The Dessert Blog

If you’re serving a gourmet cheesecakewith the meal, I endorse taking the extra step of considering the presentation of the cake. We get enjoyment from our food with our eyes, in addition to our taste buds. Always experiment, but here are a handful of ideas to get you started.

New York Cheesecake: This is what most people would think of as the plain or “unflavored” cheesecake. Frankly, it is anything but! However, the taste is one that will adjust well to almost all additions. Well, maybe not broccoli! I recommend that you should consider complimenting the richness of this versatile cheesecake by putting a generous serving of hot fudge around the serving plate.

Blueberry Cheesecake: Purchase a high quality blueberry preserve. Stir in enough lemon juice to dilute the preserves so that it will come off a teaspoon on its own. Drizzle the diluted preserves in a zigzag pattern across the cake. The tartness of the lemon juice will provide a nice counterpoint to the sweet taste of the preserves and cake.

Turtle Cheesecake: This cheesecake has a variety of flavors incorporated, so it’s a good idea not to try to add yet another one. Instead, place just a few flower petals around the platter to add to the appearance. Yellow petals particularly enhance the color of the cake.

Pumpkin Cheesecake, a holiday season favorite, is even smoother than the more traditional pumpkin pie. Cut a festive hole in some paper–tree shaped or a five pointed star. Center the paper over the top of the slice. In the hole, gently shake cinnamon.

Sugar Free Cheesecakes–no sugar added: No matter what the flavor of the cheesecake, a mint sprig on top of the widest part of the dessert, will dress it up wonderfully without additional sugar.

The presentation is impacted not just by what’s on the plate but additionally by the nature of the platter, itself. Certainly, the small plates that are part of your china set will do the job. But the expanded storage space in modern pantries allow many hosts and hostesses to keep specialty plates. People have individual salt servers and soup crocks, as opposed to the typical bowls. Why not get special serving pieces that you use only for the special dessert celebrations?The appearance is affected not only by the contents of the dish but additionally by the nature of the platter, itself. Certainly, the small plates that are part of your china set will serve your purpose. But the additional storage areas in modern homes permit many of us to keep specialty plates. Many people have unique salsa and chip servers, instead of the old fashioned bowls. Why not get special serving pieces that you use for those spectacular dessert celebrations?

Cheesecakes are a wonderful–and slightly expensive–ending to a fine meal or a casual picnic. Dedicate just a little your planning time to highlight the elegance of this remarkable delicacy with your signature touches.

Want an idea for a fun activity to experience with your kids? How about an idea that will allow them to use their creativity and that makes them feel like an adult for a brief moment? Baking is that perfect activity. It gives kids practice to improve their invaluable skills in the kitchen, which they’ll need later in life. The best choices for recipes should be easy to make and allow for some creativity such as shapes, colors or toppings, and of course, the most important “ingredient”, they should taste great!

So what’s something that your kids will love to make and eat?

You got it- rice crispy treats. We will look at three different approaches in this article and add some twists along the way. We will make normal rice crispy treats, mixed ones and chocolate covered. You’ve all made rice crispy treats before so to have some fun with the normal kind let’s discuss shapes. You can make the traditional square-shaped treats with a square cake or brownie pan, but you could have even more fun than that. Find some cake pans with a whole variety of different shapes. You can find a variety of many different shapes, anything from their favorite characters, seasonal shapes like Halloween or Christmas, as well as various small normal shapes like stars or mini bundt cakes. The cake pans come big or small and can be found at any store that sells baking supplies or online.

Before you finish up all the mix, take half of it and blend in your favorite hard candies to add flavor and a contrast of texture, whether they’re M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces or cinnamon candies. Have some more fun, why not try soft candies too? Try some multi-colored chocolate chips or your favorite gummy candies, maybe Sour Patch Kids.

Want some more unique ideas? Mix in chocolate flavored rice crisped cereal with the mix to create multi-flavored treats. Just have the kids help with stirring the mix after it’s removed from the heat (microwave or stove top), mixing in the candies and pressing the mix into your choice of pan.

Your kids will love to chomp down on these tasty rice crispy creations. Then they can take some to school to share with their friends and they make great teacher gifts too. But the fun is just beginning. You could combine all these different ideas for the “ultimate step”.

Now we are going to create chocolate covered rice crispy treats!

I prefer to use a double boiler to melt chocolate, which you can find in many stores. It’s basically one saucepan sitting inside a bigger pan. You heat up the water on medium heat in the bottom pan and place grated milk chocolate or milk chocolate chips in the top one. You can also melt chips in the microwave using a small microwavable bowl. First, heat up the chips for one minute and 10 seconds stir and then again in 10-second intervals. The chips will not melt down to liquid on their own. You must stir them using a metal spoon. Wait until the chips show the beginning signs of melting. No matter the shape of treat, dip it into the chocolate at least half way over the treat and place on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Toss on some sprinkles or red, green or blue colored sugar or dip the treats in white chocolate. Why not!

Your kids will enjoy the big variety. Let their creative juices flow. And don’t eat them all! Don’t forget to take some to the people that matter most. These delicious goodies make ideal teacher gifts, friend gifts, grandparents gifts or for relatives.

Let your “little chefs” boast how good their treats look and taste!

If you like chocolate, pecans and caramel then you will definitely love a turtle cheesecake. This is a great type of cheesecake that is very scrumptious and sweet. In fact you can even make one of these delicious cheesecakes yourself. Here is a process you can use to make your very own turtle cheesecake.

The first thing that you will need to do is to chop up some pecans. In order to get a proper turtle cheesecake ready you will need to get a cup of chopped pecans ready. Once you get them chopped up you can cook them in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You should cook them for six minutes. Afterwards you’ll need to melt some unsalted butter into a small bowl. You will need six tablespoons worth of butter for the recipe.

Next you will need two cups of crushed vanilla wafers. These wafers should then be mixed in with your melted butter and placed into a nine inch round springform pan. Be sure to put the pan on top of a cookie sheet. Next you can heat the mixture for ten minutes at 350 degrees. It will need to cool off after the ten minutes are over.

For the caramel flavor you will need to gather fourteen ounces of caramel candies and melt them. You will need to melt the caramel candies in five ounces of evaporated milk. After you get this melted you will need to get the combination stirred and poured over the crust that you have just formed. When this is done you will need to sprinkle the pecans you toasted earlier on top of the cheesecake.

The next parts of preparation involve getting cream cheese and chocolate chips prepared. Twenty-four ounces of cream cheese should be added to the recipe. After this you will need to use a half cup of white sugar along with three half teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Two eggs should then be added. The entire mixture should be mixed up to where it is smooth. You will need to melt some chocolate chips next. Be sure to gather enough for half a cup to mix into your recipe.

The entire mixture will need to be poured into the pan and baked at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for forty minutes. Be sure to put the turtle cheesecake in a refrigerator and let it sit overnight. When you are finished you will be able to enjoy a great dessert and serve it to your friends.