Raspberry Cheesecake Bars–Two Ways

Here’s a question!  Graham cracker crust or shortbread crust?  As a self proclaimed non-fan of cheesecake, I don’t have a preference.  I mean I’ll eat it but it’s not a dessert I seek out, like so many I’ve learned.  So when a friend asked if I could make some I said yes but then I couldn’t decide which crust to use.  As you can imagine I made both. I also slightly changed the cheesecake part too, so you’ll get both recipe.

Now both bars were quite tasty, for cheesecake, but I still don’t have an answer to which crust is better.  I took them to Rowan’s daycare for the teachers and will be serving them at tonight’s Thanksgiving dinner.  I hope to have an answer by Monday.

Recipe 1: Shortbread crust

• 1 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp soft butter
• 1/4 brown sugar
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp corn starch mixed in 4 tbsp water
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/3 heavy cream

1. Mix together the flour, butter and brown sugar until the mixture is like soft oatmeal, press into a 8” square pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until it starts to brown at edges.  set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, combine the raspberries, sugar and water. Bring to a boil.  Once the raspberries start to break down, add the cornstarch flurry to help thicken the sauce.  Set aside.
3. Beat together in mixer the remaining ingredients until smooth.
4. Pour cream cheese mixture onto the crust.  Spoon the raspberry compote into the cream cheese then use a spoon to mix.
5. Drop temperature in oven to 300 and bake until set, about 25 minutes.
6. Let cool completely and slice into squares.

Recipe 2: Graham Cracker Crust

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/4 sugar
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp corn starch mixed in 4 tbsp water
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg plus 1tbsp egg whites
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt

1. Mix together the graham crumbs, butter and sugar until the mixture is like soft oatmeal, press into a 8” square pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until it starts to brown at edges.  set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, combine the raspberries, sugar and water. Bring to a boil.  Once the raspberries start to break down, add the cornstarch flurry to help thicken the sauce.  Set aside.
3. Beat together in mixer the remaining ingredients until smooth.
4. Pour cream cheese mixture onto the crust.  Spoon the raspberry compote into the cream cheese then use a spoon to mix.
5. Bake until set, about 35 minutes.
6. Let cool completely and slice into squares.

A couple things I noticed between both recipes.  The shortbread crust held together better after baking and had a nice crunch.  The yogurt gave a slightly tangier flavour, which I enjoyed, and also was lower in fat than the heavy cream, which I love.

So let me know your preference!  I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for looking!

Pizza Dough Raspberry Cinnamon Buns!

Have you ever craved a cinnamon bun but didn’t want to wait for dough to rise, or even had the inclination to make it.  Well I have a solution…pizza dough!

You can either pick it up at the grocery store, which is what I did or buy it from your favourite pizza shop.  I also used the whole wheat pizza dough because that’s healthier, especially since this isn’t exactly the lowest of calorie treats :) I also added raspberries, they are also healthy!  So I guess you could say these are healthy-ish!

Recipe:

• 1 package pre-made whole wheat pizza dough
• 1 stick softened unsalted butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 4 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 cup fresh raspberries (or what ever fruit you’d like)

1. Mix softened butter with 1 cup brown sugar and 2 tbsp cinnamon and spread into bottom of 9” round baking dish.  Put to side.
2. Roll out pizza dough to 1/4” thickness and measures 8” x 20” rectangle.  Spray with vegetable spray, cover with remaining brown sugar and cinnamon.  Top with raspberries.
3. Roll up on the long side and cut into 2” slices. 
4. Place slices slightly apart, they will expand when cooking.  The two end pieces are cut side down.
5. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Remove from oven and let sit for 2-3 minutes, turn out onto serving dish.  Use a dish with a lip as the juice can go everywhere!
7. Serve warm!

The juice from the berries create this wonderful sauce with the sugar and cinnamon.  It is delish!  So the next time you are in the deli section at the grocery store, pick up an extra pack of pizza dough and make this for a Saturday or Sunday brunch.  You won’t be sorry!

