It’s time for this month’s cheesecake recipe! Of course with Valentine’s Day coming up this Friday it only made sense to bust out this Red Velvet Swirl Cheesecake for February. How fun is this cheesecake pattern?

I’ve never made a swirled cheesecake before so I’m definitely going to have to work on my technique. I guess it’s more of a pink velvet swirl cheesecake!

Red, pink, swirled, semi-swirled – either way it still looks pretty and cute for Valentine’s Day.

This is a creamy classic cheesecake with a chocolate graham cracker crust. Red velvet seems to reference the appearance of the cheesecake more than anything since there’s only a tablespoon of cocoa powder so you don’t really get that hint of chocolate that you think of with a red velvet cake, but it is still a really tasty cheesecake.

I’m a big fan of Valentine’s Day so I have all kinds of fun treats posted on the blog, like these Strawberry Chocolate Ganache Cake Balls or these Red Velvet Oreo Truffle Chocolate Crunch Brownies. You can find them all the festive treats in the Valentine’s Day section of the recipe index. Are you making any sweets this Valentine’s Day?

Red Velvet Swirl Cheesecake

 

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Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

• 16 chocolate graham cracker squares
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 pounds cream cheese (4 8-ounce packages), room temperature
• 1¼ cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons red food coloring

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray then tightly wrap aluminum foil around the bottom and up the sides. This is to keep the water coming in from the water bath the cheesecake will be sitting in while cooking.
2. Turn the graham crackers into fine crumbs using a food processor or whacking with a rolling pin. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the chocolate crumbs, melted butter and salt until it resembles coarse sand. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and press it into the bottom and up the sides in an even layer. Bake for 8 minutes then let cool completely.
3. To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed then increase to medium-high and continue to beat until super smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the flour then beat until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Spoon 2 cups of the filling into a mixing bowl. Add the cocoa powder and food coloring then mix until combined. Pour the red filling into the crust then pour the white batter over top. Use a spoon to pull up some of the red batter from the bottom and swirl it, being careful not to pull up any of the crust.
4. Reduce oven to 325 degrees F. Place the springform pan on a baking pan then place in the oven. Carefully pour water into the baking pan so the water comes about ½-inch to 1-inch up the side of the springform pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to an hour and 30 minutes. It is done when there is a 2-3” wobble in the center. Turn the oven off and crack it open, leaving the cheesecake inside. I usually wedge a wooden spoon in the door to leave it cracked. After the hour, carefully remove from the water bath and place on a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.

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 Recipe slightly adapted from January/February 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine.

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Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments

Today I am posting the best easy dessert to impress your valentine! Or to impress yourself and feel like you just nailed the confection round of Sugar Rush. Yes, I did use the word ‘easy!’ These Raspberry Sorbet and Frozen Chocolate Mousse Domes look fancy schmancy, but it’s really a few simple steps and the magic of silicone demi sphere molds. The dessert is the perfect balance of creamy, crunchy, decadent and tart. If you didn’t want to use molds you could make a deconstructed version that I’ll get into at the bottom of the post.

Ok, step one: spoon raspberry sorbet into the small mold and freeze until firm. Yep, that’s it! Step two: melt some ruby chocolate in the microwave then spoon it into the bigger mold and use your finger to spread it all around. Have you had ruby chocolate yet? It’s slightly fruity and so yummy! Plus it’s naturally a pretty pink color – perfect for Valentine’s Day! Trader Joe’s sells bags of it and a bunch of chocolate brands, like Chocolove, sell bars of it you could melt. Otherwise just use your favorite type of chocolate for the outside shell, but I highly recommend using ruby chocolate for this.

Step three: make the two ingredient chocolate mousse. I love this mousse recipe! Heat some heavy cream in the microwave then stir in chocolate chips until melted. While it’s cooling, beat some more heavy cream until stiff peaks form and gently fold into the chocolate mixture. See! Easy! Step four: assembly! Spoon the mousse into the ruby chocolate covered mold leaving a little room in the center to press in the raspberry sorbet half sphere. Smooth it out then pop in the freezer until you’re ready to serve.

