Caramel Cheesecake Apple Dip

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Is anyone else starting to crave the flavors of Fall?

I know there's a good bit of summer still left but I'm already looking forward to a change of season and all the flavors of Fall. Caramel apples always bring Fall-ish thoughts to mind. Growing up, my mom would buy those caramel apple kits from the grocery store. The kits came with those flat sheets of caramel that we had to stretch and wrap around an apple with a popsicle stick stuck in it. Then we'd heat them in the oven, while waiting in anticipation for them to be ready to bite into. As a kid I thought those apples were the best thing ever, even though the caramel really stuck to my teeth. I haven't had one of those apples in years but I still love the caramel and apple combo. This dip is caramel apples for grown-ups. It has all the things you like about a caramel apple layered between sweet cream cheese. It's creamy, caramely, goodness with a little chocolate and toffee thrown in for good measure. It's seriously good stuff.  This cheesecake dip looks pretty on a serving plate, which makes it a great to serve at parties. Plus unlike those caramel apples we'd make as kids, you won't have any caramel stuck to your teeth! 
 

As pretty as it is delicious!

Caramel Cheesecake Apple Dip
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 Tbs. heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Caramel sauce (recipe below) or store bought
Heath milk chocolate pieces
mini chocolate chips
2-4 Granny Smith or other crisp tart apples, sliced and soaking in lemon juice/water until ready to serve

Method:
This is the method is to make a layered dip, for a quick method see note below.
Line a six inch cake pan or springform pan with plastic wrap. Use enough plastic wrap to hang over the sides of the pan about 2 inches.

Place softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrap down the sides of the bowl. Add the heavy cream and powdered sugar, mix well, until smooth. Place half of the cream cheese mixture in the lined pan and smooth with the back of a spoon. (If you dip the spoon into warm water before you start to smooth the cream cheese, it will be much easier to spread.) Spoon on a layer of caramel. Sprinkle with a layer of chocolate chips and the Health pieces. How much you use is up to you but don't go to overboard or you may have trouble spreading the top layer of cream cheese.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff!

Place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. This will let the caramel set up a bit and make topping it with the remaining cream cheese much easier. Scoop the remaining cream cheese on top and smooth out using the back of a dampened spoon, like you did for the first layer. Fold the overhanging plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to overnight. Pull back the plastic wrap so that the top of the cheesecake is exposed. Place a serving plate on top of the pan and invert. Remove the pan and the plastic wrap. Spoon caramel sauce over the top of you cheese cake and top with more of the Heath pieces and chocolate chips. Place the sliced apples around the dip and serve.
*Note: If you want to throw this together super fast, just spread all the cream cheese on a serving platter and top with the caramel, Heath bits, and the mini chocolate chips.

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla (or 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons bourbon)
pinch of sea salt

Method:
Place sugar in a small heavy sauce pan. Pour water evenly over the top. Turn stove top to medium-high heat. Hold sauce pan by the handle and swirl occasionally until sugar has dissolved. Turn heat to high, and boil until syrup turns brown around the edges of the pan, about 6-8 minutes. Swirl the syrup occasionally until it turns a deep amber and just begins to smoke.
Remove pan from heat. Add butter and whisk, until all butter is mixed in. Stir in cream. Take care adding the butter and cream as the caramel will boil up and sputter quite a bit.
If sauce has any lumps, set pan over low heat and stir until smooth then turn off heat again.
Stir in vanilla and salt.

Zucchini Cornbread

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By mid-August, if you're anything like me, you've probably eaten zucchini in almost every incarnation possible! It's so plentiful and I love it, but we've eaten it grilled, fried, roasted, sauteed...I have even baked it into cupcakes. So I was looking for some new way to use up what was left of my two pounds of zucchini I had purchased at the farmers market. I had bookmarked this recipe for zucchini cornbread from last month's Bon Appetit. Zucchini bread is one of my favorite summertime treats but was looking for something I could serve with dinner. I liked the idea of a savory zucchini bread and corn muffins are one of my favorite things. So this was the perfect combo!

