Coffee Cheesecake with Chocolate Sauce

Sometimes I crave cheese. In a major way. Which wouldn’t be so out-of-the ordinary if I wasn’t lactose-intolerant. Yes, my little stomach can’t process those cheesy enzymes. I blame my asian DNA since it is pretty common for Asian people to have some form of lactose intolerance. While everyone runs for milk when eating warm cookies, I shudder at the thought.

However, once in a blue moon, I get a craving for something rich, decadent, and cheesy. Case in point, last week I went with a friend to S’Mac, a small Mac and Cheese hotspot that serves the main dish anyway you like it. Tummy ache be damned, I said, I want a skillet of hot mac and cheese and I want it now. Cut to me, rolling in a ball on my bead, quivering in pain. Not my finest moment but it was worth every bite. Today, I have another craving, but for that sinfully delicious dessert known as Cheesecake. Not just any cheesecake but one right up my alley: Coffee Cheesecake with Chocolate Sauce.

I’d like to eat this everyday. I’d like to eat this everyday with maybe a side of mac and cheese.

What meets the eye…

Raised in the buckle-down-and-bear-it environment, I am a fighter at heart. Trust me, I’ve got the battle scars to prove it. However, in some situations, I’ve learned that it is perfectly appropriate to throw in the towel. Sometimes, fighting is too hard and takes too much effort. Stubborn and prideful, it kills me to have to walk away from something because it means I’ve given up. But there are some aspects in my current life that leave me in tears some days. Ripped to shreds. Because I am a fighter. Because I am a vocal, passionate person.

With all this commotion going on, I’ve left this little space quiet. A tad bit preoccupied and uninspired, I apologize for my silence. I have some great ideas and posts in the works but getting down to business can be tedious. Especially when your heart is somewhere else and your mind is focused on a challenge that might swallow you whole.

Instead of showing you a perfectly pleasing recipe, I’m going to show you these disastrous cookies. Why?  Because, despite the fact that the recipe was utterly flawed, they sure looked pretty. Plus, not everything goes right in my kitchen and I like to show my mistakes as they happen more frequently than one can guess.

To anyone else they might have been a success. But I knew better. The shortbread was unevenly baked, and lacked flavor. Cutting the actual cookies was a test of my patience since they started crumbling the minute I touched them. I’m providing you the link to the basic shortbread recipe. Maybe you will have better luck than me? I added two cups of reduced-sugar raspberry preserves and baked them according to the regular instructions.

If you have a better recipe for shortbread cookies, leave them in the comment section. I am looking for a real winner!

Devil’s Food Cake with Angel Frosting

When I think of moving in to my dream apartment, I imagine hosting intimate, cozy dinner parties. The kind of dinner parties where the wine is flowing, the food is delicious, and the laughs can be heard down the hallway. When I lived in my own little abode, I didn’t have enough room to host these kinds of dinner parties, which was unfortunate because my friends and I were eager and willing to have those kinds of parties.

Menu-planning is a skill I don’t really have and I tend to just throw things together. I know how different flavors and ingredients work together but I am not an expert here. A summer menu would obviously rotate around a hot grill, but dinner requires more thought. I would serve a colorful salad, some fresh dinner rolls, and a hearty, warm main dish. As for dessert, I can imagine all kinds of delicious cakes and cookies. However, nothing stuns a crowd like a glorious chocolate cake.

Winter Pie

The month after Christmas is always the hardest. Sugar has lots its appeal as your jeans have gotten tighter. The sky, once bright blue, has turned gray. Piles of slushy snow sit on the curb, with litter and cigarette butts scattered all over. Leaving your bed has become an everyday struggle.

However, life goes on and soon you start realizing the beauty of winter. The way it makes you more motivated to plow through your library pile. The way it makes you crave hearty soups and piping hot tea. The way the lights twinkle amidst the falling snow. And, last but not least, the way the kitchen and oven become the center of your house.

Chocolate Chip Cookies, yet again

If there is one thing that I could bake over and over again, it would be the chocolate chip cookie. You’d think after four posted recipes, I’d be over these little morsels. However, you are mistaken.

It’s a simple mix- chocolate, butter, sugar, and flour. Yet the results are so satisfying, so perfect in their simple nature that I can’t help but keep trying recipes from different authors. First, there was the classic from Martha Stewart, which I swore by when I was younger. Then, I added some liqueur to the mix a la Giada de Laurentiis. Finally, I settled on the most amazing recipe from my mother of another brother… Wait that didn’t make sense. Anyways, it was from Dorie Greenspan and it sill hails as the best cookie recipe around. But I had to try just one more.

I know, bear with me.