Now initially I was planning on sharing this recipe and saying that the hazelnut crunch candy was an optional bonus, but after eating the finished dessert I want to stress to you that you need to make it! It adds the best textural crunch and flavor component, plus it’s also easy so why not?! Let water and sugar cook on your stovetop for eight minutes then pour over chopped toasted hazelnuts and let harden. Done!

Now if you’re interested in the silicone molds I have this bigger one and I just got this smaller one. I love using the bigger one to make mousse and ice cream desserts look fancy for when we have friends and family over for dinner. If you don’t want to experiment with the molds you could totally still make this dessert and just serve the mousse straight from the fridge instead of frozen in individual dishes with the hazelnut crunch candy and a small scoop of raspberry sorbet on top. I might even need to make the mousse with the candy its own post. Okay, I really hope you all try this one so you can feel all chefy and proud of yourselves! Let me know if you do try it!

Raspberry Sorbet and Frozen Chocolate Mousse Domes

 

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Yield: 6 mousse domes

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons raspberry sorbet
• ¼ cup ruby chocolate wafers, or 1½ ounces of ruby chocolate broken into pieces
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil or vegetable oil
• 1½ cups heavy cream, divided
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I recommend Ghiradelli, Guittard or Trader Joe’s)
• ⅔ cup chopped toasted hazelnuts (see note)
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup water

Directions

1. Let the raspberry sorbet soften slightly then spoon into 6 cavities of the smaller mold (each cavity should hold about 1 tablespoon). Press into the mold then smooth with an offset spatula or the straight back of a knife. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until firm, at least 2½ hours. Tip: placing the silicone molds on small baking sheets makes it easier to move.
2. Place the ruby chocolate and coconut oil (or vegetable oil) in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then continue to microwave in 15 second increments, stirring after each increment, until melted. Spoon a bit into one of the cavities of the larger mold. Use your finger to spread the chocolate and completely coat the inside of the demi sphere. It should be thick enough that you can’t see the silicone through, but not too thick. Repeat for 5 more cavities. Place in the fridge to firm up for at least 15 minutes.
3. Heat ½ cup of the heavy cream in a large microwave safe mixing bowl for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Add the chocolate chips then stir. Let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk the mixture together until smooth then let cool. While the chocolate mixture is cooling, whip the remaining 1 cup of the cream. Using a mixture, whip the cold cream on medium speed, slowly increasing to medium high. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form, which means when you lift up the beater the peaks of the cream stay exactly in place. Tip: whip in a metal bowl and place both the bowl and the whisk in the freezer 5-10 minutes before whipping the cream. Gently fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture in 3 additions. It’s okay if there’s still some streaks. If you’re ready to assemble the mousse domes move to the next step, otherwise cover and place in the fridge until ready to use.
4. Spoon the chocolate mousse into the ruby chocolate coated mold. Fill all the way to the top, leaving a bit of space in the center for the raspberry sorbet. One at a time, gently pop the raspberry sorbet out of the silicone mold and press into the center of the chocolate mousse, flat side facing up. It’s okay if the sorbet doesn’t pop out in a perfect demi sphere. Smooth the top with an offset spatula or the straight back of a knife. Place in the freezer until firm; I usually leave in overnight.
5. To make the hazelnut crunch candy, place the chopped hazelnuts on a parchment lined baking sheet close together. Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar dissolves, stop stirring. Let come to a boil then cook until it reaches a light brown color, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and wait until it stops bubbling then pour over the chopped hazelnuts. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes then break the candy in pieces. Store at room temperature in an airtight container until ready to serve. When ready to serve the mousse domes, carefully pop them out of the silicone mold. Alternatively, you could pop them out of the molds ahead of time and just keep them in the freezer on a lined baking sheet covered in plastic wrap until ready to serve.

