I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Recipes

Mini Cheesecakes with an Oreo Crust

 

I saw a mini cheesecake recipe on Fake Ginger, one of my favorite cooking blogs, that looked so good that I knew I had to try them. But the thing is I approached this recipe like how I approach scrapbooking. That means when I’m in a scrapbooking class or using a kit I completely modify it to make it my own. But the thing is that for this recipe I dumbed it down completely. Amanda at Fake Ginger made these lovely mini turtle cheesecakes but I changed it up because…

1) The quantity. I decided to make this our monthly staff meeting so I would need to make like 4 batches of them so I wanted to keep it simple. Keep it simple stupid.

2) I’m lazy. I did not feel like making my own caramel or chocolate sauce, esp for so many little cheesecakes.

3) Nut allergies. When I made a delicious chocolate cake with a peanut butter frosting last fall and saw  that a few people could not eat it I decided that I would try really really hard not to make treats with nuts so the pecan on top and the pecan meal in the crust had to go.

4) Never made this many cheesecakes before. ‘Nuf said.

Of course when Price saw the completed ones he was just slightly disappointed “Where’s the good stuff on top??”


I love the cheesecake recipe because it made a really creamy cheesecake. I don’t really like cheesecake because it seems like I’m eating a block of cream cheese, and while I like cream cheese, I like small quantities on a bagel. Anyway, take the time to let your cream cheese and butter to soften otherwise your cheesecake might have some lumps in it. Plus your mixer will hate you, and possibly make funny noises fighting the tough fight. Take the cream cheese out of the box, so it is just sitting in the foil wrapper, since this dramatically reduces the time it takes to soften up.

PS- Sorry for the crappy photos I got up at 5.45am to make them so I just wanted to bake and get ready for the day and not worry about photos. Then I forgot to take a photo of the finished result so I was stuck with taking a photo of the prettiest of the uglies, since they got banged up on the way in to work.

Mini Cheesecakes with an Oreo Crust

Makes 12 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 1 cup of crushed Oreos
  • 1/4 cup of melted unsalted butter

Filling:

1 1/2 packages (12 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt

Process

  1. Preheat the oven to 325. Line a 12-muffin pan with aluminum liners.
  2. To make the Crust:  Put Oreos into a large resealable bag to crush with a rolling pin. Continue rolling Oreos until they are finely crushed. In a medium bowl, combine the Oreo crumbs with the melted butter. Divide the crust mixture into the muffin liners. Press down the mixture firmly with your fingers. Bake the empty crusts for 5 minutes.
  3. To make the Filling: Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat cream cheese until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, salt, and vanilla; beat well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing just until blended. Stir in yogurt.
  4. Evenly divide the filling into the baked Oreo crusts, about a 1/4 cup of filling. The filling should should come almost to the top of the liner. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of cheesecakes are puffed and only slightly jiggly in the very center. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least a couple hours, preferably overnight, until serving.
 
 
 
 
 

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

I made mini pineapple upside down cakes in a cupcake pan. I like turning full cakes into cupcakes, since they are fun to give out, it’s a perfect portion, and really cute. Well making a pineapple upside down cake into cupcake pan is really easy. So make them and you will happily enjoy some cake, as well as easily share with a friend.

 

I have this thing for pineapple. Love it. I put pineapple on my pizza. Love pineapple in fried rice. I always cook pineapple chunks with baby carrots. ( I learned it from my aunt and have done it like that since). Sliced pineapple is pure tart, sugary joy. Pineapple juice is great to start a mixed drink. My only beef with pineapple is how if I consume too much I quickly get canker sores. Damn you! Well, one of the standards is pineapple upside down cake; which I have never had before. How you ask? No idea but I decided I would need to have it before National Pineapple Upside Down Cake (today-April 20th) to understand the fuss. I now get it. Pineapple upside down cake is moist, sweet, sugary, and delightfully sticky. Sure you can avoid the stickiness of eating the cupcake  by using a fork but then you don’t get to lick the carmely brown sugar from your fingers.

