recipe

KNR, p. 45 “Kerrian’s Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake”

 

We always serve special desserts on holiday weekends, whether we are having an all day BBQ, guests at a special meal, or a sit-down dinner after church. Sheila and I work as a team on the desserts. She bakes them and I do the taste-testing while she works on the balance of sugar and chocolate. Teamwork pays off!

Sunday’s recipe is a creamy chocolate cheesecake. Sheila says that it was easy to make. It was easy to eat the samples.

Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake

Sheila and Charlie Kerrian
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 8

Equipment

  • 8" springform pan
  • parchment paper
  • pot with double-boiler insert
  • standing mixer with large bowl & paddle attachment

Ingredients
  

  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil for spring-form pan - we use almond oil
  • 20 2" chocolate chip cookies
  • 4 Tablespoons butter (salted)
  • 10 oz Ghirardelli milk chocolate baking chips
  • 10 oz Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup extra fine sugar
  • 12 oz whipped cream cheese
  • 1 pint heavy cream
  • 2 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
  • sour cream & fresh fruit for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and wipe the sides with oil.
  • Crush the cookies with a rolling pin.
  • Melt the butter in a sauce pan, remove from heat, then stir in the crushed cookies.
  • Press the cookie/butter mixture into the bottom (and 1/2 inch up the sides) of the prepared pan. Chill in refrigerator for at least 30minutes.
  • Place all the chocolate into the top of the double-boiler, with gently simmering water in the bottom. Melt the chocolate, stirring frequently until thoroughly blended and remove from heat.
  • Add sugar and cream cheese to the mixing bowl and beat on lowest speed until smooth.
  • Slowly add the heavy cream and beat on the lowest setting until thick and creamy.
  • Slowly add the melted chocolate and continue to beat on lowest setting until thoroughly blended. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and beat again.
  • Add Bailey’s and mix until blended. Mixture should now have thick pudding consistency.
  • Spoon into the spring-form pan and then level the surface with butter knife or spoon.
  • Chill in refrigerator for 2-3 hours (until very firm).
  • Transfer to cake plate and serve with fresh fruit and sour cream. Also nice with ice cream.

 

Print
 

If you don’t own a spring-form pan, or are not comfortable using one, the recipe will also work nicely in a 9” deep-dish disposable pie pan. Press the cookie crumb/butter mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the unlined disposable pan, then follow the rest of the directions as written.

Spoon any extra filling into ramekins, chill, garnish with fruit, and serve as individual desserts.

*This recipe first appeared on chocolate guru Janet Rudolph’s site: www.DyingforChocolate.com

*The photo was taken by Patti Phillips. We promise that no bodies have ever been discovered in Kerrian’s Kitchen. 😉

 

 

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KNR, p. 217 “Tomato Cucumber Feta Salad”

 

It’s grillin’ season!

 

Some of our pals grill all year round. We know a guy that keeps a snow shovel inside the house near the deck door – just in case it snows – in order to clear a path on the deck to his five-foot-wide grill.  🙂  But, we’re a little more conservative, and stick to mid-May until first frost in mid to late October.

 

Whenever your grilling months, you probably serve fresh vegetable salads of some kind along with the great meats and veggies you can sear on the grill top. We like this cucumber and tomato mix, tossed together with an easy salad dressing and feta cheese, for a light salad that goes well with a variety of BBQ food. Hamburgers and hot dogs or steaks and potatoes? It works with everything we’ve tried on the grill and nobody has died yet from eating the fig balsamic or the herbes de Provence. Promise.

 

Print
"Tomato Cucumber Feta Salad"
Author: 
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 3 medium tomatoes, cut into one inch chunks (about 4 cups)
  • 2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced (about 4 cups)
  • 1 6 oz package feta cheese, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup fig balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon herbes de Provence
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
  1. Place the tomatoes, cucumbers, feta and onion in a large serving bowl.
  2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, herbes de provence, pepper, and lemon juice.
  3. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and cheese and lightly toss until combined.
  4. Serve cold.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

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KNR, p. 166 “Cobbles for Vegetable Stew”

 

CobblesIMG_5113

Sheila and I eat in a lot of pubs whenever we visit Ireland. The food is tasty and in most places, is real comfort food. In order to get through those damp, cold Irish winters, food needs to be the hearty stick-to-your-ribs kind. We saw Vegetable Cobbler on the menu in a Killarney pub and thought it was a misprint. After all, we eat cobbler at home, but it’s always made with fruit – loads of different kinds of fruit, but always fruit.

 

We found out that Irish pubs rarely serve fruit cobbler and instead, go for a savory version and serve it as an entree. Until that day we had been served mashed potato topped stew and pie crust topped stew, but the gal told us that those were meat toppings. The cobbles (biscuits) are used primarily with an all vegetable stew. We learned something new every day!

 

Here’s the recipe that Sheila came up with to use with our year round hearty vegetable dishes. She modified her regular biscuit recipe and now it reminds me of those cheesy biscuits we get at restaurants here in the States.

 

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"Cobbles for Stew"
Author: 
Recipe type: Side Dish
Cuisine: Irish
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 4 Tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or rosemary, depending on the vegetable stew seasonings)
  • 1 jumbo egg, slightly beaten
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • Parchment paper
  • Aluminum cookie tray
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F)
  2. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl
  3. Add the butter/margarine and mix together with a fork or pastry blender
  4. Mix in 2/3 cup cheese and all the oregano (or rosemary). Set aside.
  5. Place the milk in a small bowl.
  6. Add the beaten egg to the milk and stir together.
  7. Add 1 cup of milk-egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together to form a soft ball of dough.
  8. Add more of the mixture if needed to include all the dry ingredients in the ball.
  9. Roll out dough (on a lightly floured surface) to about a 1/2 inch thickness.
  10. Use a lightly floured glass or lightly floured cookie cutter to cut two-inch circles.
  11. Add the cobbles to the top of your stew.
  12. Brush with leftover milk-egg and sprinkle the leftover cheese on top.
  13. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

 

We love that the ‘cobbles’ can also be baked on their own and eaten as an alternate bread at any meal. I taste-tested quite a few of these to make sure that the recipe was just right. 😉

 

If you are making the biscuit/cobbles without the stew, or have extra dough that doesn’t fit on top of the stew (as we did in the photo above) line the aluminum cookie tray with parchment paper, and increase the baking time to 13-14 minutes. Eat warm right out of the oven and serve with butter/margarine.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

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