Easter Yummies

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Posted by OneMommysThoughts on Apr 10, 2012 in Capturing Memories, Cooking, Family | 0 comments

Easter egg art

This Easter we traveled to my Aunt’s house to celebrate.

My sister in law and her two children also joined in the fun so it was a pretty packed house!

I was in charge of bringing dessert.

I LOVE dessert but for some reason wanted to bring something different than what I typically make (I am a pumpkin pie girl through and through and really it is either that or chocolate for dessert in my house).

So I decided to branch out and try a new recipe. Dicey I know but I just can’t help myself!

Plus I saw this intriguing recipe for Crock-Pot Cheesecake on Ziplist and had to execute. I also whipped up a Blueberry pie which is one of my favorites that I often forget about. The recipe I use is so, SO simple and very fresh tasting.

I thought I would share my successes! Both desserts were a hit and not a nibble was left over.

Give them a try yourself!

Your family will be oh so pleased that you did.

View the original recipe here on The Crock-Pot Ladies:

Crock-Pot Cheesecake

Ingredients

3 8oz Packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
3 Eggs
3/4 Cup Sugar
6 Graham Crackers (full pieces), pulverized into crumbs
3 Tablespoons of Stick Butter, melted

**I also added about a teaspoon or so of Vanilla Extract just because I love the flavor

Instructions

Place cream cheese in a bowl and let it come to room temperature. I dumped the cream cheese and sugar into my KitchenAid mixer bowl and let them come to room temperature.
Mix until sugar and cream cheese are well blended and lump free.
Add one egg at a time, mixing well in between and scraping the sides of the bowl.
In a food processor blend the graham crackers and melted butter to form the crust. I found pulsating to be the best method otherwise it got too smooth.
Choose a pan or small crock type cooking dish that will fit in the bottom of your crock-pot (the link shows a crock similar to mine but in black – I prefer white as they do not burn as often) with room left on the side. You want to be able to pull the pan out without too much difficulty and this is the most difficult part of the entire recipe! I chose a round pyrex, glass dish (holds 7 cups) and it was pretty perfect for the amount of filling and crust. It made a really nice, deep cheesecake. It was a little tricky to get the pan out but doable. I did remove some of the water using a turkey baster before attempting to remove the cake itself. This would have been a great tip had I not gotten some of the water ON my cake! It turned out fine anyway but that part was unnerving.
Add the graham cracker crumbs mixture to the bottom of the Pyrex (or whatever you chose) dish.
Pat the graham crackers into the dish so that you have an even layer. Mine did not go all the way up the side but were about 3/4 of the way up and that looked just fine.
Pour the cream cheese mixture into the dish lined with your graham crackers.
Add enough water to your crock-pot bowl to come up the side of your dish slightly but not so much it boils up and ends up making a soup of your cheesecake. I added 2 cups to start because the recipe called for 2-3. I could have used a cup and a half and would have been fine.
Place your cheesecake dish into the bowl of your crock-pot then cover with the lid.
Cook on high for 2 – 2 1/2. I ended up cooking mine for 2 1/2 because it seemed too loose still at 2 hours.
The cheesecake should begin to crack on the sides when it is done. This did not happen for me which may mean I could have cooked it longer but I was on a time crunch.
Let it cool or come to room temperature before serving. Warm cheesecake is just kind of gross so be patient. You could also put it in the fridge after letting it cool on the counter for about an hour.
Now enjoy! You could also whip up a fruit topping like I did or eat it plain. Either way it was pretty darn good!

Fruit Topping

2 cups strawberries (cut up to bite size pieces)
3/4 water
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 lemon (juiced)

Mix the strawberries and sugar into a medium pan on medium-low.

In a bowl, mix the water and corn starch until it dissolves.

Add the water and corn starch mixture to the pan and combine.

Cook until the sauce has thickened (5-10 minutes) then remove the pan and add the lemon juice.

Pour into a pretty serving dish and set aside for consumption.

Store in the fridge once it has cooled if you don’t plan to eat it right away.

*This was something I came up with on the fly so I can tag my name on this and call it my own.

Here are some pics of the process.

Silly me forgot to take a pic when the cheesecake came out because we were in such a hurry to get everyone packed into the car to get to our destination so I apologize for that!

6 quart crock-pot used

I read a little tip for taking pictures of water for recipes like this so you can actually see it. Add food coloring or cola to the water!

Brilliant right?!

It is but I made a mess with it and when I tried to remove some of the water it squirted out of the turkey baster like a girls gone wild video.

Ugh.

Thankfully the cheesecake was not ruined but did have a pretty blue ring around the outside of it (which I of course scrapped off because I am OCD like that).

Brilliant blue water so you can actually see the water

Another pic of the water up close

My second recipe is an oldie that I have had for a long time and have only made twice.

I don’t know why I haven’t made it more often because it is divine and worth the cost of the fresh blueberries!

Ultimate Blueberry Pie

*unknown source (I have a printed copy that literally has no information beyond the recipe)

Ingredients

4 cups blueberries
9″ pie crust (unless you are really talented and can make one from scratch), baked
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 sugar
dash of salt
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons butter

Instructions

Pour 2 cups of fresh berries into cooled pie shell.

Heat remaining 2 cups of berries in saucepan with cornstarch blended well with sugar, salt and water.

Remove from heat when mixture has thickened; add lemon juice and butter, stirring until dissolved.

Pour mixture over berries in pie plate.

Chill for several hours.

Best served with fresh whipped cream although I am sure a little Cool Whip would do too.

I would love to hear some of your baking successes or failures.

Please share and happy baking!