Chocolate Ricotta Pie

Mmmmm... this pie is good.

Tim and I had some leftover ricotta after making lasagna over the weekend.  I wanted to do something sweet with it (visions of cannoli dancing in my head... but that's too complicated for a weeknight), so I did some Googling and found this well-reviewed Giada recipe for chocolate ricotta pie.  I made a couple substitutions... almonds instead of pine nuts [much cheaper], milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet [it's all I had at the house] and I decreased the amount of simple syrup in light of the milk chocolate substitution.

Tim and I really liked it... the filling is creamy and light and the crust has a nice nutty crunch from the almonds and cornmeal.  Good stuff.  This would make a good fancy looking but not actually hard to make dish for a dinner party or holiday.

Feta Stuffed Dates

After working with dates for my homemade energy bars, my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to try more date recipes, so I bought another box.  A quick Google search unearthed these feta-stuffed dates with nuts... sounded like a good second date with dates (har har).

Super easy: mix some cream cheese with a bit of feta and parmesan, stuff the mixture into pitted dates, top each with an almond, baste with olive oil and drop them in the oven.  Then, inhale with a glass of wine like Tim and I did.  Or, alternatively, serve them as an appetizer at a party because they look fancy despite their simplicity.

I took these photos before baking them since I was quickly losing the natural light, but they look even more appetizing once baked.

New York Bagel Casserole

 Tim and I got up early to watch the Super Bowl again this year.  And while I love traditional Super Bowl snacks, cheesy dips, spicy chilis and other decadent treats, those are not as appealing at 6:30 Monday morning, which is when the Super Bowl airs live in Jakarta. 

 We opted for a hearty breakfast casserole instead, care of my new Smitten Kitchen cookbook: big, seed-coated bagel chunks dotted with cream cheese, eggs, onion and tomatoes, baked to perfection... mmm.

My only complaint is that my casserole seemed a little bit under-seasoned, although I think that is a result of the Jakarta bagels (which are fine and I am thankful we have bagels at all, but they pale in comparison to the NY bagels we ate when back in the States both in texture and in toppings)...  I should have added more salt and possibly some garlic to compensate. 

Deb from Smitten Kitchen suggests pairing the casserole with capers, salmon and/or bacon.  I am thinking that next time maybe I might mix some combination of those things into the casserole itself, which might help my seasoning problem.  

By the way, I made a half recipe of the casserole in an 8" x 8" pan and it worked out just fine!

Cream Cheese Brownies

Last week Tim went on a wild work trip that took him to Bangkok, Hanoi, Phnom Penh and back to Bangkok. On his way back through Bangkok he stopped to get us bagels at BKK Bagel Bakery, as good bagels are quite hard to find here in Jakarta.  I had read about BKK last year in the Wall Street Journal right before we left DC, mentioned it to Tim, and somehow the idea stuck in his head.  I'm glad it did, because they were pretty good!

They're not very Irish or St. Patrick's Day appropriate, but I put them on a green plate.  That counts for something, right?

This is a really round-about way of telling you why I made these brownies:  I bought cream cheese to go with the bagels, had a bunch leftover once the bagels were gone, wanted something sweet to eat... hence cream cheese brownies.  

The brownies were rich and delicious.  So good.  My only complaint about the recipe (from the Other Martha) is that it instructs you to "whisk cream cheese with 2 tablespoons room-temperature butter."  Ummm... even at room temperature, cream cheese is not really whiskable. Creamable? Yes. Whiskable?  No.

Cheesecake Ice Cream

When preparing for our non-Super Bowl Super Bowl party, as a result of some faulty spur-of-the-moment grams-to-cups-to-ounces calculations, I over-purchased both sour cream and cream cheese... not wanting it to go bad, I decided to put it to good use in this very easy and very rich cheesecake ice cream, from my favorite ice cream cookbook, David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop."