 

 Now the standard is making this in 1 pan so you might be wondering about getting these cupcakes out. Well, don’t freight about getting them out of their cups- not really different than the standard cake. Instead of putting a plate on top of your pan and then flipping it, you use a cutting board and in 1 swift move flip it over. Ta-da, done. Don’t wimp out now. Give it a try and you will be happy you did.

 

 I used the pineapple upside down cake recipe from Ree Dummond’s cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Since getting this cookbook there have been quite a few nights sitting on the sofa while I flip through it and think how great it would be to make buttermilk biscuits, sunriser eggs, meatloaf, etc but I have finally made the jump and made her pineapple upside down cake. I divided the recipe in half to make the cupcakes, which perfectly equaled 12 cupcake, plus a tiny bit of extra batter to lick off the spoon. The only reason I made half the recipe is because I only had 1 egg in the house and I did not feel like going out for more eggs- ha! So feel free to make 24 cupcakes by doubling the recipe below. Ree has such a great book full of mouth-watering recipes. Can’t wait to try another thing in there.

 

 Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons of butter, divided into 2 and 4 tablespoon pieces
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 oz of chunked pineapple* (half of a 20 oz can), reserve 2 tablespoons juice (drink the rest)
12 heaping tablespoons of brown sugar
6 Marcschino cherries, halved (optional)
 

To make the batter, cream the 2 tablespoon portion of butter and shortening with the granulated sugar. Once they have been combined add the eggs and vanilla. Alternate the addition of the flour with the milk. Mix until all are gently combined.

In a small pan melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter has melted divided it into the 12 nonstick cupcake cups. Add a heaping tablespoon of brown sugar to each cupcake cup. Add 2 pieces of pineapple* and cheery half (optional) to each cup. Divide the batter evenly, fill each cup just under the top of the edge. These don’t rise much but don’t do over the edge since they will rise a bit and make removal difficult.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until your toothpick is inserted and is removed clean. Run a knife around each cupcake to allow for easy removal. Take a cutting board and place over the cupcake pan. In one swift motion flip the pan over to invert the pan for cupcake release.  The cupcake generally invert easily, if you have any problems gently tap the tin for release. It is best to serve these warm, but don’t rush it and burn your mouth!!

If you happen to prefer, or have it and don’t feel like going to the store for anything else, crushed pineapple over chunks then use a bit of  that. Just do what makes you happy.

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken

I have always wanted to make chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. The idea of using that much garlic had me so interested, like the time price ordered Garlic soup and it was AMAZING! I had seen several recipes for chicken with 40 cloves are garlic but to be honest they seemed like more work than what I wanted to deal with, like chopping up a chicken, dredging it, boiling the garlic, etc. So I opted for creating an easy version by using a whole chicken and roasting it along with the garlic. So this is my reworked version, simple, easy, and delightfully garlicy!

 

This recipe is more like a complete meal. I think it is essential to cook potatoes, maybe other root vegetables also, with the chicken. The potatoes take on the flavor from the chicken, wine, and, of course, the garlic. So just add a side vegetable or a salad and your meal is complete.

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 pounds
40 cloves of garlic
1 pound of small potatoes, such as fingerling
1/2 cup white wine
olive oil
salt and pepper

 Preheat your oven to 375.

Rinse and clean chicken. Dry chicken- very important! (A dry chicken equals a crispy skin) Put chicken into a pan and season with salt and pepper. Lift up the skin of the chicken and place several small cloves of garlic between skin and breast.

Clean and cut, if necessary, the potatoes. Combine potatoes and remaining garlic in a bowl to lightly dress with oil and season with salt and pepper.

distribute potatoes and garlic around chicken.

After chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes, toss potatoes and garlic, preventing burning. Add wine to pan.

Cook chicken until it is done, approximately another 45 minutes. You can use a pop up or a manual thermometer test chicken’s doneness. Let chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving to serve. When slicing keep skin intact to show the softened garlic layered between the chicken breast and skin.

Enjoy, and feel free to finish off the wine you opened for the chicken!

Sweet Pea and Mint Soup

This Sweet Pea and Mint Soup is a soup that welcomes Spring with open arms. It’s vibrant green hue is on par with the rich, fresh flavors in this vegetable soup.

