Two-Layer Cheesecake

This recipe was submitted by Denise. It was handed down to her from her mother. I have NOT tested this recipe yet, but it looked so good, I had to post.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Ingredients for the Crust: Use a spring-pan.

1-¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cups sugar
¼ cups melted butter

Combine butter and sugar with the graham cracker crumbs, and line the spring-pan. The back of a large cold spoon works well for this.

Bottom layer ingredients:

1 lb. softened cream cheese
½ cups sugar
3 medium eggs
¾ tsp vanilla

Cream softened cream cheese, add remaining ingredients and blend well. Pour in pan over crust and bake for 20 min. After removing from the oven, increase oven temperature to 475 degrees.

Top layer ingredients:

1 pint sour cream
¼ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Blend together, add on top of first filling after it has cooled a little. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on bake rake before refrigerating.

Pasta

Boiling point of water = boiling point at specified altitude ± boiling point barometric correction. According to this calulation, the estimated boiling point at 9400 feet is approximately 192.5 F. The normal boiling point is 212 F. What does this mean to you? Well, probably not a whole lot.

Use a large pot with a lot of water. Give your pasta plenty of room to breath. In order to get your water to boil quickly – or quicker, cover your pot, flame on high. When your water comes to a boil, drop in one piece of pasta. It will look as though the water is eating the pasta. It will calm after a moment, and then pour the rest of your pasta into your pot. NEVER place your pasta into a pot that is not rapidly boiling — you will get some nasty, mushy crap if you do. If you cover your pot after you put in the pasta, you will have a foam explosion on your hands. Cover partially, but keep a close eye on it. It will boil over. Stir frequently. If you start experiencing that crazy foam madness, blow on it, and it will subside. Some people think if you but a tablespoon of olive oil in the water, it will keep it from foaming up. It’s never worked for me, but you can try it.

Good luck.

Chocolate Cake Woes

So, I tried another chocolate cake -not out of the box – and it failed, but not miserably. I think I just created a Decadent Chocolate Mousse Cake that is rich and devilishly delicious. I will be testing it once more to perfect it. This cake is serious! After one piece, you will have satisfied that chocolate craving for days!

Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees.

1-¾ cups flour (I use high altitude Hungarian flour – Safeway in Woodland Park)
1/3 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa (Dutch processed)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick), room temperature
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces (1/2 bag) Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate chips

Whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda together in a medium bowl, and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars with a hand held electric mixer or a standing mixer, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and then the vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir in the dark chocolate chips.

The batter will be sticky and thick.

To form the cookies, scoop teaspoons of the dough and place about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.

Bake about 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

Totally eat them!

Really Easy Peach Cobbler

This is the easiest Peach Cobbler and I made it the other night so I know what I’m talking about!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

Topping:
2 cups Bisquick
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

Innards:
2 large (29 oz.) cans of sliced peaches in syrup (I prefer DelMonte)
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs flour

What to do:
Let’s start with the innards:  With high heat, dump 1 can of the peaches into a medium saucepan with the 1/4 cup of sugar.  Drain the second can – saving the syrup, and dump the peaches into the saucepan with the first can.   Mix 1/3 of the syrup with the 2 Tbs of flour thoroughly making sure there are NO lumps.  Dump this mixture into the saucepan with the peaches and bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Once brought to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes.  The mixture should thicken.  In the meantime prepare the topping:

Mix all the topping ingredients in a small mixing bowl stirring until smooth. 

Pull it all together:
Pour the ingredients from the saucepan into a casserole dish.  Pour the topping over the peaches, and place in the oven for 35-40 minutes.  The topping will brown.  Use a cake tester or a toothpick to check the topping for doneness – it should come out clean. 

Let cool and totally eat it!

Standards

All high altitude recipes need a formula of some sort.  Here are some basics:

Liquids:  For every cup; increase 3-4 Tablespoons

Flour:  For every cup; increase 1-2 Tablespoons

Baking Powder:  For every teaspoon; decrease 1/4 to 3/8 Teaspoons

Sugar:  For every cup; decrease 2-4 Tablespoons

Baking Temperature:  increase from original; 25 degrees

This guideline will be used throughout, altered slightly as necessary.  I will only post those recipes that are tested and successful! 

Baking makes the world a richer place!