Lemon Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

The LCBO Food & Drink magazine brings culinary creations to life in such a dazzling way that you simply must see it for yourself, if you can. The popular (free!) magazines come out seasonally at LCBO stores, usually to quite a bit of fanfare, and disappear quickly. The publication's photographers are truly artists, which makes it a treat to read - and makes it all the more tempting to try the suggested recipes!

We made the Lemon Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes (found on Canadian Baker Too's blog) as the grande finale to our summertime backyard meal (see post below). They took quite a bit of work but oh my goodness they are one of the best (tastiest and prettiest) desserts we've ever made.

Lemon Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Note: we made 8 cupcakes by cutting the recipe in half. The recipe below has the full ingredient amounts.

1/2 package Dare Simple Pleasures "Lemon Social Tea" Biscuits --> we had to use a different brand, but try to stick with Dare to make measurements easier

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 packages cream cheese

1/2 cup strawberry jam

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 to 1 cup lemon curd (recipe follows)

6 strawberries (fresh is best)

• Line muffin tins with papers.
• Place eggs in small bowl and cover with hot water to warm them up. Set aside.
• To prepare the crust, put the lemon tea cookies in a food processor. Blend until the cookies are fine crumbs. You should have about 1 cup. Add melted butter and stir until evenly coated.
• Divide crumb mixture equally between cupcake liners, pressing the crumbs firmly into the bottoms of the cups.
• Wipe the crumbs out of the food processor.
• Combine cream cheese, eggs, jam, sugar, and vanilla in food processor. Spoon this batter into the cupcake cups, on top of the crumb crust.
• Bake in preheated 375 F oven for 20 minutes, or until just set. Ours cracked a little - but don't worry, the lemon curd covers any cracks that may appear.
• Cool the cupcakes on a rack. Cover and store in fridge until chilled.
• Top with lemon curd and a strawberry slice.

Tea biscuits about to be turned into dust...

The next food processor combo is about to turn a lovely shade of pink.

Graham-cracker-esque crust made with lemon social teas.

A few cracks appeared on the cheesecake tops. Don't worry if this happens to you too!

Lemon curd adds major glamour to these creamy cupcakes.

Lemon Curd

We also cut this recipe in half. The full recipe, which makes 2 cups, follows.

4 lemons

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup softened butter

• Squeeze the juice out of the lemons until you have 3/4 cup of juice.
• Stir eggs with 1 cup sugar in small pot. Whisk in lemon juice. Add softened butter.
• Using a whisk, stir constantly for 10 - 12 minutes while lemon mixture cooks over medium heat. It should get thicker and a little darker. Do not let it boil!
• Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl if you'd like, and place plastic wrap directly on surface of the lemon curd. Cool and store in fridge.

Keep stirring!

Prepared lemon curd will keep for over a week in the refrigerator.

Or, freeze it and it will stay good for several months.

Maya Angelou's Banana Pudding

Overripe bananas on the kitchen counter.

There are more than a few brown spots, and the yellow fruit is simply past the point of peel-and-eat. The inside is a little mushy and the taste intensified. This is because as bananas ripen the starch in the fruit turns to sugar.

This recipe puts those very ripe bananas (or perfectly yellow bananas) to good use.

Originally found in an Oprah magazine, this recipe is also listed on the Oprah website as a celebrity favorite. It was created by Maya Angelou and is described as her "highly superior banana sweet".

You have to, have to, have to like banana to enjoy this dessert. As long as you do, you're in for a hearty treat!

Banana Pudding - from Oprah.com and the January '06 issue of O Magazine (slightly modified)

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespon sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

Pinch salt

3 cups milk

8 eggs, separated

3 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

3 cups vanilla wafers

4 ripe bananas, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

• Note: we halved the recipe and it was plenty!
• In large pot, stir together 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in milk. Cook over medium heat - keep stirring! Milk burns easily and will stick to the bottom of the pot... keep stirring until thickened mixture boils. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. This is your custard.
• In bowl, whisk egg yolks together. Whisk in about 1/2 cup of the hot custard. Pour this mixture into the pot and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes... keep stirring. Add butter and vanilla. Stir.
• Cover bottom of shallow casserole dish with vanilla wafers. Cover with half of the banana slices, and then a layer of half the warm custard. Repeat these layers.
• In a large bowl, beat egg whites and sugar together until frothy. Add cream of tartar. Gradually beat in the sugar you didn't use in the custard. Continue beating until still peaks form in the egg whites. This is your meringue.
• Spoon the meringue over custard. To stop it from shrinking while in the oven, make sure it touches the casserole dish on all sides.
• Bake in preheated 350 F oven for 20 minutes, or until golden.
• Let cool for one hour.
• Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.... As Maya Angelou says, "All great achievements require time."

Vanilla wafers meet bananas.

The custard spooned over the vanilla wafer crust.

Stiff peaks in the egg whites.

Meringue can be more difficult on humid days.

