so impressed that you knew how to make these and so will yourself. These macaroons are lightly crispy on the outside, but super chewy on the inside. My guests said that they weren't overly sweet and that the orange cranberry was there favorite. I still can't choose a favorite, it's like asking someone who there favorite 1 Direction member is, you can't decide. 

But in all seriousness I'd like to thank everyone who read today's post, leave a comment below on how I can improve or if you think I'm perfect. Subscribe if you haven't, and check back daily for new chow-fections. And as always, 

Chow!

Recipe

For Macaroon Base
3 cups of toasted sweetened coconut flakes
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For Cranberry Orange Macaroons

1/3 cup of dried cranberries

the zest of one orange

For "Almond Joy" Macaroons

1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup of chopped or sliced almonds ( I used cashews and they were still delicious)

For Double Chocolate Macaroons

1 1/2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

*Measurements for each variation are for a third of the base*

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