Dutch Apple Pie Cheesecake

The cheesecake.

It is one of my favorite desserts to make and it's kind of funny that it took me so long to post one on this blog.

All of my cheesecake flavors are based from one base recipe that I originally got from an old friend, Dante, and have modified and improved it over the years.

This recipe is a Dutch Apple Pie Cheesecake. It is basically a mash-up of apple pie and a New York style cheesecake. The bottom layer is traditional apple pie filling covered with the cheesecake filling and topped with a streusel.

I brought this cheesecake to a tailgate at the 2010 Big Game and got some good reviews. Anyways, on to the recipe after the jump.

Lemon Raspberry Sticky Buns

Happy Valentine's Day!

-or-

Happy Single's Awareness Day!

Lemon Raspberry Sticky Buns with a Cream Cheese Lemon Glaze.

That just sounds good to me, what about you? What about your sweetheart? Here's a little dessert that might get you out of the doghouse.

This recipe is a modification of my cinnamon roll recipe, which can be found here. I actually got the idea from Natalie who made these. I had never actually thought to swap out the brown sugar and cinnamon for something with a more tart flavor but it just seems to work. While the lemon rolls themselves looked tasty, I decided to add my own touch and throw in my go-to fruit: raspberries.

I ended up taking these to Bear's Lair and Kevin's Tailgate before a Cal game. Based on the way the dish was cleaned out I figured the raspberry add-in was a success. These are totally doable as a nice little treat for your Valentine. And if your single, well, these are a bit better than chalky conversation hearts.

The recipe awaits after the jump.

Cinnamon Rolls

Hello there loyal readers (all six of you)!

It has been a long time since I have posted. A very long time and I apologize for that. This past month has been pretty hectic: holidays, traveling, and being just plain busy. While that is no excuse, I hope to offer some entertainment and assistance with procrastination (of which I am more than happy to help with, especially as I have noticed that the peak traffic on this site occurs during normal business hours).

With that aside, I bring you a post on cinnamon rolls. Made by scratch. With cream cheese frosting that bears a slight resemblance to Cinnabon. Yum.

I actually made these for the UC Cannoneers during a pre-bonfire meeting. It was a rather entertaining opening conversation. They rolled in hungover to my place (Golf Party occurred the evening before and most of you know how that goes), and were about to ask if we could move the meeting to IHOP for some greasy goodness. I preempted their request with a query of my own: "Would you guys like cinnamon rolls?" Needless to say that was all she wrote.

Dexter's Candied Blood Slides

Happy Halloween!

I absolutely adore this holiday and in honor of this spooky evening, I decided to do something that is creepy all by itself: Dexter's Candied Blood Slides.

Those of you that follow Dexter Morgan know exactly what these are. If you are not familiar with the show then the following might help.

Dexter is about a serial killer, Dexter Morgan, who works as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department by day, and kills deserving criminals by night. As with most serial killers, Dexter keeps a memento of each killing: a blood sample of each victim stored on glass microscope slides.

In honor of Dexter and Halloween, I have decided to recreate a candied version of Dexter's blood slides. I cannot take credit for this idea as I found it perusing Forkable. 

El Torito's Sweet Corn Cake

At first glance you might be wondering what the hell this is...

Well, it is El Torito's Sweet Corn Cake.

Still confused? If you have ever been to El Torito, it is that little ice cream scoop of corn goodness that they give with just about every hot dish on the menu. I am fanatic over it and I figured that I should learn how to make it.

What makes this even better is that this is the actual recipe for their sweet corn cake. I got it from a chef at a near-by El Torito. While I know you are hoping for a really cool story about how I obtained the recipe James Bond style, I just simply went in and asked for it.

Homemade Churros

The churro.

An amazing combination of fried dough, sugar and cinnamon goodness; especially scrumptious when hot and freshly rolled in cinnamon sugar. Based on my extensive research, everybody loves them.

In continuing with the Mexican theme these past few days and at Ashley's suggestion, I decided to make Homemade Churros.

After that choice was made, I went on a fact-finding mission to see just what it would take to make your own churros. What amazed me was that I had everything I needed already in my pantry. How awesome is that? I can guarantee that if you ever do anything baking related, you do as well.

Fresh Fruit Napoleon

As I mentioned in my vanilla pudding post, I originally meant to make a Fruit Napoleon. Well, here it is. This recipe is a fun one. It is light, tasty, and can be changed based on fruit preferences and what is in season.

The Napoleon is the American name for the French pastry Mille-feuille. A traditional Napoleon is made up of three layers of puff pastry with two layers of crème pâtissière. Toppings can range from icing, chocolate or sugar.

My version is slightly different than the traditional dessert. Here I have a single layer of crème filled with blueberries and garnished with a strawberry.

Vanilla Pudding

This was not what I originally intended to make.

Oops.

I was going to make a fruit napoleon and found out that an ingredient for that was vanilla pudding. As the pudding can stand alone, I decided to separate the pudding front the napoleon (but don't worry that will be coming soon).

If you are like Billy, then when you think of pudding, you think of the Snack Pack. And just for your amusement let me throw in a couple more clips here and here. I am not much of a pudding fan but I have to admit, homemade pudding is much better than a Snack Pack.

This recipe takes some time to finish, but only because the pudding has to set in the fridge, so be prepared before starting out, otherwise enjoy!

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ice cream sandwiches are definitely a "kids" treat. They make you happy, reminiscence over times once enjoyed and are just fun. Hey, it's a mix of cookies and ice cream, who wouldn't like it? If you do, then "you are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity" (Bonus ice cream sandwiches for naming the quote).

I first made these little gems for my Super Bowl Party this past year and they were a huge hit. It is amazing how something super simple can make a big smash with people. Plus with something like a Super Bowl Party where finger foods are a must, these really add to the atmosphere.

The recipe is simple: you need cookies and ice cream. After the break I'll have some helpful tips on making the ice cream sandwiches but it's hard to go wrong.

Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies

If I could pick any dessert I had to live with for the rest of my life, I would choose cookies over any other option. More specifically, chocolate chip cookies. Not that there is anything wrong with cakes, brownies, pies, ice cream, candies or any of the other multitude of sweets, I just would pick a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie over anything else.

There are a million plus one recipes to make chocolate chip cookies. You can have crunchy cookies, chewy cookies, or anything in between. I am not here going to tell you how to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie, I am only going to tell you how I like to make my chocolate chip cookies.

I will give some advice, not so much on how to make the cookies, but more on what ingredients to use. To steal Papa John's slogan, "better ingredients, better cookies."

Chocolate Chip Banana Walnut Bread

We all know the story here. You buy some bananas at the store. You eat some. You forget about the rest of the bunch.

Fast forward several days.

Bam. You are looking at a bunch of bananas that look bruised, battered and too far gone to eat. Before you get sad and frustrated at tossing what was once perfectly good food, you have another option...make banana bread.

Well I made the obvious choice. In fact, this was my first time making banana bread and I only learned one very important thing - I should have been making banana bread way long ago.