Bourbon Cheesecake

When the hubby offered to make a cheesecake for me for Valentine's Day, I was definitely excited!  Cheesecake is one of my favorite things.  Ever.  Seriously.  My first thought was to make a dutch apple streusel cheesecake recipe I had been eying for a while, but I stumbled across this recipe for bourbon cheesecake and it sounded really good.  It has a shortbread crust, bourbon in the cheesecake, and it's topped with a bourbon chocolate ganache...AND the recipe is for two small cheesecakes!  I actually bought a set of mini springform pans a while back ($4 for a set of 4 at Ross!), so this was the perfect excuse to try them out.  (Of course, I knew that the hubby offering to make cheesecake for me would require my help, and probably turn into me making it with his help.  I wasn't wrong.)

Original recipe is from Sugar Dish Me.

Bourbon Cheesecake with Boozy Chocolate for Two
Makes: 2 mini cheesecakes (using Wilton's 4-in diameter mini springform pans)

Ingredients

• For the Crust:
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• For the Cheesecake:
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream (or half & half)
• 1 tablespoon straight bourbon whiskey
• For the Boozy Chocolate:
• 4 ounces hot fudge (the ice cream topping)
• 2 teaspoons bourbon (more to taste)

Instructions

1.  To make the crust, preheat the oven to 400. In a medium bowl combine the ¼ cup butter, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and ½ cup flour until a smooth ball of dough forms. You may have to use your fingers to press it all together.
2.  Divide the dough in half and press it across the bottom and halfway up the sides of the 2 mini cheesecake pans. Gently prick the dough across the bottom of the pan with a fork several times. Bake for only 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
3.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350.
4.  In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy and smooth.
5.  Add the egg and beat for about 1½ minutes. Add the vanilla, cream, and bourbon. Beat until combined. Divide the batter evenly between the two par-baked crusts.
6.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 275 (I like to open the oven door for just a minute to help the temperature drop) and bake for 15 more minutes. Turn the oven off and let the cheesecakes cool IN the oven.
7.  When they have cooled to room temperature, remove and refrigerate. (If you are in a hurry, you can take them out when it is cool enough to grab by hand — the pans will still feel warm) The cheesecakes will need to chill for at least an hour (from room temperature)

Baked and cooled

8.  While the cheesecakes chill, and just before you are ready to serve,heat the hot fudge in a small saucepan over medium high heat. When it is smooth and warm (a pourable consistency), stir in the bourbon. Drizzle the chocolate over each cheesecake and serve.

With chocolate topping

The Verdict

For a cheesecake, this was really pretty simple to make.  The only thing I would change about the recipe is to cut back on the chocolate topping; it makes probably at least twice as much as needed.  (GASP!  Recommending LESS chocolate!  I know, right?)  Some cheesecakes turn out too "cakey", and some too runny...the consistency of this cheesecake was just about perfect!  Nice and creamy, but firm. The shortbread crust is a nice touch, and I thought it went well with the bourbon flavor, but it does make it a bit richer than your typical graham-cracker crust.  The bourbon wasn't overpowering in the cake itself; it added a little bit of tang, but wasn't too strong.  Where you really taste the bourbon is in the chocolate "ganache" topping (but again, not overpowering).  I think you could easily substitute another flavor (for example, irish cream) for the bourbon if you wanted to change it up a little.  This recipe is definitely getting saved for future use!  I will probably try experimenting with some other flavors, but keep the base recipe the same. 

P.S.  If you're wondering if you can get tispy from bourbon cheesecake, the answer is no.  You can get tipsy, however, from a meal that consists of vodka sauce, bourbon cheesecake, Angry Orchard, and wine.  :-)

Skillet Chili Mac

This is a recipe that I thought had a lot of potential.  I like Hamburger Helper's chili macaroni, and here was a homemade, from scratch version that looked like it had a lot of flavor from ingredients like sausage and peppers.  It is a one skillet dish, and is pretty easy to make.

The original recipe was taken from Deep South Dish.

Skillet Chili Mac
Serves 6-8*

Ingredients

• 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil
• 1-1/2 cups of chopped onion (about one medium sized onion)
• 1/2 cup of chopped bell pepper (I used some orange bell pepper I had already chopped in the freezer)
• 1 or 2 jalapenos, chopped (I used jalapenos from a jar, because I keep it stocked at our house)
  
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 pound of raw breakfast sausage
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 2-1/2 tablespoons of chili powder, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can of tomato sauce
• 1 (7 ounce) can green chilies
• 2 cups of water
• 1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto or red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1-1/2 cups of dry medium cut pasta (like elbow macaroni or shells)
• 1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese, divided, or to taste, plus more for garnish (I used at least twice this much cheese)
  
• Optional Garnishes: Sliced green onions, fresh diced tomatoes, sour cream or your other favorite chili toppings

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large lidded skillet over medium high heat; add the onion and peppers, and cook for about 4 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. To that, add the ground beef, sausage and garlic, breaking up the meat and cooking, until no longer pink. Drain off any excess fat. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano and salt and pepper; taste and adjust seasonings.

Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and green chilies; stir. Add the water, beans, pasta and half of the cheese. Bring to a boil, stir, cover and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes or until pasta is cooked through; uncover, stir and let simmer, uncovered, until reduced to desired consistency. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top, cover and cook over low until cheese melts. Garnish and serve.

The Verdict

It was okay, but nothing special.  The recipe as-is was not spicy enough or cheesy enough for my liking.  I have been adding more spices (cayenne and chili powder) and cheese whenever I eat leftovers.  The sausage also added a flavor that I didn't think went very well with the other flavors.  I wouldn't make this again the same way, but I would potentially take some elements from this (like the kidney beans and jalapenos) and add it to Cowboy Food (a Hamburger Helper-like family recipe, which I will probably post someday).  

I garnished mine with more cheese and some fresh green onion

*The author noted that her recipes typically make 6-8 servings.  In my opinion, this made WAY more than that!  We have eaten at least that many hearty portions, and still have several portions left.  In fact, I'm getting tired of eating it but it seems like it will never end!

Pasta Carbonara

This recipe originally comes from this blog, and is adapted from The Pioneer Woman's recipe.  If you've ever tried anything from The Pioneer Woman, you know it's going to be good!

What first drew my attention to this recipe (besides the picture looking delicious) was that the description said there was no cream, and the bacon grease is drained, so it is a "lighter" pasta dish.  Also....BACON!  With my calculations, it comes out to about 440 calories per serving (makes 4 servings).  Not bad for a pasta dish with cheese and bacon!  For one serving to be enough, and actually feed four people, be prepared to have a side with it (salad or lightly steamed green veggies would be perfect).

Here's how mine turned out!

Without any further ado, lets get on to the recipe!

Pasta Carbonara
Cooking time: about 1 hour
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound bacon or pancetta (I used bacon)
• 1 whole small onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup white wine (or chicken or vegetable stock...I used wine)
• 1/2 cup chicken stock (or more)
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese plus more for garnish
• 1/2 pound linguine pasta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• salt and pepper to season

1. Cook the bacon.  Place cooked bacon on a plate with a paper towel to absorb some of the grease.  Pour out most of the grease, but leave a little in the pan for the next step.  Try not to eat all the bacon before it goes in the dish (this is the hard part!).

   

   Mmmm...bacon!  Cooking with my new Le Cruset pan.  Love it!  It's me new favorite pan!

2. Chop onion into small pieces (you can do this while the bacon is cooking).  Cook diced onion in a reasonable amount of bacon grease for a few minutes on medium-high heat while stirring.  Avoid burning it, and don't overcook (it will get cooked a little more later).

   

   My new knife!

3. It's not in the original instructions in this order, but I recommend starting your pot of water boiling while the onions are cooking.  (I forgot to make the pasta until it was about time to put it all together.  Yes...I forgot the pasta in a pasta dish. *facepalm*)
4. Slice the garlic and add it to the onions.  Cook together for a few more minutes, then scoop the onions and garlic from the pan with a slotted spoon and discard the grease.
5. Put the pan on high heat, and add the wine (or chicken stock) to deglaze the pan.  Stir, making sure you get all the bits of bacon goodness scraped off the pan.  Add the chicken stock, bacon (crumble/tear it up into pieces), and onion/garlic mix.  Let simmer on low heat.  Do not let too much liquid evaporate; add a little more chicken stock if needed while it simmers.
   

   

   Step 5 1/2: taste the wine!

6. Cook the pasta according to box instructions.
7. While the pasta is cooking, in a large bowl add together eggs and parmesan.  Chop the parsley and add to the bowl.  Mix well with a fork. 
   
8. Drain the pasta, and add to the egg mixture.  My suggestion is to add the hot pasta to the egg mixture a little bit at a time, so you don't end up with bits of scrambled egg.  Mix well.  Add onion, garlic, and bacon mixture and mix again.  Add butter, salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with additional cheese and parsley.

All mixed up

The Verdict

Drumroll please............I loved it!

The egg and cheese based sauce reminded my of a family dish, but the onion, garlic, and bacon pack way more flavor into the dish.  I was a little skeptical of the parsley and it seemed like a lot to me, but the flavor really complimented the dish nicely.  Don't be afraid of the parsley!  The pepper added at the end was also important for bringing out the flavors in this dish.  I liked it so much, I went back for seconds and finished off the leftovers the next day.  (Side note: with this kind of sauce, it's best eaten fresh and not reheated.)  Even lightened up, it was still a bit greasy, but not too bad. 

The hubby, on the other hand, was not a fan.  He only had a few bites and said it "wasn't his thing".  For some reason, he is against eating pasta as a main dish without "some sort of protein" (like chicken, meatballs, etc.).  My response?  "Bacon is protein!  So is egg!"  But that brings me to another point: this would probably be really good with some chicken strips, maybe lightly grilled or sauteed with some blackened seasoning.  I might add some more cheese next time, too.  (Who doesn't like more cheese?)  

I'm definitely saving this recipe to make again!