Notes

To toast the chopped hazelnuts, bake them in a 350 degree F oven for 3-4 minutes.

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Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments

Happy Friday! Here we are at day eleven of Lemon & Mocha’s 12 Days of Cookies and I’ve definitely been saving some of the best for last. First of all, let’s just discuss how pretty these Cherry Kiss Cookies are! With their pink hue they certainly would be fitting for Valentine’s Day, but they also add a great pop of color to a Christmas cookie platter.

If there was ever a cookie to be described as melting in your mouth, it would be these pillowy Cherry Kiss Cookies. They are soft, buttery and have just the perfect amount of cherry flavoring. There’s also a chocolate Hershey Kiss in the center of every cookie, which is always a delicious bonus.

The cherry flavor in these cookies comes from cherry extract and chopped maraschino cherries, both which get mixed right into the batter. If you remember my Chocolate Raspberry Heart Cookie Pops I had a difficult time finding cherry extract in the grocery store so instead I used raspberry extract. Since I now have a big bottle of raspberry extract from those cookie pops I actually used it instead of cherry extract for these cookies as well. So I guess they are technically Cherry Raspberry Kiss Cookies. Either way you make them I’m sure you will be hooked. I saved these for right before Christmas because the dough requires no chilling and they’re very easy drop cookies to make so they would be a great last minute baking project.

The cookies look very soft when they come out of the oven, but they will firm up as they cool. I left mine in the oven until I noticed just a couple of the cookies had started to very lightly brown on the edges, which can be difficult to notice at first since the cookies are pink.

I used milk chocolate kisses since that is what I had on hand, but you could experiment with different kinds as I think the dark chocolate kisses would be extra tasty in these. Okay, only a few more days until Christmas! What are you baking this weekend?

Cherry Kiss Cookies

 

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Yield: 28 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ teaspoons cherry extract, see note
• 5 drops red food coloring
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup chopped maraschino cherries
• 28 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, making sure oven racks are in the upper and lower thirds positions. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt on low speed to combine then medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, cherry extract and food coloring. Beat until combined. Add the flour and beat on low until only a few streaks remain. Use a spatula to stir in the chopped cherries.
3. Use a medium cookie scoop to balls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. I put 14 on each of my half sheet pans; the cookies spread a little, but not a lot. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a couple of the cookies just start to very lightly brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Once the cookies have cooled for 2 minutes on the pan, remove to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

If you don’t have cherry extract, raspberry extract also works really well.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

We’re here for day ten of the Lemon & Mocha 12 Days of Cookies! Even though I have three more recipes scheduled to post before the end of 2019, the post for these Soft Gingerbread M&M Cookies that you are reading now is the last one I wrote right before my post-baby blog break started!

The only reason I was shuffling around the kitchen baking these cookies in my compression socks and the last remaining outfit that would fit over my big belly was because I had to wait for the red and green M&M’s to arrive in the stores. I wanted them to look pretty and festive for the photos, especially since the post is so close to Christmas. Usually I’m the first to shake my head when I see grocery stores putting holiday items out months in advance, but of course this time I was actually complaining about them not having Christmas items out early! Go figure.

So let’s talk about these Soft Gingerbread M&M Cookies. They’re buttery, chewy and definitely chocolate-packed. I’m declaring these cookies the chocolate chip cookie lover’s perfect holiday-spiced cookie.

They have the same soft, chewy texture and buttery brown sugar flavor you get from chocolate chip cookies, plus the added bonus of gingerbread flavors through molasses, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Also, between the chocolate chips and the M&M’s they are chock-full of chocolate goodness.

The good news is, as my swollen feet/ankles/calves/aka everything-below-my-belly can attest to, these cookies are super simple to whip up so you can be done in the kitchen and kicked back eating platefuls of Soft Gingerbread M&M Cookies in no time! Enjoy!