I had leftover "fudge ripple" from my tin roof ice cream, so I layered that with the cheesecake ice cream, and, while I was at it, dumped in the closest thing I could find to graham crackers here: some crumbled "digestive" biscuit cookie things... I was hoping the cookies would simulate the graham cracker crust of a cheesecake. 

Came together pretty nicely!  The ice cream is great- super creamy and rich, just like cheesecake.  I bet you could throw all sorts of other things in there if you weren't feeling the chocolate... strawberry, blueberry.

P.S.: As a funny aside, I noticed that many products at the grocery stores here in Indonesia, whether made here or elsewhere (such as Australia or Thailand), are sold in bags... sour cream (see below), cooking oil, mayonnaise, among other things.  

P.P.S.: Turns out I didn't actually use cream cheese in this recipe, but rather the oft sought-after "cream chess."

Happy Fourth of July! American Flag Cake

A Fourth of July BBQ calls for a dramatic red, white and blue dessert. I made this massive white sheet cake with cream cheese frosting and fresh summer berries, shaped like a giant star-spangled banner, while the neighborhood kids set off their own massive fireworks in the alley.
America... f*ck yeah.The recipe (care of the Other Martha) is really good, and there's a video to show you how to handle the giant layers. The cake itself is light and fluffy (probably due to the 16 whipped egg whites in the batter), almost like angel food cake. The only change I made was to put parchment paper on the cookie sheets rather than buttering and flouring them, for sake of convenience.

Vegetable Cream Cheese

I had a bunch of leftover cream cheese after the baby shower... I decided to jazz it up a little bit for Sunday bagel brunch. Loosely based on this Ina Garten recipe, I beat the following veggies into 2 8-ounce blocks of cream cheese:

• about 1/4 cup of finely shredded carrot
• 4 tablespoons minced chives
• 1 large or 2 regular green onions, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced dill
• a squeeze of lemon juice
• a sprinkle of black pepper

So good... Amy said it tastes like it came from a NYC deli. I think that's a pretty good compliment!

Baby Shower Goodies: The Sweet Stuff

Barbara's baby shower was capped off by lots and lots of mini-cupcakes, which were the hit of the party. Joanne says I could sell the cupcakes out of a truck and be the next lobster truck. I don't know about that, but I know these cupcakes were really tasty, and that I got to use my piping set, which was really fun!

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

I'd made these cupcake and buttercream recipes successfully in the past, so I knew they would be reliable for the party. My prediction proved to be true- Amy threw the cupcakes together with little fanfare, but the fanfare when the party-goers snatched them up was another story.

Carrot Cake Mini-Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Molly made this cake for Colleen's birthday and it was so good I begged her for the recipe. I made it exactly as she had- substituting some oil with applesauce- and achieved really good results. Here's the recipe:

Carrot Cake Mini-Cupcakes

4 eggs
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce
2 cups sugar (1 white, 1 brown)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 heaping teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan or use paper liners in mini-muffin tins
3. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla.
4. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon
5. Stir in carrots
6. Pour into prepared pan
7. For 9 x 13 cake, bake 40-50 minutes; for mini-cupcakes, bake 10-12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting

½ cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla
2. Beat until smooth and creamy

Super Bowl!

We had some folks over to watch the Super Bowl (followed by Glee's Thriller episode) last night... and by "some folks" I mean about 40 people. So there had to be a TON of food, particularly in the unhealthy and dip categories...

