White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

For my first American thanksgiving I decided to sway away from the norm by making a cheesecake instead of a pie. It was really delicious and I urge you to make one! To jazz it up i added a milk chocolate ganche, which I let drip over the sides as well as some rosettes made from a quick frosting that I mixed extra raspberry sauce from the cheesecake into. Sorry about the low quality of the picture but I had forgotten to bring my camera so I took them on a phone :(

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water

2 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 cup half-and-half cream
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

16 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup unsalted butter

Directions

1.  Mix together cookie crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
2. In a saucepan, combine raspberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, cornstarch, and water. Bring to boil, and continue boiling 5 minutes, or until sauce is thick. Strain sauce through a mesh strainer to remove seeds. 
3.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half, until smooth.
4. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time (this is a very important step!). Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate. Pour half of batter over crust. Spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over batter. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and again spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect. 
5. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until filling is set (when pushed there should be very minimal “jiggle”). Cool and refrigerate for 8 hours before removing from pan.
6. To make the ganache melt all ingredients over a double boiler. Remove the cheesecake from the pan and pour ganache over the cheesecake letting it run down the sides. Let it set up in the fridge for about twenty minutes.
7. At this point you can decorate how you choose. I drizzled the extra raspberry sauce over the top of the cheesecake and added some raspberry flavoured icing rosettes.

Orange Marshmallows

Everyone loves marshmallows...but making them flavoured or colouring them makes them just that much better. Marshmallows are surprisingly easy to make but you must have a thermometer and a watchful eye. I decided to make orange flavoured marshmallows and colour them peach but you can make and flavour and colour you desire. How about banana...maybe peach....maple? If you want a plain and simple regular marshmallow just use vanilla extract.

Orange Marshmallows

2 tbsp 2 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatine
1 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon orange extract
red and yellow food colouring
confectioners sugar for dusting

1. Oil a baking pan and dust with confectioners sugar.
2. In a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand.
3. In a heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat until it reached 240°F (make sure to watch carefully, it can over boil very easily). Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.
4. With a mixer, beat mixture on high speed until shiny, fluffy, and thick.
5. In separate bowl, beat egg whites until you achieve stiff peaks. Beat whites, extract, and colouring into sugar mixture. Pour mixture into baking pan. Sift confectioners sugar over top. Chill marshmallow until firm (around 3 hours). A pizza cutter is a great way to cut the marshmallow sheet into cubes.

The Best Carrot Cupcakes

So I figured out the best way to make carrot cupcakes without having that weird stringiness texture of shredded carrot in your mouth. It’s not the most brilliant idea in the world, I'm sure its been thought of before, and it is truly simple. Pureed carrots people! Plus a little special touch of shredded coconut makes a delicious cupcake :) These cupcakes are full of flavour without the greasiness of traditional carrot cake. You can also add cream cheese frosting!

Amazing Carrot Cupcakes

3 cups all purpose flour

3 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

12 ounces of carrots

1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a large bowl. In a blender add the oil, eggs, vanilla and carrots (remember to chop them up a bit to help with the blending process. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in the coconut.

Bake until golden, about 30 minutes.

Oh, I also finally bought a hand mixer so I'm able to bake more things now. Watch out for my next post which will be orange flavoured marshmallows! I'm so excited :P