This cheesecake is creamy and moist and is very easy to cook. It doesn’t require a lot of cooking time and efforts.

I invented it many years ago and it’s my favorite, although I do love New York Juniors cheesecake as well.

For this recipe you don’t necessary need a spring form.

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Preparation time 30 minutes (not taking into the account the time in the freezer 2h optional, but not a must)

Serves 8 people

Ingredients:

Dough:

1.5 cup of self rising flour (sifted)

1/2 cups of sugar

1/2 stick of butter

1/2 cup of cooking oil

1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (3-4 drops)

1 tablespoon of baking powder

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon of water

1 tablespoon of mayo

Filling

1.5 packages of cream cheese

3 egg whites

1/2 cup of sugar

1 cup of pumpkin (preferably boiled for 3 -5 minutes, then peeled and shredded, not pumpkin filling)

Preparation:

Take the cream cheese packets out of the fridge and set aside.

In a bowl, pour the sugar, 1 cup of flour and  cut 1/2 stick of butter. Mix everything with fork, trying to rub the butter with sugar and flour. Add vanilla sugar, baking powder and the rest of the flour (0.5 cup). Mix everything again very well. Add the cooking oil (I use the vegetable oil)

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites . In a separate cup mix: the egg yolks with water and 1 tablespoon of mayo. Pour into the dough mixture and  mix all the ingredients with a fork, then with a hand, shaping a ball.

Put the dough ball in a freezer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the filling:

Mix the egg whites with sugar and pulse it with mixer for 1 minute.

Cut the cream cheese and put it in a bowl with egg whites and sugar.

Mix everything very well with mixer for 3 minutes.

Add the shredded pumpkin that was precooked for 3 minutes, peeled and shredded.

Mix everything with mixer very well.

Baking

Take the dough out of the freezer.

Roll it out slightly, (not to the full shape), put the layer into the baking dish or spring form. (The form should be very well greased before putting the dough in it). Spread the dough with your hands around the form and extend the dough to the wall, thus forming the dough bowl for the cheese mixture.

Pour your cream cheese mixture inside and bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350 F.

After the cheesecake is cooked, turn the heat off and leave it in the oven for additional 5-10 minutes so that it would cool off with the oven and not fall (because it should raise pretty well)

TAke the cheese cake out of the oven let it rest for some time and then take it out of the form.

I let the cake rest for another 10 minutes and then just turn the dish over an put it on the plate with cheese facing down. Then I take another plate and  cover the bottom of the cake and turn it around on another plate. (but you can use the spring form it’s simpler)

Decorating.

You may use whipping cream to decorate. or I used 3 egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar to make a cream and just pour it on the cake when serving.

Egg whites and sugar cream.

Take 3 egg whites add 1/2/ cup of sugar beat it up with a hand mixer for 2-3 minutes.

Freezing, freeze your cake or 2-3 hours (optional, but not necessary). it tastes good even without freezing.Keep it in a fridge or freezer!

Enjoy.

It’s almost turkey time and his means that a lot of newbies will attempt to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. I, myself, will be cooking a pumpkin cheesecake, the cake that I have never attempted to approach before. SO when cooking a Thanksgiving dinner, especially when cooking it for the first time, PLAN EVERYTHING AHEAD!

Tip #1. Write down all the necessary ingredients and plan where you will buy everything.

TURKEY:

Tip #2. When buying a turkey keep in mind “how long will it take to thaw it?” Remember, that normally, you won’t be able to thaw a turkey in 24h. You need at least 24h per 5lb. of turkey. So if you have a 12 lb turkey it may take up to 48h to thaw it in a refrigerator. It’s not recommended to thaw a turekey ourside of the fridge.

Tip #3. If you plant to marinade the turkey, give it up to 24 h for marinating! Don’t forget to turn your bird , so that it would be marinated from both sides!

Tip #4. NEVER! Stuff the turkey a night before cooking, this may cause food poisoning!

Tip #5. Cook your turkey at 350F, calculate the time according to the chart given below:

Tip #6. It is suggested to roast the turkey for the first hour on its breast. This will ensure the even distribution of color of roast.

Tip #7. Check the temperature of the turkey in thickest part of the leg and breast. Use a meat thermometer for best results. When done, all parts of the turkey should be 165°F. (It is sold at Wal-mart , Target and doesn’t cost a lot of money)

Tip #8. Let your turkey rest for 30 minutes before carving, thus the juices will be evenly distributed in your bird and the carving will be easier.