Soft Gingerbread M&M Cookies

 

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Yield: about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ⅓ cup molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 10-ounce bag M&M’s (about 1½ cups)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar, for rolling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves and salt until combined. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and molasses on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until combined.
4. Add the flour mixture then beat on low speed until only a few flour streaks remain. Add the M&M’s and chocolate chips (leaving some aside - we’ll press these into the rolled balls so they look pretty!) and stir until just combined. Scoop out 1½ tablespoons of dough (if using Oxo cookie scoops use a medium cookie scoop) and roll into a ball. Roll the ball into the granulated sugar then place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat for the remaining cookie dough. Lightly press an M&M and a chocolate chip into the top of each cookie ball. This will make sure they look nice and pretty!
5. Bake for 12 minutes then let cool on the cookie sheet placed on a wire cooling rack for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to the wire cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with 1 cookie sheet for the remaining cookie dough.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

You knew I couldn’t stay away from the chocolate for too long! I’m catching us all up on chocolate by providing double the chocolate today. For day seven of Lemon & Mocha’s 12 Days of Cookies I present to you Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies! They should really be called double chocolate double peppermint cookies since, you guessed it, there’s both double the chocolate and double the peppermint, but I figured one “double” would work just as well.

Do these round, dark and slightly crispy cookies look familiar? If they do, it’s because we’re using the same cookie base from the Chocolate Raspberry Heart Cookie Pops recipe. Back in February, Matt and I couldn’t get enough of the buttery dark chocolate cookies. The first time I posted this cookie base I described them as a buttery version of the Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle and that is so spot on. Except this time, we’re dipping them in peppermint-flavored melted semisweet chocolate and sprinkling crushed candy canes on top to make them extra festive.

A couple months ago I shared these cookies with some friends and they were a big hit. I love when recipes like these are a big hit. And by recipes like these I mean recipes that are easy! So easy!

First of all, the cookie dough comes together in a food processor. I use this 14-cup food processor by Cuisinart. The dough is pulsed together then cold butter cubes are added and you continue to pulse until the dough completely comes together, just like if you were making a pie crust. Cold butter also means no waiting for ingredients to come to room temperature – hurray!

When I made the cookie pops, the cookie dough was rolled out, but to simplify things even more I’ve adjusted these to be made as slice-and-bake cookies. The dough comes out of the food processor and is rolled into a log in plastic wrap. Pop it into the fridge overnight or until firm and then it’s time to slice the dough into rounds and bake up the cookies! Once cooled, a quick dip into some minty melted chocolate and some sprinkling of peppermint candy and you’re done! Yum! I hope you all enjoy these!

Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

 

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Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• ⅓ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2½ sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
• Candy canes, crushed, for decorating
• White sanding sugar for decorating, optional

Directions

1. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, granulated sugar and salt. Once combined, add the cold butter cubes and the vanilla extract. Pulse until the mixture looks like it has larger crumbs and will hold together when pinched. Transfer the dough to a large bowl or clean work surface and press the dough into a ball. Knead the dough a few times. Place the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and work it into a log with a 2.5-3 inch diameter. Roll the dough log in the plastic wrap (I usually continue rolling and shaping it while it’s wrapped in plastic). Refrigerate the dough log until firm or overnight.
2. Make sure oven racks are positioned in the lower and upper thirds of the oven. Preheat to 325 degrees F. Using a sharp knife, slice the log into ⅜-inch thick cookies and arrange 2 inches apart on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake the cookies for 25-27 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Let cookies cool for 10 minutes on the pan on a wire cooling rack then transfer cookies to the wire cooling rack to cool completely.
3. Once the cookies are completely cool, melt the chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a microwave safe liquid measuring cup. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then continue microwaving and stirring in 15 second intervals until it’s melted and smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. Dip a cooled cookie halfway into the melted chocolate, place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and sprinkle with crushed candy canes and white sanding sugar (if using). Repeat for the rest of the cookies, melting more chocolate if needed. Towards the end I didn’t want to melt more so I just used a spoon to help spread it on the remaining cookies. Place in the fridge until the chocolate sets then remove and store at room temperature.

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