I went with some tried-and-true favorites:

- slow-cooked pulled pork sliders with kohlrabi/carrot slaw... a favorite with the boys
- black bean and sweet potato chili with all the fixings... a hearty veggie option
- roasted jalapeno popper dip... cheesy, creamy, spicy and AWESOME
- mocha cookies with white chocolate chips... my new favorite cookie
- pepperoni pizza rolls... Tim's childhood favorite/Hot Pocket substitute

But, I also tried a new recipe: chocolate-covered peanut butter and pretzel truffles. They were a BIG hit, especially for something that only has 3 ingredients... here's a shot of the inside, thanks to Chuck, who, along with Colleen, dug into dessert before they had even tried the dinner dishes:

Finally, my girls provided some seriously tasty dishes:

- Colleen made this awesome Greek/Middle Eastern version of a 7-layer dip. So good. Salty, fresh, creamy, hummus-y(?):- Chuck made "Heart Attack on a Plate," which is a layer of cream cheese, covered with a layer of chili, topped with a thick layer of shredded cheddar, then heated until creamy and totally addictive:- Chuck also made a delicious traditional 7-layer dip, based on this Rachael Ray recipe. Forgot to take a photo in my cream cheese dip-induced coma.

Cream Cheese Filled Banana Muffins- Partial FAIL?

The day after Thundersnowtrafficpocolypse, the federal government had a 2-hour delayed start... I decided use my 2 hours to make these cream cheese filled banana muffins.

The muffins tasted great- super light and fluffy-but the cream cheese filling was a bit of a FAIL in the sense that it basically melted into the muffin, rather than being a creamy filling. I should have consulted some other recipes for the cream cheese filling methodology- mine was super runny. Other recipes mixed the cream cheese with an egg yolk, rather than the whole egg like the recipe I used. I'll try that next time...

Creamy Mushroom and Polenta Lasagna

Wow, this creamy mushroom and polenta lasagna was awesome... super simple since it's made with rolls of pre-cooked polenta and some other ingredients that I generally have on hand (mushrooms, onion, garlic, milk, a little bit of cream cheese), but so good. I think the fresh nutmeg in the cream sauce is what really made it special.

Hot Cheesy Broccoli Dip

This hot, cheesy broccoli dip recipe was super easy- thrown together with randoms odds and ends from my fridge. I microwaved the dip, as instructed, but then threw it under the broiler for a few minutes at the end to get a crusty top. Pretty good! Basically a cheddar broccoli soup in dip form. Fine by me!

Cupcakes!

Over the past few weeks, my office has had a series of baking contest/fundraisers to benefit the Combined Federal Campaign. A few weeks ago we practiced our Thanksgiving pie-making skillz... I made a banoffee pie that got some raves, but Tony won the big prize (read: bragging rights) for his simple, but delicious key lime pie. I forgot to take photos...

This week was a cupcake contest for which I submitted two entries in a naked grab for the baking title. After consulting with Madison, I decided incorporate booze into one of my cupcakes, figuring that was a good hook with which to catch the judges. Deb from Smitten Kitchen provided the recipe I went with, and even though I skipped her whiskey ganache filling, the Guinness chocolate cupcake and Bailey's Irish Cream frosting was enough to secure the win for me!!

Underestimating the amount of time it takes to make 50 cupcakes (it was midnight by the time I turned the oven off!), I also made these lemon cupcakes with a lemon cream cheese frosting. Pretty delicious! I added more lemon juice and zest to the frosting as well as a little less sugar so I could keep it tart rather than sweet.

Roasted Jalapeno Popper Dip

I am a sucker for pretty much any and all bar food: saucy and messy hot wings, crispy and bacony potato skins, and spicy and creamy jalapeno poppers. When we had an influx of jalapenos last summer, I made creamy corn and bacon stuffed jalapenos. They were tasty, but stuffing them was time-consuming, and for those who aren't enamored of jalapeno, maybe not the best thing. This jalapeno popper dip, which incorporates all the deliciousness of the bar staple, is much easier and more manageable for heatphobes. Doesn't look like much, but it disappeared in about 2.5 minutes, so that says a lot.I messed with the recipe a little bit... instead of pickled jalapenos and canned green chilies, I halved, seeded, and roasted 3 fresh jalapenos (stuck them under the broiler for 7-8 minutes until soft and charred), then minced them. Added the roasted jalapenos to the food processor with some cream cheese, a dab of mayo, a handful of shredded cheddar and mozzarella, salt and pepper. Poured into a lightly greased baking dish and topped with panko and Parmesan. Baked at 350 for 25 minutes.