Side dishes:

Tip #9.Prepare the inexpensive food for the side dishes: like corn on the cob, green beans, carrots and bean,devilled eggs, sauteed vegetables, stuffed mushrooms

Tip #10. Remember corn on the cob is in season now, but it tastes really delicious with mashed potatoes and other veggies, as well as with turkey. And mainly it doesn’t require a lot of efforts to cook, Just what you need!

Tip #11. Keep in mind that if you cook deviled eggs, they should be refrigerated at least 2-3 hours before serving. Find the simplest recipe here.

Tip #12 If you have a vegetarians in your family don’t forget to braise cabbage or  vegetable variety for them. It takes 5 minutes to wash and chop the veggies.

Pies:

Tip # . Prepare the dough in advance. You can store it in the refrigerator overnight. It is safe and saves you tons of time.

Tip #10. Use fresh stuffing of pumpkin and apples this will make your pie unforgettable.

Tip #11. If you have only 15 minutes for the pie preparation use this apple pie recipe and it will always be perfect.

Tip #12. When the pie is almost baked, Turn the heat off and let it sit in the oven fr additional 15 minutes. This the dough and the stuffing in your pie that rose will not fall.

Tip #13. To serve the pie warm put in in the oven 15-20 minutes before serving. (if it’s still warm after your turkey and pie adventures!)

Tip #14. If you wish to avoid dough this holiday, try and bake healthy apples with walnuts and honey recipe. You just need to core the apples and stuff them with walnuts mixed with nuts. The recipe is here.

Finally, cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family is challenging, but if you will plan everything in advance and split the responsibilities you will be done in no time and enjoy a great time with family!

HAVE A BLESSED HOLIDAY!

Helen

This recipe is as easy as it can only get. I think the hardest part is to take the apples’ seeds out, so that the apples would be intact.

I am cooking these apples since the time I remember myself cooking. My Daddy cooks these apples in red wine, but, let’s not get too crazy here. I’m on a quest for a healthy, kid-friendly dessert.

You will need:

9 apples (you can take more, you can take less. 9 apples are good for 3 people)

1 cup of walnuts

1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder

2-3 tablespoons of honey (depends on how you like them: too sweet or not so sweet)

¼ stick of butter.

I don’t use sugar, caramel or anything unnatural in this dessert. It’s sweet, delicious healthy. Your family members will LOVE this desert because combination of the ingredients is amazingly delicious.

You will like this dessert, because it is healthy and doesn’t involve sugar.

Step 1: Wash and take the seeds out of the apple as shown in the picture.

Step 2: Crush the walnuts, add some honey, cinnamon, melted butter and honey. Mix very well.

Step 3: Preheat the oven at 350F. Put the stuffing (walnuts with honey, cinnamon and butter) inside the apples, place in a deep baking dish, add some water.

Step 4: Bake for 25-30 minutes and serve warm.

Enjoy!

***Tip from Helen*** I prefer mid-sized red apples for this dish, but green will also be fine. Just they shouldn’t be too firm. Yellow apples won’t taste as good, because they will be too sweet and soft ***

The last day of September is a double Birthday Day in my family. So I was looking for a cake that would be simple, fast and that wouldn’t require a lot of time in the kitchen.

My Facebook friend Dor from La Difference Catering offered me to cook a Classic Victoria Sandwich, so I improvised and changed couple ingredients, as well as added couple of new.

This is how the ready cake looks like. It’s a shame I didn’t get a chance to picture it when cut.It looks amazing inside too, but it vanished too fast.

Preparation time: 30 minutes (Total with cream and decoration)

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Total time needed: 55 minutes to 1 hour. (It’s better that the cake stand in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours, but it’s not critical)

For the batter:

1 cup of sifted flour

1 cup of sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons of lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla sugar

1 teaspoon of baking powder

To decorate:

Coconut shred (optional)

1/2 cup raspberries

1/2 cup strawberries

(Or you may use kiwis and bananas)

Batter preparation:

Mix sugar with eggs gradually, then add lemon zest, vanilla sugar and baking powder; after that start gradually add sifted flour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F; preheat a tin, where you will pour the batter.

Grease the tin with butter or margarine, pour the batter in it and bake for 20-25 minutes until the toothpick comes out of the cake clean.

While the cake is baking let’s cook the cream.

Clotted Cream recipe:

1 cup of milk

3 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of flour

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla sugar

1/3 cup of condensed milk

Step 1. Divide the milk into 2 halves. Mix 1/2 cup of milk with eggs, flour and vanilla sugar. Set aside.

