Once Upon A Chocolate Life: Martha Stewart

Showing posts with label Martha Stewart. Show all posts

Friday, September 28, 2012

Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Hello! I hope your weekend it getting off to a great start. I have a big date this weekend, with my kitchen!

I love to bake in the Fall and this weekend is going to be dreary so I will be making a few things I found and have pinned on my Pinterest pages.

As it is Fall I have been trying to bake with seasonal ingredients, and pumpkin is one of my favorites.

After searching for a few recipes which would incorporate both chocolate and pumpkin I found this recipe at Martha Stewart for Chocolate pumpkin cheesecake bars.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Crust:
- 12 Oreos
- 12/ cup of graham cracker crumbs
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Filling
- 2 packages bar cream cheese (8 ounces each)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- dash of nutmeg
- OR instead of the spices above 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper leaving an overhang on all sides. Set aside.
In a food processor or blender blend cookies and graham cracker crumbs with sugar until finely ground (you should have about 1 cup crumbs); add butter, and pulse until moistened.
Transfer crumb mixture to prepared pan, and press gently into bottom. Bake until slightly firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Place cream cheese in mixer; blend until smooth, about 5 minutes. Add sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, flour, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt; mix until combined about 1 minute. Set aside
Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between each, until melted. Add 1 cup of the pumpkin mixture; stir to combine. Set aside.
Pour remaining pumpkin mixture into prepared pan. Drop dollops of chocolate mixture onto pumpkin mixture; swirl. Bake until cheesecake is set but jiggles slightly when gently shaken, 40 to 50 minutes.
Cool in pan. Then cover and chill at least 2 hours. Using overhang, transfer to work surface. Cut and serve.

These bars are delicious, the texture is similar to pumpkin pie, and they taste like your favorite holiday pie with a burst of chocolate. They are moist, creamy and have a nice crunchy chocolate crust.

I love pumpkin pie spice and so I I always add a little more than most people would, I think this mixture is just right. If you like less spice that add less.

What are your plans for the weekend? Will you be making anything? If you try this come back and let me know, I want to know what you think.

Enjoy!

Linking to:
At the Picket Fenceg
Six Sisters Stuff
Stone Gable
French Country Cottage
Stuff and Nonsense
2805
Common Ground
The Charm of the Home
How Sweet It IS
Natasha in Oz
Flour me with Love
Or So She Says

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Mocha Buttercream Frosting

I have not really been baking anything chocolate lately so I have been a MIA, but I did make these yummy cupcakes this weekend for some friends, who were having guests.

It is basically a delicious vanilla cupcake (thank you Martha Stewart) with my favorite buttercream frosting recipe kicked up with the addition of coffee!

For those of you who like chocolate and coffee these cupcakes will quickly become a favorite.

White cupcakes
recipe from Martha Stewart
1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour

In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Frost. Serve at room temperature.

Whipped Chocolate Mocha Frosting

2 sticks of softened butter (Must be SOFT not melted)
31/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp of vanilla
2 tsp of instant coffee granules. or espresso powder
4 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS:

Cream softened butter in an electric mixer for a few minutes. Mix instant coffee granules with the heavy whipping cream until dissolved. Turn off mixer and add the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar, start mixing on low speed otherwise you will have a huge mess. Mix ingredients until incorporated and then add the salt, vanilla and the heavy whipping cream/coffee mixture. Mix on high for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy.

I hope you have a fabulous day! Enjoy!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

I love chocolate and I LOVE cheesecake! As I was browsing through an old pile of tear sheets I came across a recipe from the original and incomparable Martha Stewart. I do so enjoy a great recipe from Martha, and let me tell you this one is FABULOUS! I have made many, many cheesecakes but this has to be my favorite.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

1 package (9 ounces) chocolate Oreo cookies
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
dash of nutmeg
dash of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
2 ounces of milk chocolate melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Assemble a 9-inch spring form pan with the raised side of the bottom facing down.
In a blender, pulse cookies until finely ground. Add butter, and pulse to moisten. Transfer to prepared pan, and press crumbs firmly and evenly into the bottom. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet; bake 10 minutes, and set aside.
In a large bowl, add cream cheese, sugar, and salt; blend until smooth with electric mixer. Add eggs, then sour cream, and finally chocolate; blend filling until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. This is where I separated part of the filling and added the melted milk chocolate to 1/2 of the filling.
Pour filling onto crust, and bake just until set, 1 hour. Turn oven off, and let cheesecake sit 1 hour in oven, without opening (this helps prevent cracking).
Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan (this helps prevent cracking, too); leave in pan, and cool completely on wire rack. Cover loosely and refrigerate, at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
Unmold cheesecake. Spread ganache in center of cheesecake (IF USING) let set before serving.

NOTES: I made a 1/2 recipe. And used a 5 inch cheesecake pan. I also decided instead of making Ganache for the top after it was finished, I took part of the filling about 1/4 and added a melted milk chocolate to it. So my directions are as above, if you want to have a layer of ganache on top than follow the link to Martha Stewart's website.