Chocolate Truffle Cookies

These are amazing. Amazing. They are like chocolate truffles. I know, that's what they're called. But seriously, they are! So soft and smooth... so chocolaty....

From Mel's Kitchen Cafe

They are delish. That's all I have to say.

Recipe:


Chocolate Truffle Cookies
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup Butter, room temperature
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup Cocoa
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 1/4 cups Flour
2 cups Chocolate Chips
1/3 cup Cocoa for rolling
1/3 cup Powdered Sugar for Sprinkling

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325. Line pans with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Strain in the cocoa and salt into the butter mixture.
3. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Blend in flour and add chocolate chips.
4. Shape into 1 inch balls (may need to refrigerate first) and roll in cocoa before placing on the pan. Do not flatten.
5. Bake for 10 minutes - DO NOT OVER BAKE. Cool on the baking sheet 3-5 minutes. Once completely cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Cheesecake Challenge #11: Japanese Cheesecake

Yum! This is a weird kind of cheesecake. It's super light and fluffy. But it's really yummy! Here was the inspiration--see how beautiful it is?

From Green Cilantro

My picture is definitely not a beautiful. I have to confess, actually, the cake was really not attractive. But I made a partial recipe and it's with European measurements, so I had to convert... it was all very experimental. I think it could be beautiful... if I did it better.

It's not chocolate, but it's unique. And the husband says it's the best cheesecake I've made yet. So it's getting 5 stars.

Again, the recipe is converted from European measurements, so it's a little funky.

Japanese Cheesecake
from Green Cilantro

Ingredients:
10.5 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
3 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
3 Large Eggs, separated
1 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
2/3 cup Milk
1/4 cup Sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom and sides of a fixed bottom pan with parchment. Put egg whites in freezer until just freezing around the edges. Sift the cornstarch.
2. Melt butter over double boiler. Add cream cheese and whisk.
3. In separate bowl, combine egg yolks and 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar. Add cornstarch.
4. Heat milk to a boil and add egg yolk mixture. Whisk until thickened over a double boiler. Add cream cheese and mix well.
5. Slowly add 1/4 cup sugar to egg whites and beat into a soft meringue. Add 1/4 cup of the meringue to the batter and then fold the rest in.
6. Place cake in water bath and bake 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 300 and bake another 25. Let sit in oven (off) for 40 minutes to an hour. Cool before chilling, overnight.

Cheesecake Challenge #10: Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

This one I do have a picture of, although I confess that I didn't remember to take a picture until we were in the car on the way to the family event I was taking it to! So I also included a picture from the source, not taken with an iPhone in the car.

From What the Fruitcake?!

This one was a lot of fun to make, and I really like the garnish as well. Something to remember for the future, no matter what's beneath it.

This one was yummy. Very good. But not quite the exceptional-ness that was the Cafe de Leche Cheesecake, so I gave it 4.5 stars.

Here is the recipe, no variations made. It is, unfortunately, a worldly recipe and thus I had to convert from grams, etc, so a lot of ounce measurements:


Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
from What the Fruitcake?!

Ingredients:

Crust:
7 oz. Graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
4 oz. Melted, unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp. Cocoa

Cheesecake:
32 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
4 Eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1 cup Heavy Cream, room temperature
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Vanilla
3.5 oz. 70% Dark Chocolate
3.5 oz. Milk Chocolate
3.5 oz. White Chocolate
1/2 tsp. Salt
Dark, Milk and White Chocolate for Garnish

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix together crust ingredients and press into a 9" spring-form pan.
2. Combine cream cheese and sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, one at a time. Add cream, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt.
3. Divide equally into 3 bowls. Melt the 3 types of chocolate separately and mix one each into each of the 3 cheesecake batters.
4. Pour about 1 cup of the dark chocolate mixture into the pan, followed by 1 cup of the milk chocolate and 1 cup of the white chocolate. Repeat the pattern until all the batter is in the pan.
5. Place in water bath and bake 75-90 minutes or until almost done. Turn off the oven and leave resting for an hour. Cool completely on counter and refrigerate overnight before serving.
6. Garnish by using a potato peeler to make flakes of the three types of chocolate and sprinkling over the cake.

Cheesecake Challenge #9: Turtle Cheesecake

For a nice family event this summer, I made this Turtle Cheesecake. It was a fairly straightforward recipe. I have to say, I thought it was pretty good, but nothing stellar. The reviews from my tasters, though (family), was that it was excellent. So even if it's not my favorite recipe, it's a hit. And don't get me wrong, it was yummy!

I didn't take a picture, of course. I need to work on that. So I'm just going to reference the original, which it strongly resembled:

From The Girl Who Ate Everything

I'd probably rate this a 4-star, but with all the rave reviews I got with it, I'm bumping it up half a star.

I made a few changes; I used my personal fudge sauce recipe instead of cheap Hershey's syrup (yuck!) and I didn't have lime juice so I went with lemon. And here is the recipe:


Turtle Cheesecake
from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup Melted, unsalted Butter
24 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
14 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Sugar
3 large Eggs
3 Tbsp. Lime Juice
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
3/4 cup Chocolate Chips
2 Tbsp. Chocolate Syrup or Fudge Sauce
2 Tbsp. Caramel Syrup or Ice Cream Topping
1/2 cup Chopped Pecans
1/4 cup Mini Chocolate Chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300. Mix together crumbs and butter and press into a 9" spring-form pan.
2. Combine cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk, beating until blended. Add sugar, eggs, lime juice, and vanilla. Beat until combined.
3. Set 1 cup of filling aside. Melt chocolate chips and mix into 1 cup of reserved filling.
4. Pour half of the white filling into the crust, then the chocolate, then the last half of the white. Take a knife and gently swirl.
5. Bake 70-75 minutes or until almost done. Turn off the oven and leave resting. When cooled completely, drizzle with chocolate and caramel, then sprinkle with pecans and mini-chocolate chips. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Cheesecake Challenge #8: Cafe de Leche Cheesecake

Yesterday's experiment was Cafe de Leche cheesecake from The Spiced Life, which looks so pretty in the picture I didn't bother taking one of my own (it wasn't holding it's shape well when cut and it was disappearing into the belly quickly, so I figured this picture would do):

From The Spiced Life

Jackpot!