Step2. Mix 1/2 cup of milk with sugar. Put on medium heat, stir constantly until starts to boil. Por the 2nd part of cream (with eggs and flour in) and stir constantly, until it starts to boil again.

Step 3, Take the cream off the gas and add the condensed milk after it cools off a little.

Your cream is ready.

Decorating:

When the sponge cake is baked and cooled off a little take it out of the tin and cut the sponge into two parts lengthwise. Now when you have two sponges choose one which will be the best for the “foundation” and cover it with your clotted cream.

Take the raspberries and put it on the first layer of your cake. I put one or two circles (one inside another) on the first layer. Put the second sponge on top of first, press a little, cover the first layer with cream and decorate with coconut shred. Put the berries on top of the cake: raspberries and strawberries will be good or bananas and kiwis will be nice as well.

Put the cake in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours (optional).

The cake tastes better when cooled off.

Enjoy!

I love puff pastry, do you? You can create literally hundreds of recipes with it and it’s ready in 15 minutes: Apple strudel, croissants, puff pastry baskets and puff pastry fish pie and much more. The recipe of this dough will help you create a lot of awesomely delicious dishes in minutes.

For the dough you’ll need:

2 sticks of frozen butter (unsalted), no margarine.

 1 cup of water

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

For the filling:

2-3 apples

½ cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)

½ cup of finely chopped walnuts (optional)

The batter prep takes some time and effort, but then you’ll be able to freeze it and use for 2-3 weeks easy.

So, Take your butter, cut the sticks in halves and put in the freezer for 15 min.

Mix: water, flour and vanilla sugar.

Put the batter in a freezer for 10 min.

Take out of the freezer ½ stick of butter and the batter.

Put the clear wrap on the surface you are gonna work on, using the dough roller roll the dough out until 1 inch thick. Shred the butter on the rolled out dough and fold in triangle. Put in a freezer for 10-15 minutes (cover it with clear wrap when putting in the freezer). In 15 minutes take another ½ stick of butter, take out the dough, and put the clear wrap on the working surface (the same you used before or new one). Roll out the dough until 1 inch thick; shred the butter, fold in triangle, put for 15 min in the freezer (cover with clear wrap). Repeat the same procedure with the rest 2 halves of the butter sticks. This dough takes some time and effort, but it really is delicious and the best. But, if you don’t have no time for messing with this dough, just buy the ready puff pastry dough. I normally cook this dough over the weekend, because then I can relax roll out my dough go watch TV then repeat, you know… just enjoy this dough preparation procedure…:-))

The dough is ready, when you shred the last 1/2 stick of butter and put it for 15 minutes in the fridge: take it out cut in 3-4 pieces. Use one piece to roll out your dough for the strudel , the other two you can use for the croissants:-) Keep the other parts of the dough in a freeser for as long as you ned. It’s a great dough to fix quick dessert or pie, or cakes, or roll…

But strudel is my favorite. Ususally it doesn’t live for more than 3 hours in my house, croissants may last for 24 h the most.

Enjoy and share with me your ways of using this recipe of dough.

TGIF! And it’s time for my TGIF recipe interpretation.

This recipe from “A meandering mango” inspired me for my “Chocolate cake with rum and coconut”

These cakes chocolate espresso molten cakes look amazing and the recipe is very simple.

There’s only one problem that bothered me: two cakes that come out of this recipe won’t even reach the dinner table, as they will be eaten by my family members betwen the oven and table transportation. So I invented a “Chocolate cake with rum and coconut” , making some changes to ” A meandering mango’s recipe” and experimenting a little.

The result that came out of my experiment was amazing, but, it all started of  “A meandering mango’s” inspiring recipe and mouthwatering pictures.

I’m still planning to cook this recipe without any experiments (when there are “chocolate predators” at home … pssst), but as of right now, I’m very happy with the result and recommend you to try both recipes.

Btw, you should check out the other recipes of “A meandering mango”, there are a lot of great ideas, chocolate cheesecake brownies are on my list to do, but,… it’s another story.

Enjoy!

My cake is a combination of recipes, ideas and vision of a great chocolate cake. (to my mind)

I love that this cake is moist inside, combines sweetness and bitterness of dark chocolate and I love that it’s easy to cook.

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

½ cup of instant espresso

1 ¼  stick of butter

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

2 ¾ all-purpose flour (sifted)

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

4 eggs

Step 1. Set a pot ¾ full of water. Put a metal bowl on top of it and as the water starts to boil in a pot add to your bowl the butter, cut in slices. As the butter is starting to melt, add the chocolate chips and then, as the chocolate chips are starting to melt, add the instant espresso to the bowl. Stir the mixture occasionally and don’t let it burn. Turn the gas to a minimum and let the mixture just be there for 4-5 minutes.