Thanks for looking!

Berrylicious! Meringue Nests with Bumbleberry Compote

Ok, can I tell you how excited I was when Hani asked me to be apart of Berrylicious.  I think I jumped up and down.  I know it seems silly but as I am a self professed stalker of many amazing blogs and love watching when several do a joint blog post;  plus have always thought it would be so much fun to be apart. So now I can say that I’m amongst some amazing bloggers and hopefully keeping up!

In our house, berries rule!  So trying to pick just one to use in a recipe might have led to a heated discussion. It’s hard to say no to the 4 and 6 year old canvassing for just raspberries or to a husband who prefers blueberries and not to mention I did a whole week on strawberries.  In the end I knew what I needed to do.  Yup, all of them!

Making a compote isn’t nuclear science but it’s the best way to use berries when berries are not in season.  So this post is something you’ll want to pull out mid-winter when you’ve got a hankering.  Now I used fresh berries for this, but you can so do this with frozen.  Heating berries brings out the flavours of the berries ten-fold.  It also brings out the tartness, so you’ll need to add in some sugar.

Bumbleberry Compote Recipe:

• 1 cup quartered strawberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup blackberries
• 1/4 cup sugar (if too sweet add less, if too tart add more)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Put all ingredients into saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved and the blueberries pop.  The sauce should be a deep red colour.
   
   
   
2. Strain and reserve both berries and sauce.  (It’s awesome hot and cold)

Now as much as I love the compote and you could totally eat it straight up, I felt you all needed something a little more.

One of my mother’s desserts, she didn’t have many specialties because baking is so not her thing, she made this baked meringue.  It was light and crunchy and oh so good.  I took a few recipes and gave them a go but they always turned out chewy.  I finally broke down and asked her.  You are not going to believe how easy this is.

Vanilla Meringue Recipe:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• scant 1 cup sugar

1. Pre-heat oven to 225F
2. Whip egg whites until soft peaks.
   
3. Add 1 tbsp sugar and vanilla and continue to whip until firm.
4. Remove and fold in the 1 cup sugar.  The meringue will soften a bit.
   
5. Place in large ziploc bag and cut corner.
   
6. Pipe into circles
   
7. Bake in pre-heated oven for 1hr 15minutes, turn off oven and leave until completely cooled.
   

This meringue is dry and crunchy, it should snap when you try to break it but will have a soft centre.

Now that you have your meringue and compote what to do with them?  I know!

Place your meringue onto a plate, put a scoop of your favourite ice-cream in the center, cover with berries, drizzle with sauce and then for that extra something special add some chocolate curls!  Now that’s a dessert!

I served this luscious dessert when we had a few neighbourhood friends over to help us eat a very large brisket that followed Rob home from the store :).  He smoked it all day and it was delicious.  So I felt a delicious dinner deserved a delicious dessert and I wasn’t wrong.  Our guests had nothing but fabulous things to say about it. YAY!

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.  Please don’t stop here, hop around and enjoy the rest of the Berrylicious posts from around the blogosphere!

Thanks for looking!

1. Joan, Chocolate Chocolate and More - Lemon Blueberry Pound cake
2. Charity, Foodlets – Strawberry - Banana Frozen Yogurt Pops
3. Jamie, Green Beans & Grapefruit - Mixed Berry & Cookie Butter Clafouti
4. Hani, Haniela’s – Red Currant Meringue Cake
5. Katrina, In Katrina’s Kitchen - Frozen Blueberry Basil Lemonade Pies
6. Sue, Munchkin Munchies - English Matrimonials
7. Bia, Rich and Sweet - Blueberry Blackberry Orange Streusel Scones
8. Sam, Sams Kitchen - Eton Mess Mini Cheesecakes
9. Sherron, Simply Gourmet Photography - Mulberry Syrup
10. Ann, Sumptuous Spoonfuls - Strawberry Chia Jam
11. Me!, Trilogy Edibles - Meringue Nest with a Bumbleberry Compote

 

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