The stiff peaks hold up well in the heat.

Golden brown...

it looks almost like a giant toasted marshmallow.

Irish Cream Truffle Fudge

Another bake-off at work! These days are awesome - the afternoon is spent wandering into the boardroom, sampling the treats, trying to figure out who baked what, and voting. Finally, after there is no doubt that everyone in the building is on quite the sugar high, the results are e-mailed.

The winner of last month's competition got to choose the theme for April: alcohol. What a tough one! We scoured the internet for ideas, and once again AllRecipes saved the day. From the kitchen of "LETSGGGO" comes Irish Cream Truffle Fudge. We made a few adjustments, like cutting the Baileys in half - but a little flavor was definitely sacrificed by doing so. Still....

We came in 2nd!!!! (again!) Woohoo!

Congrats to the winners. Hopefully they will pick an easier theme next time. May we suggest citrus? Cookies? Banana? Anyway, we can't wait!

Irish Cream Truffle Fudge

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur (we used Baileys)

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate clips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

2 tablespoons Irish cream liqueur

1 tablespoon butter

• Line an 8x8 inch pan with tin foil. Use butter to grease the foil.
• Melt the 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, and butter until soft enough to stir. You can do this over a double boiler or on low heat in the microwave.
• Stir in the icing sugar and cream until smooth. Stir in nuts. Place in pan and smooth top down. Note: it might be a nice touch to add the white chocolate chips with the nuts, instead of melting them at the beginning - it could up the prettiness factor if they don't melt.
• Melt remaining chocolate. Using a fork, beat in butter and cream. Spread over the cooled fudge with a knife. Use hands to smooth the top, if necessary.
• Refrigerate until firm - a few hours at least.

Love the combo of chocolate chips!

Sprinkle in the icing sugar.

Ready for the party...

See the nuts in the batter?

We used chopped walnuts.

Mixing the topping together.

We used some extra white chocolate chips to decorate.

We thought they'd look like dominoes...

but most people at work thought they were eyes!

Ready for judging!

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake seems like such a springtime food, doesn't it? A million of these pseudo-healthy desserts pop up around Easter, just as bunnies start hopping around our backyard.

We used a recipe from an ancient cookbook... it's obviously well-loved, because it has no front cover, back cover, table of contents... but the recipe pages are all still intact (although some are starting to tear out). We think that it is the Five Roses: A Guide to Good Cooking (1967?) book, by Elizabeth Driver, which is described on Amazon as a must-have for vintage cookbook collections. So, this carrot cake recipe can be describe as an oldie but a goodie!

• Click on the photo to enlarge!
• Note: we halved the recipe.
• We were SO proud of our decorating creativity! We cut up a real carrot to lay on top of the icing, and used the tips of celery stalks for the leafy greens.

Cream Cheese Frosting (from the same book)

2 1/2 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup soft butter or margarine

1 package (113 g) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

• Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add vanilla (we always add a little extra).
• Beat in icing sugar gradually until desired consistency is achieved.
• Ice your cake!

Mixing for 5 minutes was a workout for Lisa's arms.

Look at that bright orange batter!

The cake, uniced. Transfer to platter before icing.

The icing should be pretty thick.

We were SO proud of the decorations!

Cake time!

Rhubarb Banana Crumble

We read the entire recipe section of April's Canadian Living magazine - separately. We reconvened. As Amy said, "There was one recipe that really stood out to me", Lisa chimed in and finished the sentence, "the rhubarb banana crumble!"

We've been waiting a few weeks to make this fruity dessert, and Easter seemed like an ideal time to try this cross between a strawberry rhubarb pie and apple crisp. It was an excellent ending to our quesadilla meal (see post below).

You might have noticed our mismatched crème brûlée containers (if not, don't look now!). Well we finally picked up real ramekins! Now we have uniformly sized containers that will make our baking adventures a little easier and a lot prettier.

Rhubarb Banana Crumble

(Canadian Living Magazine, April 2010)

Serves 8

5 cups sliced french or thawed drained rhubarb

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 bananas, chopped

3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (not instant)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup cold butter, cubed

1/4 cup walnut pieces

• Toss together rhubarb, sugar, and four. Divide between 8 lightly greased ramekins or pour into a square baking dish. Cover with foil and bake in 400 F oven for 25 minutes. If using one large baking dish instead of ramekins, stir once while in oven.
• Combine oats, flour, sugars, and cinnamon. Use a knife or pastry cutter to blend in butter until mixture is crumbly. Mix in walnuts.
• Spread sliced bananas over rhubarb.
• Sprinkle crumb mixture over bananas.
• Bake, uncovered, in 350 F oven for about 25 minutes, or until bubbly and topping is light golden brown.

Frozen rhubarb - from last year's garden.

Use a pastry cutter or knife to make the crumble topping.

Foil is only needed for the first oven session.

Layer the sliced bananas over the cooked rhubarb.