The recipe was for one large loaf, but I decided to make one mini loaf and the rest I made into muffins. I really liked how the muffins turned out. They were the perfect size for serving with dinner. The best part is I have another great use for that never ending summer zucchini!

Zucchini Cornbread
source: Bon Appetit, July 2011, Recipe by Sara Dickerman
Yields: 1loaf, or 2 mini loaves, or about 12 muffins
(Printable Recipe)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large zucchini (about 10 ounces)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar *
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup medium-grind cornmeal

Method:
Position a rack in the middle of oven and preheat to 350°. Spray with cooking spray or butter a 9 x 5 x 3" loaf pan, mini loaf pans or a muffin tin, depending on which you choose to use.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Continue cooking until butter solids at bottom of pan turn golden brown, about 3 minutes. Scrape butter into a medium bowl. Set aside and let cool. Whisk in eggs and buttermilk.

Trim zucchini ends. Thinly slice five 1/8" rounds from 1 end of zucchini, if making the large loaf, and reserve for garnish. (You will need more zucchini slices if making the mini loaves or muffins. I used one small zucchini sliced in 1/8 inch slices.) Coarsely grate remaining zucchini. Add to bowl with butter mixture and stir until well blended.

Sift both flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. Whisk in cornmeal. Add zucchini mixture; fold just to blend (mixture will be very thick). Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top. Place reserved zucchini slices atop batter down center in a single layer.

Bake bread until golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 55-65 minutes. *The mini loaves take about 35 minutes and the muffins take about 25 minutes to cook. Let cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan; let cool completely on a wire rack.  Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
*The bread is delicious as is but next time I think I'll cut back on the sugar just a bit, for a slightly more savory bread.

Sorry for the bad lighting in this photo, but this muffin kinda reminded me of Alfalfa from The Little Rascals!

is it just me or can you see it too??!!

Life is just a . . .

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bowl of cherries

Life is just a bowl of cherries
Don't take it serious,
Life's too mysterious
You work,
You save,
You worry so

But you can't take your dough
When you go, go, go

So keep repeating "It's the berries."
The strongest oak must fall
The sweet things in life
To you were just loaned
So how can you lose

What you've never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live and laugh,
Laugh and love
Live and laugh at it all!

Judy Garland

When life seems like it's the pits, celebrate the little things like these gorgeous Rainer cherries.  They're even better baked up in this cake because the pits have been removed!

This cake is so quick and simple, you could whip it up at a moments notice and everyone will think you're a domestic goddess. This recipe is adapted from a recipe from Gourmet for a raspberry buttermilk cake. The cake itself is perfect for almost any soft fruit. It's a moist cake that can be changed slightly for a variety of different variations. I added almond extract and slivered almonds because I thought those flavors would compliment the sweet cherries. I used Rainer cherries but any sweet cherry would work as well.

Buttermilk Cake with Sweet Cherries
Source: Gourmet, June 2009,by Melissa Roberts(adapted)
(Printable Recipe)
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup
1 1/2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (or regular sugar)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1-2 Tablespoons of slivered almonds (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes,add the almond extract. Add egg and beat well.
At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.
Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter cherries and almond slivers evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons turbinado sugar.
Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

That's just got to put a smile on your face!

Watermelon Lemonade Slushy

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Do you know what day today is?? Yes it's Martha Stewart's birthday, but do you know what else today is? National Watermelon Day! What perfect timing, 110+ degree heat advisories this week have left me with little desire to cook or eat much of anything. A watermelon lemonade slushy on the other hand, sounds like just the thing to beat the summer heatwave. So pull out your blenders and whip up a batch of slushies!

Watermelon Lemonade Slushy
Serves about 6
Ingredients:
4 cups watermelon, pureed and strained
4 cups  ice cubes
 2/3cup frozen lemonade concentrate
1 cup cold water

For an adult version: leave out the water and add 4oz. each of vodka and limoncello.  
 
Method:
Puree watermelon in a blender. Strain through a mesh strainer. (You can skip this step if you want, but it will be harder to sip through a straw if it's not strained.)
In blender on medium speed, blend together watermelon, ice, lemonade concentrate, and water until ice breaks down. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Cheers Martha, but I'm celebrating watermelon today!