Here's the story: we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Olive Garden does happen to have a very good Tiramisu. And often my mom gets it. But this time, she didn't, because we had this cheesecake at home waiting for us. And the best part? It's almost kind of like a creamy, cheesecaky version of Tiramisu. Slightly different, but similar flavors. Super creamy. Espresso. Caramel. Chocolate.

I love this cheesecake. It's DELISH.

Cafe de Leche Cheesecake
from The Spiced Life

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 cups Chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp. Cocoa Powder
8 Tbsp. Melted, unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla

Coffee Cheesecake:
16 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
8 oz. Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1 cup Sugar
3 large Eggs
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1 1/2 Tbsp. Vanilla
2 1/2 tsp. Instant Espresso

Caramel and Ganache Layer:
1 can Dulce de Leche (made with milk)
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
6-8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix together crust ingredients and press into a 9" spring-form pan. Cover pan in 4 layers of foil.
2. Combine cream cheese and mascarpone, beating until blended. Add sugar, then eggs, one at a time.
3. Microwave 1/4 cup of cream in small bowl until hot and whisk in espresso powder. Let cool to tepid.
4. Add espresso mixture, cream, vanilla, and lemon juice to cream cheese mixture and blend until smooth and creamy.
5. Pour batter into crust and place in water bath. Bake 45-55 minutes or until almost done. Turn off the oven and leave resting for 1 hour when done. Allow to finish cooling on counter, then chill overnight.
6. Heat up the dulce de leche so it is pourable, and let cool to tepid. Pour over the cake and chill an hour.
7. Make the ganache by simmering the heavy cream and then adding the chocolate. Let cool to tepid and pour over the dulce de leche layer. Return to chill for 3 hours or until chocolate is set.

Double Chocolate Mousse Torte

Time out from the Cheesecake Challenge: I tried out another new recipe called the double chocolate mousse torte. I was looking for something chocolaty that didn't take quite as long as cheesecake. And something different and new, too. This is what I went for:

From Mel's Kitchen Cafe

This cake was YUMMY! I loved how rich is was and also the creaminess of the mousse. But mostly I loved the flourless chocolate/torte like cake on the bottom. Super yum!

Anyway, without further adieu, here is the delicious recipe:

Double Chocolate Mousse Torte
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:

Cake:
8 oz. chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
5 large Eggs
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 cup Flour

Mousse:
1/2 cup Butter
4 large Eggs, separated
1/4 cup Whipping Cream
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
8 oz. chopped Semi-Sweet chocolate
1/2 cup Sugar

Topping: 
3/4 cup Whipping Cream
2 Tbsp. Powdered Sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325. Prepare 10" spring-form pan.
2. Melt cake chocolate and butter and cool to lukewarm. Whisk in sugar and then eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, salt and flour.
3. Pour into pan and bake until just rises at center (tester inserted will NOT come out clean), about 30-35 minutes. Cool completely and let chill while preparing mousse.
4. Melt mousse butter in bowl set over saucepan of simmering water. In separate bowl, whisk yolks, 1/4 cup cream, and vanilla and gradually add to melted butter. Whisk constantly for about 6 minutes.
5. Remove mixture from heat and add chocolate. Stir to melt.
6. In separate bowl, beat egg whites and 1/2 cup sugar with a pinch of cornstarch until medium-stiff peaks form. Whisk 1/4 of mixture into chocolate mixture to lighten, then fold in the remaining egg white mixture.
7. Pour mousse over cooled cake and chill until set, about 6 hours.
8. Run sharp knife around edge to loosen and release torte. Beat 3/4 cup cream and powdered sugar in bowl until peaks form. Spread over the torte, garnish, and serve.

Cheesecake Challenge #7: Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

This time I tried the Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake from Mel's Kitchen Cafe:

From Source

Wow. Yum. Delish. This one was a total hit and success. It is extremely rich, but that's how I like my chocolate. It turned out beautifully, too, but we'll get to that. This one is a 5 start, creamy, rich, chocolaty concoction:

And you know what else was wonderful about this cheesecake? Mine was actually quite pretty! We took it to dinner at a friend's house and they thought the cake was bought! That's always a compliment when it looks store-made pretty.

So here is the recipe for this awesomely chocolate cake:

Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake:
(from Mel's Kitchen Cafe)

Ingredients:

Crust:
9 oz. chocolate cookie crumbs (like grahams)
1 Tbsp. sugar
6 Tbsp. melted butter

Cheesecake:
10 oz. chopped semi-sweet chocolate
32 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups + 2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup Cocoa powder
4 Large Eggs

Topping:
3/4 cup whipping cream
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 Tbsp. sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a 9" Springform pan. mix the crust ingredients and press into bottom of pan only. Bake until set, about 5 minutes, and keep oven on.
2.  Melt the cheesecake chocolate and cool until lukewarm. In separate bowl, blend cream cheese, sugar, and cocoa powder. Add eggs one at a time and then add chocolate.
3. Pour cheesecake filling over crust and bake until just set, about 1 hour. Once cooled, chill overnight.
4. At least one hour before serving, heat topping ingredients in saucepan over medium heat until smooth. Cool slightly and pour over cheesecake, spreading to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Chill until set.
5. Allow cheesecake to stand 1-2 hours at room temperature before serving.