Fresh out of the oven. Check out that ramekin.

We served it warm, but (if you can wait long enough)

it would probably be pretty tasty cold too.

Crème Brûlée

Happy birthday to Dad!!!!

(a month or so late... it's been a while)

We were sifting through some cookbooks a while ago, searching for a dessert to make. Dad piped up and said he really liked crème brûlée. Although we didn't have all the ingredients on hand at the time, we tucked the idea away for a very special occasion... like his birthday!

Crème brûlée has a reputation as being difficult to make. It brings to mind images of blowtorches (which you can use, but the oven broiler is sufficient) and flames - which really, adds to the allure... and the fun. If you go the blowtorch route, just make sure you keep a fire extinguisher handy.

Crème Brûlée

The recipe we used came from Canadian Living Cooks Step by Step, by Daphna Rabinovitch. The awesome thing about this book is that it really is step-by-step. Plus, there are a ton of photos. Without further ado:

3 cups whipping cream

8 egg yolks

1/3 granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• Those 5 ingredients are all it takes to create 8 little masterpieces. We halved the recipe - feel free to adjust according to the number of servings you need.
• In a small pot, heat cream over medium-high until steaming hot (careful, milk burns easily). In a medium-sized bowl, whisk egg yolks with granulated sugar, then whisk in cream. Add vanilla.
• Skim off foam. Divide mixture between 8 ramekins... we had to scrounge around for oven-safe cups. Be creative. We were. (onion soup bowl, anyone? presentation points were definitely deducted)
• Boil water. Place ramekins in a large shallow pan. Pour boiling water into pan, so it's halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
• Bake in 350 F oven for 30 - 35 minutes (watch carefully!). Edges should be set, but the centers should still be a little jiggly. If you stick a small knife into a center, it will come out creamy. Remove from oven.
• Remove ramekins from water and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, or a maximum of 2 days.
• Fill shallow pan with ice cubes. Nestle chilled custards into ice cubes and sprinkle with brown sugar.
• Broil 6 inches from heat for 2 - 6 minutes (it took about 5 minutes for ours), or until sugar bubbles and turns carmel-y. Remove ramekins as soon as they're ready - one at a time, if necessary.
• Chill, uncovered, for a few minutes. Serve.

Careful not to overbeat the eggs - it will make the custard too foamy.

Try to find oven-safe cups of uniform size.

Water bath time!

Ready for the oven. Watch carefully while it bakes -

overbaking can cause separating and the crème brûlée may turn watery.

Canadian Living suggests a variation on traditional crème brûlée - adding orange! We haven't tried this yet, but you might want to experiment a little.

• Add 2 tablespoons of grated orange rind to cold cream before heating. Strain hot cream and discard rind. Substitute 2 tablespoons of orange juice (or liqueur, if you want to jazz things up even more) for the vanilla.

p.s. All those accents in "crème brûlée" - they can be tough to type! Mac computers have cool shortcuts though - check out "How To Type French Accents".

Frozen Chocolate Mint Mousse

This one was all Lisa, and it was divine!

We've been pouring though cookbooks (3 new ones were added to the cupboard over Christmas) - but this recipe came from a book that's been on the shelf for years: Mrs Fields Best Cookie Book Ever!

A creamy concoction that's somewhere between a light ice cream and a pudding, the Frozen Chocolate Mint Mousse makes an elegant dessert. Really, this would be awesome for company... but our family was quite content to enjoy it on our own on a quiet Sunday night!

8 oz semisweet chocolate

2 large egg whites

2 pinches cream of tartar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup water

1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream), chilled

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

• Chop up the chocolate, and then melt it. You can use a double boiler (google this... it's basically a pot over a pot of hot water), or microwave on low. Set aside to cool slightly.
• While the chocolate is in the microwave (use the microwave... it's much easier!), beat the egg whites and one pinch of cream of tartar together until stiff peaks form.
• In a small pot, boil the sugar and water with the 2nd pinch of cream of tartar. Boil for 10-12 minutes, until it reaches 234 - 240 F (if you don't have a candy thermometer, you'll know it's time when it reaches a "soft-ball stage").
• While mixing, pour the hot sugar syrup into the egg whites to make a stiff meringue. Fold the melted chocolate into the meringue to make chewy lumps.
• Coarsely chop the chocolate chips.
• In a medium bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Keep mixing! Add the peppermint extract. Mix a little longer! Fold the chocolate chips into the cream.
• Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate meringue. Leave a few streaks of whipped cream (i.e. don't go too crazy blending them).
• Spoon the mousse into serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about 2 hours, or until firm.
• Remove from freezer about 5 minutes before serving. Makes 4 - 6 servings.

* Note: the original recipe calls for 3 tablespoons creme de menthe instead of the peppermint extract. We just didn't have any on hand, unfortunately!

Beating the egg whites

Picture perfect in a parfait glass?

Wait! A little syrup for the finishing touch!