Step 2.In a separate bowl mix:  flour (sifted), sugar, baking powder, baking soda (vanilla extract if it’s dry, if not you’ll add it later when we mix chocolate and flour) .

Step  3. Turn the gas off, take the bowl with chocolate-espresso-butter mixture and mix it with your flour mixture.

Step 4. When the chocolate and flour mixtures are very well mixed and cooled off a little bit, beat in 4 eggs, one by one. You have to stir the batter fast because the egg whites may  get cooked (the mixture may still be warm because of the heated chocolate).

Preheat the oven at 375 F, put same size three baking dishes (or two if you don’t have three) in the oven for 2 minutes just before pouring the batter in it. ( I used two dishes)

Take the dishes out of the oven carefully, grease them with butter, pour the batter evenly in all three (two) dishes and bake for 35 minutes (or until cooked). Test with a toothpick, it should be inserted into the center of the cake and come out clean. Allow to cool.

Crème:

For the crème I used vanilla pudding. But before covering the cake with it, I added the secret ingredient to my cake (take the kids off the screen). I added Malibu rum to it , just sprinkled  each layer of the cake with 2-3 tablespoons,(ok 3-4 tablespoons:-) of rum. Then I covered each layer with vanilla pudding and decorated the top of the cake with coconut shred.

Let the cake stand for a night, although mine didn’t get a chance to wait that long, we tested it in 15 minutes after it was done…

Enjoy!

And, omit the Malibu rum step if you are cooking it for kids  

This chocolate chip cookies recipe was borrowed from Allrecipes.com website.

I have changed the ingredients list a little bit, but the best part of this recipe is that it’s very fast, very simple and may be cooked with your eyes closed. You kids will <3 these cookies, they are” crispy on the edges and chewy inside”, as the author Dora said in her description.

***Tip from Helen*** You can make these cookies with oatmeal and they will be fabulous! Just substitute chocolate chips with oatmeal. ***Tip from Helen***

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Servings: 24 cookies (or more depending on the size you like)

Ingredients:

1 2/3 sticks of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of white sugar (optional, but not a must they will be very sweet)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of baking soda

2 tablespoons of hot water

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 (2) cups of chocolate chips

1 cup of coconut shred (optional)

2 eggs

2 ½ cups of flour (you can put 3 and your cookies will be more crispy.)

Take the butter out of the fridge, let it become soft. Cut the butter in small pieces and mix it with sugar.  Add vanilla extract and beat in eggs, one after another. Mix baking soda and hot water in a cup and pour into the egg-sugar-butter mixture. Mix very well, add baking powder and flour, stir well, then add coconut shred and chocolate chips (or oatmeal).

Preheat the stove at 350F. Form the cookies with a tablespoon and fingers. (Remember that they will grow 2-3 sizes larger, so leave enough space between your cookies). Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

 ***Tip from Helen*** If you don’t want your cookies to be very-very sweet add 1 cup of sugar. If you want your cookies to be more soft add less flour and bake them for 20 minutes until light golden brown.*** Tip from Helen***

Enjoy!

In loving memory of My Grandmother Maria.

This pie was a signature recipe of my Grandmother Maria, today would be her birthday , so I decided to bake this pie for the first time in my life. I ate it hundreds of times, but never thought that this deliciousness is so simple to cook.

You can use pretty much any filling : jam, fresh fruit, berries and nuts. (wallnuts add special twist to this pie)

I was baking this pie with cherries, so in my execution it’s sweet and sour shredded pie.

For this recipe you’ll need:

2 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon of sour cream or mayo

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of water

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 stick of butter.

Sift flour, add 1 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of baking powder, mix everything very well.

Shred the butter and mix it with the flour-sugar-baking powder. In a separate bowl mix: egg yolk,  2 tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon of sour cream (or mayo), add vanilla extract. Form a batter, split the batter in proportion 2/3 and 1/3. Put it in a fridge for 15-20 mins.

Preheat the stove to 350F,grease the baking dish, take the batter  and spred 2/3 of batter over the baking dish. (as it’s  very tender I was spreading it with my hands)

Filling: take the filling you are planning to use, I’m using cherries, spread over the batter and shred the1/3 of batter over the filling. (So your pie would look like a curly pie).

Bake the pie for 20-25 mins untli the crust is golden brown.

Enjoy! (I enjoyed it a lot)