New York Cheesecake

Cheesecake, one of the best things to experiment with when feeling creative. And I think that's a pretty common feeling, I mean just go look at the range of options for cheesecakes at The Cheesecake Factory and I think I have proved my point. Baked or no-bake. Stuffed with sweetness or light and fresh. Cookie crust or brownie bottom. I could go on for a while, but that's getting off topic.

Because today I want to talk about the basic New York cheesecake and nothing else. I've been a fan of cheesecakes ever since I bit my first slice of New York cheesecake. But somehow I found myself always going for the no-bake option for a long time when I was getting into baking. I would always opt out for the classic cheesecake when out at a cafe or a restaurant but at home I found myself playing with gelatin and chocolate or maybe some Baileys. There was something that kept me from taking the step to the oven.

But a few summers ago, after getting fed up with fighting gelatin chunks in my no-bake cheesecake, I finally decided to give the traditional way a go. At first I was a little spooked by the need to alternate the oven temperature while baking the cheesecake. I put off my first attempt for a little because I was convinced I would get it wrong and end up wasting all the ingredients on a raw, inedible cheesecake. But one day while planning to bake for a family event, I decided it was time to give the cheesecake a go. At least I would hear a lot of opinions and I'd be able to develop the recipe.

And let me tell you, it wasn't nearly the kind of difficulty level I expected to be. So if you're a first timer with oven baked cheesecakes, don't be afraid and put off trying this recipe! If you're an old timer with oven baked cheesecakes, don't laugh, I just tend to overthink things.. Anyway! I strongly recommend this recipe and oven baked cheesecakes in general. I've already made a ton of different version and itching to make even more. Serve the cheesecake as it is or with a swirl of caramel sauce and some fresh berries, both are perfect options! Let me know what you think of the recipe and enjoy your cheesecake moment!

New York Cheesecake

Servings: 8-10 slices

Ingredients:

Crust

200g. graham crackers

70g. butter

½ tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake filling

350g. cream cheese

150g. cream fraiche

2 dl sugar

1 tbsp vanilla sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp cream

+ Caramel sauce and berries on top strongly recommended.

1. Preheat oven to 200C.

2. Crush the cookies and mix with the butter and cinnamon. Press the cookie mixture into a 22cm cake tray.

3. Place the tray in the middle section of the oven for 10 min. While the crust is in the oven, prepare the filling.

4. Mix the cream cheese and crème fraiche together. Add in the sugar and vanilla sugar.

5. Mix in the eggs and then the flour. Lastly pour in the cream and mix until well combined.

6. Once the crust is out of the oven and has had about 10 min to cool down on a cooling rack, pour in the filling and place in the middle section of the oven for 10 min.

7. After the 10 minutes is up, turn down the temperature to 150C and keep the cheesecake in for 45 minutes. Lastly, turn off the oven and keep the cheesecake in for 45 minutes.

Classic American Brownies

Mmm.. Brownies! They're among the first things that got me interested in baking as a kid. I was a sucker for brownies, but the only problem was that I could ever really get the real, authentic brownies at my school's bake sale. And the situation got no better as I got older. By the time I got old enough to trust myself with kitchen appliances and an oven, I was only left with the memory of how good the real American brownies tasted like. My only options were to test every possible version of brownies in Finland, or learn to make them myself. Only problem was, since I hadn't quite learned to read recipes using the metric system yet, it wasn't exactly easy to use recipes from the US. So there were multiple attempts before getting to this result. Some had waaay too much sugar and butter, other ones turned out to be more like a cake base than anything resembling brownie. But after many years and many more batches of failed brownies (luckily I have people around me willing to eat anything with chocolate, butter and sugar).

Luckily some course of life landed me spending some time in Boston. So suddenly I had my hands on the proper equipment to start trying out those American brownie recipes. And oh, how many batches did I make. I used a ton of different recipes as inspiration and kept testing and editing with each batch. Maybe a few more than I needed to, because you know.. sometimes you just get a craving for a piece of brownie with a scoop of ice cream or a glass of cold milk. But here it is, this is what I ended up with. Now I can't say I will never tweak this recipe (mainly because it's a perfect way to justify baking a brownie in the middle of the night, because hey, it's in the name of research) but I have been sticking to this version for a while now. And honestly, lacking a better excuse for baking brownies has not stopped me from making and then eating nearly entire batch of these more often than I would like to admit. Now go ahead, you be the judge of whether these meet your brownie standards and let me know what you think!

Classic American Brownie

Servings: 12-16 pieces

Ingredients:

50g. butter

1 dl sugar

200g. dark chocolate

½ dl milk

2 eggs

¾ tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ dl flour

1 tbsp cocoa

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 175C and butter a square pan.

2. Melt the butter in a pot on medium heat and add in the sugar. Keep on the heat for about 1 minute.

3. Take the pot off the heat and add in the chocolate. Mix the chocolate in the pot until fully melted.

4. Add in the milk and vanilla extract while gently mixing. Add in the eggs and whisk quickly but gently.

5. Mix the dry ingredients together and combine with the first mixture by slowly turning the mixture using a licker.

6. Pour the mixture into the square pan and place in the middle section of the oven. Bake for about 18-20 minutes. Don’t be afraid of the center being raw, the brownie will settle once it cools down.

Cinnamon Roll Fudge

Maybe I’ve been going a little overboard with the fudge? Or honestly, well, lately I’ve also been wondering whether I can call these bites fudge. How strict is the definition of fudge? Well, what ever you prefer to call them, I love making them!

Anyone who knows me a bit better, knows that I love baking cinnamon rolls. The Finnish ones with cardamom and without an icing topping. So naturally, I had to try and make a fudge version of my favorite thing to bake.

Unlike cinnamon rolls, these are so quick to make. If you’ve tried any of the other recipes, you know that the whole process takes about 10-15 minutes to prepare. So I’ll just stop writing now and strongly urge you to go give this quick recipe a try! If not for yourself, put it in a jar and give it to your friend or family member for Christmas!

Cinnamon Roll Fudge

Servings: 35-40 piecres

Ingredients:

200g. white chocolate

1 ½ dl condensed milk

½ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cardamom

2 tbsp brown sugar

1. Cover a 1l. bread tray with parchment paper.

2. Melt the white chocolate with the condensed milk in a heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.

3. Mix in the brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. Pour the mixture into the bread pan and set in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours.