Festive Pumpkin Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Sauce

 I would say this cheesecake is more seasonal than festive however festive has an undeniable cheery celebratory ring to it. Drizzling caramel sauce over top definitely completes an autumnal feel and taste in every slice.     

Festive Pumpkin Cheesecake 

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1  1/4 cups graham crumbs

1/4 cup butter, melted

1  1/2 cups canned pumpkin

3 eggs

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1  1/2 teaspoons pumkin pie spice 

3 packages (250g each) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line the bottom of a spring form pan with baking parchment paper.

Mix graham crumbs and butter together; press onto bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.

In another large bowl beat the cream cheese, sugar and cornstarch. Blend in the pumpkin mixture. Pour over crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until centre is just set. Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes, and run a knife around rim of pan. Cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Top or drizzle with caramel sauce. 

Notes: if you do not have pumpkin pie spice then use... 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg. 

You may use whatever caramel sauce recipe you wish or a ready made one however my son, lended a hand, and made this one from a website called Sally's Baking Addiction. I have included the recipe below.   

Caramel Sauce

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1 cup (200g) granulated sugar

6 tablespoons (90g) salted butter, room temperature cut up into 6 pieces

1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream

1 teaspoon salt

Heat granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a high heat resistant rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown, amber-coloured liquid as you continue to stir. Be careful not to burn.

Once sugar is completely melted, immediately add the butter. Be careful in this step because the caramel will bubble rapidly when the butter is added.

Stir the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted, about 2 minutes. If you notice the butter separating or if the sugar clumped up, remove from heat and vigorously whisk to combine it again. (If you're nervous for platter, wear kitchen gloves. Keep whisking until it comes back together, even if it 3 - 4 minutes. It will eventually - just keep whisking. Return to heat when it's combined again.)

Very slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of heavy cream while stirring. Since the heavy cream is colder than the caramel, the mixture will rapidly bubble when added. Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute. It will rise in the pan as it boils.

Remove form heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of salt. Allow to slightly cool down before using. Caramel thicken as it cools.

Cover tightly and store for up to 1 month in the refrigerator. Caramel solidifies in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove to desired consistency.

Notes: 1/4 cup of chopped mixed nuts were added to the sauce. 

Sorry, about the late post. Have a nice weekend and enjoy the long weekend everyone! 

- JD 

Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a Tasty recipe that the kids and I just had to try. Although I was completely free from doing the majority of the work; I did have a hand in the prep work and the end pretzel detail. These are sweet gooey cookies that are nice once in awhile. This recipe has inspired us to come up with a few other ingredient combinations that may work as well, something we can try another time.   

Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

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2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups pretzel twists, plus extract more for topping

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups candy caramels, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC) and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. 

Ina large bowl beat together, using a hand held mixer, butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth. 

Add the eggs, one at a time, beat to incorporate before adding the next.

Add the flour mixture a bit at a time, while beating, until it forms a smooth dough. 

Add the pretzels to a zip-top bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Fold in the chocolate chips and crushed pretzels until evenly combined.

Press a caramel flat and place it in the middle of a ball of dough. Place on a well greased or parchment lined baking tray.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, then remove from oven. 

While still warm, press a single pretzel into the top of each cookie. 


Hope everyone had a good weekend. - JD 

Fudge Kitchen

When travelling for some reason fudge seems not that far behind... I guess I should have   said when travelling with teenagers fudge seems to be found. The Fudge Kitchen in Bath is worth every morsel. Traditional and unique flavours and some dairy free options to tempt you. We chose four, Dark Chocolate Sea Salt, Sea Salt Caramel, Lemon Sorbet and Rum Raisin, which is pictured above.  

To find out more about Fudge Kitchen click *here*

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We did! The weather is changing... do I dare say,  it fells like winter is on it's way. -JD 

Eggless Vanilla Cake

Itching to be creative inside the kitchen without any eggs had me making this gem. Neither too dense nor too fluffy, just sweet with a lovely caramel flavour. The cake slices beautifully with little to no crumbling. Canned peaches were used however if fresh are available I do recommend using those. 

Eggless Vanilla Cake

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2 1/2 cups all purpose flour or cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt 

2 tablespoons sugar, coconut, brown, or casters, your preference

1 can (300-400ml) sweetened condensed coconut milk or regular condensed milk

1 cup orange juice or water

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon caramel extract

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter

Topping:

1 can of sliced peaches, drained

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Lightly grease and flour a 9x13 baking tin and line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

Making a well in the centre of the dry ingredients; add the wet ingredients and whisk the ingredients together. No worries as a few lumps are fine. If using sweetened condensed coconut milk, empty contents of tin into a medium bowl and blend until relatively smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and smooth out evenly. Tap the pan to even  the batter out and break the air bubbles if there are any. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. When done transfer to a wire rack to cool. Remove from baking tin and place on a large serving plate and arrange the sliced peaches on top. You may also make a drizzle icing to drizzle over top of the cake, which is what I did. 

Notes: I baked the cake in a round cake tin therefore I had to adjust the baking time... allotting more time. There is a bit of wiggle room in regards to extracts and experimenting with different flavours may be interesting. Adding grated orange rind would reinforce the orange juice. 

If making this cake for Valentines Day you could try adding cocoa powder to the mixed dry ingredients, or chocolate chips, or add rose flavouring, or decorate with chocolate icing and edible rose petals.  

This is the sweetened condensed coconut milk I used. It is under the stated 300ml however it still worked. If anything it probably made the sweetness of the cake less pronounced, which isn't a bad thing.  

Food Photo of the Day ~ Caramel Almond Ice Cream

We are sweltering in the heat today therefore we are enjoying the homemade ice cream that my son helped me make. He placed caramel sauce between layers of ice cream that had thin slices of almonds and almond flavouring before it went in the freezer to set. Very delicious and very refreshing on such a hot day.

Have a good weekend everyone and stay cool! - JD