Mini Twix Cheesecakes

I have made cheesecakes before and the texture and taste was never like a true cheesecake. But I made these and even though they are little, they are amazing! Just the taste and texture of a cheesecake is suppose to be. So you can imagine, my family, avid cheesecake lovers, being the critics here. They absolutely LOVED them. I made the a couple nights ago and they had to sit overnight. They barley sat in the fridge the next day. They totally devoured them. LOL So I guess I should give you guys the recipe. :)

Twix Cheesecakes

makes 12 cheesecakes

Crust:
1/2 package Oreos (26 Oreos)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake Batter:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
12 mini Twix bars, chopped into small pieces

In a food processor, grind up the Oreos into fine crumbs. Put the crumbs into a large bowl and add in the sugar. Mix to combine. Then pour in the melted butter and mix to coat all of the crumbs with butter.
Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Scoop a Tablespoon of the cookie crumbs into each cupcake liner. Using your hand, press the crumbs down firmly. Set the cupcake pan aside while you work the cheesecake filling.

In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese until smooth on medium low speed, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on medium low speed, add in the sugar and mix to combine. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly pour in the lightly beaten eggs and mix until the eggs are incorporated. Add in the sour cream and combine.

Chop the mini Twix bars into small pieces. Add them into the cheesecake batter and gently fold them in.

Using an ice cream scooper, scoop the cheesecake batter into each cupcake liner.

Bake the cheesecakes at 275 degrees for 30 minutes.

Chill the cheesecakes overnight in the refrigerator. Then enjoy!

CANNOLIS!!

So I FINALLY learned out to make these amzing Italian cannolis! Thanks to my good friend Stephine Mast! :) I cant give out the recipe. One reason i cant is cause i dont have it. LOL But she is amazing. :) I had a blast making these with her. We had an even more of a blast eating them when we were done! :) If you are interested in baking cannolis, yourself, you can go online an find the best cannoli recipe you can find, and take a stab at it! :) But here are some pictures of our cannolis. Enjoy! :)

Another Blog

This blog is really messed up, i want to delete it and make another food blog. But i dont want to do all those recipes all over again. I have no idea why its messing up, but should i just copy all of the recipes i have posted and start another food blog? Let me know! Btw... if you want to know more about me, I have another blog, I've had it for awhile, its about my life! Check it out!

http://picsfromateen.blogspot.com/

Ok, this was a day to blog about!

Yesterday was my little brothers 8th birthday. We went bowling yesterday with the family, but had his party today. I have been none stop all day today and yesterday. I can't give away much at this point because my mom might be reading this. :) So this morning we went out and got stuff for my mom for mothers day. I'm also doing something very special for her as well. :) After that, while my brother was at his baseball game, I made his surprise pizza cake... yes, i said PIZZA cake! :) He loves pizza, its his favorite food. He said he wanted baseball cupcakes for his birthday, so he was under the impression that he was getting baseball cupcakes this whole week, up until he blew out the candles. :) He was surprised, he was like "it looks like a pizza!" :) he's so cute!

So I wanted to do something special and creative for him. It took awhile to think of a good one. Then i got it... his favorite food! Pizza! :) So i looked up pizza cake recipes, and found this amazingly simple recipe. It was impressive, and it looked like pizza.  All I did for the cake, was boxed golden yellow cake.Made buttercream frosting and added some red food coloring to make it look like pizza sauce. Grated up some blocks of white chocolate for the cheese. Then cut out little circles, about the same size of a real pepperoni, made from red fruit roll-ups and placed them on the pizza as the finishing touch. I also made pizza cupcakes.

Ok, so in the middle of writing this blog, we decided, because we are going out of town to celebrate mothers day with family, that we would give my mom her gifts early. We got her a family photo album and put some pics of us and her and everyone in it. A beautiful plaque thing that we got at khols. Its a picture of a tire swing with the sunset in the background. It says.... 'Children hold your hands for awhile but your hearts forever.'
Then we got her something that she really wanted, a plant hanger, to hang a plant on, so we got her a plant to hang on it. Still just got one more thing in store for her, that she doesn't truely know about. It will have to wait until we get home tomorrow night. :)

Well this has been a very tiring day, especially cause I was up until about 2:30am early this morning. :) Then got up at 7am. Yeah its been a very busy, stressful, tiring day. But at the end of the day, you know it was worth it. I will be up late again tonight working on my project. But its totally worth it. I love my mom and every woman that has ever been a mother figure to me.You guys are sooo wonderful and special to me. I wish a happy Mother's day to everyone!

Homemade Pizza

I made a homemade pizza, and yes the crust is also homemade. :) Well here's the recipes for the crust.

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving. 

As soon as I rolled out the dough for the pizza, I layered sliced fresh mozzarella, sliced tomatoes and spinach. Before I did that I brushed some garlic butter on the bottom of the crust and some Italian seasoning. After I layered the ingredients I sprinkle some Italian seasoning on top. Then bake in a 450 degree oven until golden brown. Slice and enjoy!

Empanadas... Cuban Night

A few weeks ago I helped my friend make dinner. We made a bunch of Cuban food. Emapanadas, Black beans, and yellow rice. So I thought I would try making them for my family. I made Emapandas with black beans, tortilla chips and salsa. I was real good. Here is the recipes and pictures.                                                                                                    
The Dough... Fried

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons lard
2 tablespoons butter
1 whole egg PLUS 1 egg yolk
1/2 cups cold water
(Plus or minus to bring dough to proper consistency)

Sift the flour with salt, baking powder and sugar. Place half of the flour in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. Place the butter, lard, eggs, and water in the well. Mix together by hand to from a paste. Continue to add more flour until all of the flour is added. You may need to add water -- slowly and in small quantities until the dough reaches the right consistency. The dough needs to be soft and pliable, like pie dough. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a clean, damp dish towel, and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature. Makes 14-18 empanadas.

Sift the flour with salt, baking powder and sugar. Place half of the flour in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. Place the butter, lard, eggs, and water in the well. Mix together by hand to from a paste. Continue to add more flour until all of the flour is added. You may need to add water -- slowly and in small quantities until the dough reaches the right consistency. The dough needs to be soft and pliable, like pie dough. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a clean, damp dish towel, and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature. Makes 14-18 empanadas.

 For the filling, I dont have a recipe. You can actually put anything you want in them, but this is what i put in mine. 


All i did was first chop an onion very fine. Then chop olives very fine as well, you can use either green or black olives. Put thosein a pan with butter. Lightly saute. Then add some rasins, after you have added the rasins, go ahead and through in your meat choice. I put in ground beef. Then cook until meat is cooked thoroughly. Your filling is done.

Get your dough out and roll and roll with your rolling pin. Cut out medium size circles of dough. Then fill them and make sure clamp them with a fork to get them very well sealed. You dont want them to come open in the fryer. Once your oil in your deep fryer is hot. Put them in the fryer, until golden brown. Then they will be ready to eat!!! Enjoy!