Blueberry Lime Pound Cake

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 I have a confession to make. I have a slight problem with hoarding. Well that's a bit of an exaggeration, I only hoard one thing, old cooking magazines. I keep a few Bon Appetit's and a Martha Stewart Living, here and there, but mostly it's limited to Fine Cooking magazines. For some reason, I can't stand to throw them away. I love every issue. They only publish a new magazine every other month, which is probably a good thing because with only six issues a year, it would take a long time for me to make it on to "Hoarders: Buried Alive!"
Actually, recently in a fit of spring cleaning, I did part with quite a few issues. I kept only the ones that with lots of recipes I want to make, or had really pretty pictures... Yes I know I can look up old recipes online, but it's way more fun to grab a cold drink and flip through a stack of magazines. Thank goodness I still had my Jun/July 2008 issue, because it was chock full of great blueberry recipes.  I remembered there were several recipes in that issue that I wanted to make. I had dogeared the page to this recipe a long time ago and I decided now was the time to put that hoarded issue to good use! 

Blueberry Lime Pound Cake
Source: Fine Cooking: by Nicole Rees (adapted)
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
For the cake:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking power
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp. finely grated lime zest
*6 oz. mascarpone or cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 pint blueberries, room temperature, not cold from the refrigerator 
For the glaze:
4 oz. (1 cup) confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice; more as needed
1/2 tsp. lime zest

*Note: I used mascarpone because I had it and didn't have any cream cheese on hand. It was delicious in this cake!

Method:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.
Make the cake: Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Stir the lime zest into the sifted flour mixture.
With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, beat the butter and mascarpone or cream cheese in a large bowl on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugar mixture and beat on medium until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. With the mixer still running, add the whole eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and stopping the mixer to scrape the bowl twice. Beat in the egg yolk. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture. Stop the mixer one last time to scrape the bowl and then beat at medium speed until the batter is smooth and light, about 20 seconds. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
Pour the batter into the bundt pan, spreading it evenly with the spatula. Lightly tap the pan against the counter to eliminate any air pockets. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes and then invert onto the rack, remove the pan, and let cool completely.

Glaze the cake: In a small bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar, lime zest, and lime juice together until smooth. The glaze should be thin enough to pour. If not, add more lime juice, 1 tsp. at a time. Put a baking sheet under the rack to catch drips and drizzle the glaze over the top and sides of the cake. Let the glaze set before transferring to a cake plate.

Or you can add the glaze right on the cake plate, like I did!

Other blueberry recipes you might like:
Low Fat Blueberry Oat Loaf Cake
Fresh Blueberry Pie
Orange Blueberry Muffins
Blueberry Ice Cream
Blueberry Barbecue Sauce

Brownie Cookie Sundae Bowls

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Hubs was out of town over the past week-end so I had a few girlfriends over for a girls night. Since the food is as important as the gossip, I wanted to make something fun for dessert. I came across Michael Ruhlman's chocolate chip cookie sundae bowls and thought they were perfect. How fun, we could all make our own sundaes and eat the bowl too! I made some caramel and chocolate sauce, toasted some coconut, and got out the sprinkles. What's more girlie than a than a bowl of sprinkles?

The cookie sundae bowls were a hit. We were so busy eating them, I never got a picture of the chocolate chip cookie bowls. While we were devouring our cookie sundaes, one of my friends asked if brownies could be used instead of cookies. Well of course I had to try it out to see if it would work.

Okay don't judge, but I had a brownie mix in the pantry that I thought would be perfect for this experiment. I used the brownie cookie recipe on the back of the box. It just cut back on the oil and liquid for a denser batter. I thought cookie dough would work better than the thinner brownie batter. I used the same process as I did when making the chocolate cookie bowl.

How to make brownie cookie sundae bowls:  
1 recipe of brownie cookie ( I used Hershey's brownies and followed the brownie cookie recipe)

 Oven proof bowls that nest inside one another. (one needs to be a little smaller than the other.)

Spray the inside of the larger bowl and the out side of the smaller bowl with cooking spray.