Christmas Treats

In the past, this little space of mine becomes decked out with the Christmas sweets. Cookies in every shape and flavor are featured on every page. Pies, oh the pies! Let’s not forget about the cakes too. Sadly, as you can see, I’ve posted NADA on Christmas sweets. However, I’d like to take a trip down memory lane and maybe give you some ideas for your holiday parties.

Chocolate bread pudding.

This would be a smart dish to make for a party since it can be made the night before hand and requires almost no day-of prepping. Use old eggy bread, soak it in the chocolate custard overnight, and bake it the day off.

Mini Lemon Curd Cheesecakes

For that big party you have planned, give these mini cheesecakes a shot. You can make them the night before, chill them overnight, and bring them to room temperature before your party starts. Plus, I guarantee your partygoers will be happy to see some citrus on the overly chocolate buffet table.

Millionaire’s Shortbread

Dark chocolate, sweet condensed milk, and lots of butter. From the geniuses behind the famed Baked bakery, I present to you an addicting bar cookie.

Triple Chocolate Scones

Scones are a lovely way to start your morning. Why not kick it up a notch by adding in three different kinds of chocolate? I totally just made you drool, didn’t I?

Icebox Butter Cookies

Nothing says Merry Christmas like butter cookies, especially those dipped in festive sprinkles. What I love the most about this recipe is how easy it is. Slice and bake. It can’t be any easier, right?

Hope these Christmas treats help you out! They are some of my favorite recipes and have helped me in a pinch. Are there other recipes that you turn to annually? I’m curious to hear about your holiday staples.

Marbled Loaf Cake

I never thought I’d admit this but here goes: I’m an early riser.

My 18 year old self just scoffed.

However, it is true. I like to be up and settling in to my first cup of coffee before 9 am. I prefer to do work and other rain activities before 12 pm. I really enjoy getting in a morning run and possible yoga session before 7 am.

Call me crazy, but there is something remarkably beautiful about being awake while (most of) the world is still sleeping. Right now, I live with a bunch of kiddies who sleep in till 12 pm and barely see the light of day. Silly kids, don’t they know they are missing out on the most perfect time of day? Granted, they don’t come stumbling home until about 4 am so I guess they earn the right to sleep in tragically late. But my old 24 year old bones can’t take that. I prefer to be cozied up in bed, makeup off, face scrubbed, and lights off by at least 1 am.

One of the reasons why I love my mornings is because you can squeeze in a little baking time before the rest of the house wakes up. Nothing says good morning like a warm marble loaf cake with freshly brewed coffee. Especially when you have a lovely young chap who is smiling back at you over the breakfast table (still auditioning for that part).

Cheesecake Bars + Chocolate

Right now, New York City is the epitome of perfection. There is a slight chill to the air, but the sun still comes out and warms you briefly before darting behind a cloud for a second. While the trees are still lively and green, some leaves are beginning to turn. The nights are cold enough to spend wrapped in a blanket, socks on, hands holding a cup of hot tea.

Of course, it is also the perfect time to bake. Hence my frustration. I’m dreaming about pumpkin bread, cream scones slathered with apple butter, snickerdoodle cookies, apple crisps, decadent spice cakes topped with cream cheese frosting. Not to mention I found the most resourceful baking shop in New York City. Stacks of sprinkles, cookie cuttes, pans. You name it, they had it. I hate not having an oven. It’s killing me.

Peach Custard Pie

If you have stuck around these parts for a while, you know that I am a fall/winter kind of gal. I can tolerate summer and its high temperatures for about a month, but I grow tired of the constant sweating and multiple sunscreen applications. However, I am a big stone fruit lover. I seriously go through pounds of peaches and nectarines throughout the summer months. Even though apples and pears try to take their place, I go through bad withdrawls when these fruits disappear during the colder months.

My strong love for these bad boys often results in pits piles in my kitchen garbage and a reluctance to use them in a baked good. Why would I go through all the hassle of making a cake/pie when I could just eat these ripe, juicy fruits over the kitchen counter? It took a little convincing but I dragged myself to the kitchen (while it was BLAZING hot outside) and tried my hand at Ken Haedrich’s Peach Custard Pie.

A disaster + happy weekend!

Before I send you warm weekend wishes, I thought I’d show you a recent cake disaster. Not everything goes well in my kitchen and mistakes happen alot. While I know my way around the baking department, I am definitely still an amaetuer baker and need to practice more techniques. In the meantime, I still enjoy playing around and the kitchen is a great environment for that playful attitude.

Alas, I had a huge hopes for this carrot cake. I meant for it to be a tall, gorgeous cake with pile of cream cheese frosting.

The cake had different plans.

I managed to salvage pieces of it but it was a mess. A delicious, but annoying mess.

The morale of this story is to not let these mistakes deter you. Keep going, try again, and when in doubt, grab a mop:)