MangiaMore: cream cheese-filled PUMPKIN bread

RER 12.11.14

There is something truly seductive about the smells of late fall. The cinnamon, the ginger, the allspice and the cloves— all the spicy and sweet flavors that make you warm on those chilly days…

RER 12.10.14

And it’s been mighty cold and unpleasant these past few days. So, to warm up and cheer up, I had to bake something that evoked all those toasty feelings.

RER 12.11.14

RER 12.10.14

RER 12.10.14

The answer was pumpkin bread. After getting the recipe recco from my sister’s friend, I headed to Averie Cooks for her Cream Cheese- Filled Pumpkin Bread. It looked divine. I was so ready…

RER 12.10.14

Well almost. The night before on almost daily grocery store run, I decided to forgo the purchase of pumpkin pie spice despite the fact that this ethereal recipe called for it. Listen, it was $7.99 for a tiny tiny jar of the stuff, and I knew I had the ingredients to concoct a batch of my own. Betty Crocker once again helped me out with a recipe for my “cheap-o” Pumpkin Pie Spice.

RER 12.10.14

RER 12.10.14

The pumpkin bread was extremely easy and quick to put together. My cream cheese “filling” was more like a swirl (something about it was too liquidy and the pumpkiny batter was much more dense). This created a pretty ribbon of color throughout the cake and some sticky cheesy goodness at the top.

RER 12.10.14

RER 12.10.14

RER 12.10.14

RER 12.11.14

Despite its imperfections, the pumpkin bread was exactly what I was looking for. It was spicy and sweet, dense and moist, comforting. Biting into the bread was kind of like getting a hug from your old friend, soft, inviting and familiar. This was the perfect warm up for the coming Christmas Cookie Bake-A-Thon!

RER

12.10.14

RER 12.11.14

MangiaMore: CHEESECAKE(s)

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RER 7.30.14

In honor of National Cheesecake Day last Wednesday, I went in.

My sister announced one of the most important days of the year by saying “july 30 = national cheesecake day. get on it.” She was so direct, but so correct. So I got on it. I couldn’t just make one plain cheesecake —it’s a celebration! Many mini cheesecakes. Done.

RER 7.30.14

RER 7.30.14

I’ve made cheesecake before. I went wild with a sinful salted caramel cheesecake pie for Thanksgiving last year. Not a super run of the mill, plain old cheesecake, that’s just not me.

This time, I dared to make four flavors with different add-ins or toppings using the Philadelphia Mini Cheesecake recipe.

RER 7.30.14

Blueberry Lemon

For this little gem, I added a little bit of fresh lemon juice to the filling. Um, yum. This made the heavy cake feel a little lighter and fresher, like summer. And the blueberry lemon compote topping took advantage of beautiful summer blueberries. The combination of the smooth cheesecake and that sweet and tart fresh compote was absolutely lovely.

RER 8.2.14

RER 7.30.14

Oreo Sprinkle

We had Oreos. And we had sprinkles. Boom. Oreo sprinkle cheesecake. My mother questioned my sprinkle addition, but I was baking and I wanted sprinkles. I saw them at the very top of one of our cabinets, next to the cookie cutters, food coloring and extracts, and I went with it. I wanted to add some fun and color to these babies. Even though they look a little funny and silly, they had just the right amount of chocolate to tone down the sweetness from the base, graham cracker crust, and explosion of rainbow sprinkles.

RER 7.30.14

White Chocolate Strawberry Swirl

I’m going to say right now, swirling is not my forte. I was hoping that these would turn out pretty and refined, but they didn’t. Boohoo, they still tasted bomb. Melted white chocolate chips went in the filling and heated strawberry jam (Bonne Maman is my jam!) was “swirled” in with a knife. Can’t say they look superb but they are pretty darn tasty.

RER 8.2.14

RER 7.30.14

Caramel Almond

Well, mostly just almond. I failed at the caramel. Oh well, t’was super delicious anyway. This little guy had some ground almond mixed in with the graham for the crust and some golden Disaronno in with the creamy filling. This might have been a favorite within my test group, for its simplicity. Just yum.

Do anything special for National Cheesecake Day? Like, I dunno, stuff your face with sexy cheesecake…

RER

7.30.14

MangiaMore: RED velvet sandwich cookies

RER 3.6.14

Sometimes we cheat, and sometimes it’s worth it. Yesterday, I needed a little pick-me-up, something to do and something to distract. I’ve been a little busy with other things, things other than food, unfortunately. There hasn’t been much food lately that has inspired me, or any recipes that I really wanted to make, or even a restaurant I wanted to try. The only thing edible that I have been constantly thinking about were these silly red velvet sandwich cookies pictured on the back of the Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake mix box. It has been in my peripheral vision since I prepped for Food Fun Valentine’s Day cupcakes. But, yesterday was the day I made them. Found the recipe using the cake mix, added an egg, melted butter and vanilla. The recipe calls for a can of Duncan Hines frosting, but I made my own quick cream cheese butter cream. They turned out super sweet and pretty to look at, a little more chocolaty than I would have thought, but deffo worth the cheat (for the moment).

RER 3.6.14

RER 3.6.14

RER 3.6.14

RER 3.6.14

RER 3.6.14

RER 3.6.14

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 RER

3.7.14

RER 3.6.14