Lightly press 3-4 tablespoons of the brownie cookie dough into the bottom of the larger bowl. Press the smaller bowl into the dough so that it starts to come up around the sides. As it cooks the dough will expand to the top of the bowl. (If you put too much dough into the bottom of the large bowl it will cook over.)

Bake in a 350 degree  oven for 20 minutes. Remove the bowl(s) from the oven and carefully twist the small bowl to free them from the dough then remove it.  Return to the oven and continue to bake the cookie bowls for 5 minutes of so until the inner bottom of the cookie bowl finishes cooking.
When the bowls are cool enough to handle, cut off any dough that’s over flowed the edge and, very carefully, run a pairing knife along the sides, gently lifting up to free the bottom of the cookie bowl. Cool completely.

Fill the bowls with ice cream and the toppings of your choice!

I think almost any cookie would work as a cookie bowl. I can't wait to try all different kinds of cookie bowls. If you make cookie bowls, leave me a link to your post in the comments section. I'd love to see your bowls!

Caramel Sauce
Source: Simply Recipes (slightly adapted)
Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
pinch of sea salt
1 Tbs bourbon (optional)
Method:
Have all your ingredients measured out and ready to go. The process goes very fast once the sugar starts melting. You have to work fast as the sugar burns quickly so all your ingredients must be ready to go.
Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 3-quart pan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. Just swirl the pan a few times. As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.
Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Be very careful with this step. When you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up and sputter quite a bit. Add the sea salt and the bourbon. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass jar or a small bowl. Let sit to cool to room temperature.  The caramel sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Rewarm before serving.

Four years ago this week, I started this little blog. I totally started it on a whim, and for this reason I named my blog Half Baked. I didn't know what I was doing, whether or not I'd enjoy blogging, or if I'd even keep it up. The whole thing started with a half-baked idea and here I am at my four year blogiversary! My own birthday is just about a week away so lot of reasons to celebrate around here.
Thanks to all of you that have been with on this blog adventure over the last four years. An unexpected, but wonderful gift that has come with doing this blog is getting to "meet" so many wonderful people from all over the world. Hope to see you here again soon!

Mint Infused Watermelon Sorbet

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It's July, in lower Alabama, so long hot days are pretty much a given. However this summer has been a particularly hot one, even for those us that find temps in the mid-60's somewhat nippy.

 

 On days like these, a tall glass of sweet tea packed with so much ice that the tea just fills the spaces is almost all that I want. Ice cold, super sweet, running down your arms juicy slices of watermelon, is about the only other thing I can work up the motivation to eat. I got a really large watermelon from the framers market last week-end. Later that same day, a neighbor dropped by and gave me another watermelon. What to do with so much melon? Sure we could just slice it, pop it in the fridge, and stuff ourselves with watermelon till our bellies sloshed around from all the liquid. As fun as that sounds, I opted to use some of the watermelon to make a sorbet. I decided to infuse the watermelon with some fresh mint. What could be more refreshing on hot day than a big bowl of mint infused watermelon sorbet? Let me just tell you, this stuff is seriously addictive!

Mint Infused Watermelon Sorbet

(printable recipe)
Ingredients:
5 cups seeded or seedless watermelon cut into chunks
3 limes, juiced (about 6 tablespoons)
4 sprigs of mint
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. honey
1/8 tsp. salt
1-2 Tablespoons vodka (*optional)

Method:
In a food processor or blender, combine melon with half the citrus juice; process or blend until smooth. (You should end up with about 5 cups of liquid.)
Transfer to a bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan combine fresh herbs, sugar, 1 cup of the watermelon puree, remaining citrus juice, honey, and salt. Bring to boiling over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain herb mixture into melon puree. Stir in the vodka if using. *(The vodka is just added to keep the sorbet from freezing too hard. A trick I learned when making David Lebovitz's strawberry frozen yogurt.) Cover and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours or in the freezer for about an hour.

Transfer chilled mixture to 1- to 2-quart ice cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Remove sorbet from ice cream maker and place in a freezer safe container. Freeze the sorbet for about 2 hours.

Don't you want to dive in head first?