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

Post originally from 4/16/10, Pictures updated 2/8/19

Spring has sprung!!!! I love the freshness of spring. I love the new beginnings of it all. It is hard not to feel happy in spring with everything waking up from a long winter. Maybe you don’t love it, if you have allergies, but I love everything in bloom. It just makes me happy. 

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Ready for Spring-Edamame Salad

Spring is confused in Boston. For one thing it is just about constantly raining. I’m ready for the rain to stop so I can get out in the yard and fix everything that the rain screwed up and prepare things for planting. But instead we have a sunny day in the 70’s, then it drops to the 50’s and is cloudy, then rains for 3 more day and just when you think you can’t take it anymore is snows, but before you drink yourself stupid it’s back in the 70’s 2 days later. That’s New England for you.

Well hoping to get things going in the right direction I made an edamame salad with dinner recently. Price and I live off salads like this in the summer. We mainly eat Horiatiki Salata throughout the summer but this might need to be added into the rotation. We used a 10oz package from Trader Joes, which was very convenient. I’d imagine that the frozen kind would work too, but I would let it thaw naturally or let cool before adding everything else.

The dressing is done to taste. Adjust the quantities to taste. For example I love lemon and lime juice, which might be too much for someone else. The point is to have a starting point to create something that you will enjoy.

Edamame Salad

serves 4 as a side

Ingredients

  • 10 oz of shelled edamame
  • 8 oz of grape tomatoes, halved
  • half of an orange pepper, diced
  • 1 small red ion, diced
  • 2 oz of feta

Dressing:

  • 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
  • 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
  • 2-4 tablespoons lime juice
  • 1/4 extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Process

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped ingredients with the shelled edamame. Crumble the feta block into the vegetables.
  2. In a bowl, make the dressing by wisking the mustard and garlic with the vinegar and juice. Once the solids are completely incorporated add the oil.
  3. Gently mix together the salad with the dressing, and salt & pepper to taste.

Whole Wheat Waffles

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I describe myself as a morning person. I basically am but when I’m going to bed late during the week from watching tv, movies, cleaning, homework (previously) I tend to be less of a morning person than what my true nature is. Sleeping in on the weekends is about 8.30. I love to be out to in the summer gardening or reading a book in our backyard. I just feel that you are missing the best part of the day.

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Yesterday was International Waffle Day so that means the best way to ‘celebrate’ is to enjoy some waffles. Well, even with being a morning person I still could not pull myself together to make waffles for breakfast. I also did go out to Shecky’s on Wednesday and it was the first time that Emily and I actually really drank at this event. Plus I really think that waffles are a special occasion breakfast. It goes against my daily yogurt/muesli/ fruit routine. So waffles at dinner would have to work.

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I love the Buttermilk Waffles I typically make and I loved the Bacon Chocolate Chip Waffles too. But the first uses a crazy amount of butter, of course that is what makes them amazing! And the second, bacon + chocolate, ‘nuf said. So I decided to try a healthier approach this time. I used King Arthur’s Recipe for Hearty Whole Wheat Waffles.

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The waffles were really simple to get together and came out well. They were plain and clearly tasted like whole wheat. I think that adding some cinnamon would really enhance this recipe, but it would depend on the taste you want. Or just serve them with fruit or bacon! Price made himself some bacon that we cooked in the oven on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet. Bacon is bacon but this way the fat drips away and cooks evenly from top and bottom. Plus he was happy with this breakfast for dinner idea since it gave him leftovers for breakfast today. Def nice to have when it’s (briefly) snowing out at the end of March!

Whole Wheat Waffles

Makes eight 8″ waffles

Ingrdients

  • 1 1/2 cups King Arthur whole wheat flour,  white whole wheat or traditional
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable oil

Process

  1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and butter or oil.
  3. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
  4. Cook the waffles as directed in the instructions that came with your waffle iron.

Source: King Arthur Flour Recipe

Beautiful Blondies

Another poker night, another treat for the guys. I was struggling coming up with something for the guys for the bi-weekly poker game. Cake is kinda hard to juggle with a beverage, cards, and a cigar. While they won’t turn down (free) cake they like cookies, brownies, and squares for ease of inhaling them. So I turned to food blog browsing for some ideas. I was thinking of lemon squares but when I saw blondies posted on Fake Ginger I knew I had to go with them. Something new to try and it will quickly be out of the house so I can’t indulge.