Awesome! Served with tortilla chips and veggies.

Blackberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

A couple months ago I made a coffee cake on a whim, and found out that coffee cake is apparently a weakness for Tim. He's having a super stressful month at work, so I thought I'd use some CSA blackberries I had hanging around in the fridge to make him a coffee cake to bring to a big meeting he had this morning with his coworkers.
This coffee cake was pretty easy, as coffee cakes should be, and it was also pretty good and definitely looked pretty. However, I think I should have put it on a higher shelf in the oven, because the bottom got a little too dark.

Pineapple Empanadas

Amy left us with a bevy of hand-me-down food when she departed for sunnny Sydney, including some freshly cut pineapple. Chuck doesn't really care for pineapple, so I tried to find a way to use up the pineapple that she could tolerate. Some empanada-like pastries sounded good...
These empanadas use a cream cheese crust, which was simple and pretty good. For the filling, I mixed the diced pineapple with a little bit of brown sugar... in retrospect, I think it could have used some additional spice- cinnamon? cardamom? I drizzled a basic powdered sugar and milk glaze on them after they came out of the oven.

Leftover Ginger Cranberry Sauce on Cream Cheese, with Crackers

As Lindsay suggested, I warmed up some of the leftover ginger cranberry sauce and threw it on top of some cream cheese. Served with crackers = excellent.

Cookie Extravaganza!

Chuck and I, with the help of Mark and Leah, made about a thousand cookies to put in Christmas tins and hand out to friends. Here are the recipes!

Pecan Tassies: mini pecan pies, made with the tart press that Martha stuck in my stocking one year.

Matcha (Green Tea) Cookies: sugar cookies with green tea powder mixed in.

Turtle Thumbprints: chocolate, pecan and caramel goodness.

Ginger Chewies: gingery soft and chewy cookies with raw sugar on top for crunch.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats: No photo, but you can imagine...

Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons: another Ina recipe, dipped in semi-sweet chocolate.

Jam-Filled Cream Cheese Cookies

A Martha Stewart Every Day Food recipe that I can't find online, but that's probably ok because they were a FAIL anyway... they were supposed to look like this (which about 2 of ours did):

But the vast majority of them looked like starfish writhing on the ocean floor as they bleed to death:

Pistachio Refrigerator Cookies

Not sure where Martha got the recipe, but here it is:

2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup finely chopped pistachios
non pareils
green food coloring

Mix dry ingredients. Cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix.

Using 1 cup of dough, add green food coloring, then add chopped nuts. Shape into a 10” roll. Wrap in waxed paper and freeze for 10 minutes.

Roll remaining dough into a 10x6 rectangle. Place other roll of dough on the rectangle and gently wrap the dough around the nut dough and seal it.

Roll the whole log in nonpareils sprinkled on waxed paper.
Wrap the dough in the waxed paper. Freeze for about 20 minutes. Slice about 1/8” thick. Place about 2” apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for about 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 6 dozen.

Gingersnap Nectarine Tart

I got a ton of nectarines over the past couple weeks in my CSA box, so in honor of Martha's arrival, I thought I would use them to make this gingersnap crust cheese-cakey tart thing.

Martha likes ginger.

Pretty sweet looking, eh?

Warm Creamy Crab Dip

So each the McCarthys knows this recipe like the back of his or her hand... but for those non-McCarthys reading this: make this crab dip for your next party. It's super easy and everybody loves it.

I usually double-down on the onion and horseradish. You can serve it with toasted baguette slices or crackers. Delicious.

Crab Dip

8 oz cream cheese

1 tbs milk

1 can of crab, drained

2 tbs finely chopped onion

1/2 tsp horseradish

1/4 tsp salt

dash of pepper

Mix all ingredients

Put into oven-safe dish (we like one with more surface area to get brown and bubbly)

Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees

Serve!