Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars with Oreo Crust

Cheesecake is probably my favorite dessert, if you can’t tell by how many I make. And chocolate and strawberries is one of the best combinations ever, right? So after making oreo cheesecake bars, combining the two was the only option I could think of. Well maybe not the only option, but it sounded good at the time. If conditions were more favorable, this probably would have come out a lot better. I think I overcooked the crust, but that’s what happens when you’re in a rush, trying to cook things at 1am while your mother is asleep, and you’re whacking Oreos into crumbs with a rolling pin while still trying to not wake the whole neighborhood up. All in all, it still tasted pretty damn good.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars with Oreo CrustFor the crust:

• 23 Oreo cookies
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake (recipe via mykitchensnippets):

• 2 package (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup strawberry jam

For the (optional) strawberry topping:

• about 6 or 7 strawberries, sliced (you may need more or less, depending on the size of your berries)
• 1/3 cup strawberry jam

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease and line an 8” x 8” square baking with parchment paper with leaving an overhang on both side (for easy removal of your slices later).
If you have a food processor: place the Oreos in the bowl of your food processor. Process, pulsing, until the cookies are finely ground. Add in the melted butter and pulse until the cookie crumbs are moistened. If you do not have a food processor: place Oreos in large ziploc bag, and beat with a rolling pin until finely ground. Transfer crumbs into a bowl and add in the melted butter, mixing until moist. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan. Press the crumbs into an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside while you prepare the filling.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and lemon juice in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition, just until blended. Pour over crust. Heat up strawberry jam slightly in the microwave. Gently drop jam by small spoonfuls over top of batter. Cut through batter several times with knife for marble effect. Bake 40 min. or until center is set. Cool. Slice strawberries and heat up the additional 1/3 cup jam in the microwave. Layer your strawberries over the cheesecake, then drizzle the warm jam evenly over the berries and top of the cake. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before slicing.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Another thing on the list of foods I had never tried was red velvet cake. (Well I had some once and didn’t like it at all, but I figured the reason I didn’t like it was because it was from the grocery store, so I never really counted that as trying it.) So while my friend was over, we decided we’d make some red velvet cupcakes. I received The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook as a gift for my birthday in November, and had used it a few times before this (the best and only actually noteworthy I’ve made from it was Apple Pecan Quick Bread) and it had a recipe for red velvet cake, so I figured I’d try it out.
This was sadly one of the worst cakes I’ve ever made, due to it being too dry. All of the cake recipes I’ve made from this cookbook have been really dry. I think they purposely leave out ingredients in their cake recipes or something since that’s what the bakery is known for. I’m still not counting this as having tried red velvet cake, because I doubt this is what it was supposed to taste like. So here’s the recipe anyway, but if you want to make red velvet cake, I wouldn’t make this particular recipe:

Christmas Red Velvet Cupcakes (from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook)
Red Velvet Cake

• 3 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp red food coloring*
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cupcake pan with papers. In a small bowl sift the flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs beating well after each addition. In another small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring cocoa, and vanilla. (Basically just try to make a very red paste mixture. If your batter looks more pink than red after you add the cocoa-food coloring mixture to the rest of the wet ingredients, just keep adding more food coloring until it looks as red as you want it to be.) Add to the batter and beat very well, remembering to scrape down the sides of the bowl. In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overmix. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter into the bowl making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Spoon the batter into the cupcake papers, about 3/4 full. Bake about 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let cool and then frost cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Makes just over 2 dozen cupcakes.

Whipped Cream Cheese Icing

• 1lb (2 8oz packages) cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 5 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the vanilla and beat well. Gradually add the powdered sugar, alternating with the heavy cream. Then beat well for about 4-5 minutes until icing has a “whipped” texture and everything is incorporated. If need be, thicken in fridge for a couple hours, but no longer, before using.

Banana Birthday Cake

For the past few years, I’ve been making my own birthday cakes. Mostly just as a chance to experiment with decorating (like this Pyramid Head Hello Kitty cake for my 15th birthday, a Batman themed cake for my 16th, and a rainbow cake for my 17th), but lately since I’ve been more into the culinary arts than I ever have been in my life, it’s also a way to learn more about how to make certain kinds of cakes. I had a bunch of different options picked out, but then finally got down to this one. I wanted a really big cake for my 18th birthday, but I think I actually made too much cake. Also, dowels would have worked better than lollypop sticks to keep the cake structurally sound, but it was all I had at the time and I didn’t anticipate the cake almost toppling over.

Things to note: I doubled the recipe for both the cake and the frosting, and added cinnamon to the frosting. It gave me four layers! The cake started to tip over so I had to put lollypop sticks through it to hold it up and as you can see, half of it fell over after it was cut. It basically tasted like a cakey banana bread with frosting, but it was very good. Super rich though, I could only eat a couple bites at a time.

Banana Cake

• 1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/8 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups icing sugar

Garnish

• chopped walnuts

Directions:
Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 1 1/4 hr

Preheat oven to 275°.
Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
Stir in banana mixture.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.
For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
Spread on cooled cake.
Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of the frosting, if desired.