 

We spent the afternoon of watching Syracuse lose their basketball game at a bar down town so Price had to go one way to get to poker on time and I went the other to bake. Once the blondies were done I grabbed them and threw them into the back seat- okay gently placed them, but off we were. I heard they really enjoyed them since they were still hot.

 

The blondies were really easy to make. I use my stand mixer for everything but you can easily use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugars and do the rest by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Our evil little “oven” look soo long to bake the blondies. Maybe it is breaking again?  I’m assuming that they normally do take 40 minutes and my hour was due to our oven’s need to act like an Easy Bake Oven.

I’m sure you could make some substitutions with what kind of chips or nuts you use but I really think this recipe is spot on with the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans, and shredded coconut.

Blondies

from Fake Ginger

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened coconut

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 325. Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and put on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs 1 by 1, beating for 1 minutes after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chips, nuts, and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best as you can.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies come out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool the blondies to room temperature right side up.

Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches.

Polenta Almond Lemon Cake

Polenta Almond Lemon Cake- A rich, delicious cake that has light refreshing lemon flavor. The almond and polenta give it an interesting flavor and texture.

Post Originally from 2/22/10, Pictures updated 3/6/19

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

I love when I make a cake for a special occasion. 

Of course, making a cake on a random Tuesday is enjoyable, but making a cake for something special doubles my excitement. Do you ever feel the same way?

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Bacon-Chocolate Chip Waffles

Yep, that’s right… Bacon Chocolate Chip Waffles! I read about this recipe at Coconut Lime. I knew that I had to make it for our 5 year anniversary (1/2). It’s not that it was going to be complicated or fancy, just new and indulgent. I wanted to step things up from the typical scrambled egg, toast, yogurt, or leftovers (yes, leftovers.. in fact I had left over chicken tika masala on new years day.) So waffles and some Bailey’s would make for a better Saturday morning.

 

Bacon is a big deal right now. In fact I gifted bacon jam at Christmas. I have not yet tried the jar I kept for us, but I think the whole thing is just hilarious. Bacon in a waffle was quiet ingenious. Plus the chocolate is a perfect complement to it- sweet and salty are always great together. I have had a bacon chocolate bar from Vosges in NYC.

 

The waffles were simple to make and came out really well. The combination of chocolate and bacon provided a great balance of salty and sweet in the waffle. The bacon added a nice smokeiness to the waffle. I would not expect to enjoy smokey in my waffles but it was great. Even though we clearly knew there was bacon and chocolate in them it was still so surprising when we were eating them. Def out of the ordinary, but def worth a try! My only suggestion to this is to use the mini chocolate chips, and I say that only because my waffle iron did not seem to enjoy closing with the regular chips.

Bacon Chocolate Waffles

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

  •  2 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 cups of buttermilk* 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup crumbled bacon
  • 1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Process

  1. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl.
  2. Whisk together the egg, oil, vanilla and buttermilk in a small bowl.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
  4. Fold in the chocolate chips and crumbled bacon.
  5. Follow the instructions included with your waffle iron to complete the waffles.
  6. *If you don’t have buttermilk on hand you can make your own with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for every cup of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes

Recipe from Coconut Lime

Some Seriously Amazing Cinnamon Rolls

 

Two weekends ago I ventured into the territory of baking with yeast. I learned how working with yeast can be a pain in the ass but if it works you get great results. My first attempt was a miserable fail with a sticky, dense, dead ball of dough. I figured out my milk was at 112 and the was way too hot for my yeast so I tried again at 100 and SUCCESS!!!

I went through all this trouble because I saw these amazing Peppermint Bark Buns at Fake Ginger. I could have gone for the peppermint and chocolate filling but I am not a big fan of white chocolate so I decided to stick with a cinnamon roll and this would be a springboard into making the cinnamon rolls.

 

 

 

These cinnamon rolls were worth the trouble since they were an amazing treat for the weekend. Plus I felt like I conquered a big fear with using yeast. I made an orange frosting for them which was good- a nice complement to the cinnamon but standard milk based frosting is more my thing. I think eggnog would be fantastic!

Seriously Amazing Cinnamon Rolls

makes 12 rolls

Ingredients

Dough

  • 1 cup warm milk (skim works)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted
  • 4  cups bread flour, 1/2 cup reserved
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 packet dry active yeast

 Filling

  •  1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup of brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened

Glaze

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • milk or orange juice until you have reached your desired frosting thickness
 

Process

  1. To prepare the dough, start by heating the milk per yeast instructions (between 100-110F). Melt the butter, set aside. Beat eggs in a very large bowl, set aside. Once the milk has reached the right temperature add the yeast and let proof per instructions. Mix in the sugar and melted butter into the eggs. Gently mix in the milk/yeast to the wet ingredients. In half cup intervals mix in the bread flour until 4 cups has been incorporated. With the remaining 1/2 cup, dust a clean smooth surface and coat your hands. Kneed the dough into a ball incorporating the remaining flour. Place into a greased bowl, cover, with plastic wrap and let double in size (several hours).
  2. While your dough is rising prepare the cinnamon sugar mixture by combining the sugars, cinnamon, and the softened butter. Set aside.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 and grease baking pans.
  4. Roll out dough into a 16 by 21 inch rectangle. Spread butter mixture evenly over dough. Roll up dough jelly roll style and divide into 12 rolls. Arrange evenly in pan(s), cover and let rise until doubled.*
  5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
  6. While rolls are baking combine the cream cheese and sifted powered sugar. Add milk/oj to the cream cheese until it reached the desired consistency. Spread frosting over warm rolls before serving.

*I did not do this since I wanted them right then and they turned out fine. So this extra rise is up to you.

Fried Rice

Making Chinese food with my Dad has become one of those experiences that leads to great food, dirty dishes, lots of laughs, and full stomaches. One year our bird, Studley, ‘got hungry’ and flew into the bowl of fried rice- no one was happy then. Or we always seem to bring up the time when my brother, Dad, and I made chinese food and the kitchen looked like a nuclear holocaust. Food on the floor, sauces dripping down the cabinets, spills in the fridge, and a sink full of bowls. Of course everything was worth  it since the food is always amazing. We have made shrimp with lobster sauce, chicken with cashews, chicken and shrimp chow mien, and, as always, fried rice.

When my Dad came to visit a few weeks ago we planned on making chinese food so he brought up some of the ingredients and his wok. This excited me to no end. It had been so long since I had the fried rice. Sure, you can get fried rice at your local chinese food restaurant, but I have to say that it’s not the same. I find the fried rice from most chinese food places has too much soy sauce for my preference. So that is why it is worth it to take the time to make amazing fried rice.

Fried Rice

3 C. rice
1 C. diced chicken or shrimp or pork
Marinating sauce

  • 1 TBS. cooking Sherry
  • 1 ½ tsp. sugar
  • 1 ½ TBS. Cornstarch
  • 1 ½ TBS. Soy sauce
1 chopped onion (small)
3  eggs
½ tsp. black pepper (optional)
½ C. diced celery
4 Tbs. oil (wok oil is prefered)
diced scallion
soy sauce as much as desired
 
 
 Marinate the meat in the sauce for 30 minutes to an hour.
 
Cook 3 cups of rice accordingly.
 Add 1 TBS. of oil to a wok on medium heat.  Add the eggs into the oil and break them into bite size chunks while scrambling them. Cook until they begin to set. It is very important not to cook them entirely as there will be carry-over cooking. Put the eggs to the side until ready to use them again.Add the rest of the oil to the wok.  Add the onions and stir-fry for a minute.  Push to one side of the wok when done. Then put the meat and celery in the wok; stir-fry until the meat is beginning to brown. Add the rice, soy sauce, and pepper; Mix that for about 2 minutes/until everything is coated. Then add the diced scallion and the reserved scrambled egg and stir-fry until everything is well mixed.** If you use shrimp add the celery a minute prior to the shrimp because of cooking time.
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