Summer time is upon us! Well technically summer doesn’t begin until June 21st this year, but clearly that’s for places other than Texas as we’ve already regularly had 90-degree weather for weeks now. Memorial day weekend always kicks off summer in my mind! When Foodbuzz put out the call for submission’s for this month’s 24×24 event — I knew I wanted to have a picnic (before it gets too hot of course). I knew that a picnic would be a great way to kick off our summer — good food & good company! I knew that I wanted a simple, portable, no-fuss menu for our Memorial Day weekend Picnic Party and this is what I came up with:

Strawberry Lemonade Spritzers
Vintage Soda Pop
Water

Spicy BLT Wraps
Ham & Avocado Sandwiches
Mustard Vinaigrette Potato Salad
Chips

Fresh Fruit Salad
Pound Cake

Want to plan a picnic yourself? Here are some useful planning and packaging tips and tricks:

Planning Tips

• Keep it simple — consider simple, easy, convenient foods. You don’t want to spend a lot of time preparing/setting up
• Be organized — using checklists helps ensure nothing gets left behind. Make a packing checklist (I’ve provided a guide below) and a food checklist for the fridge so you don’t run off forgetting the chips or something
• Avoid dairy & mayonnaise-based foods whenever possible, as they go bad quickly
• Food should not sit out at room temperature for more than 2-hours due to harmful bacteria growth so unless you’ll be getting home immediately, throw your leftovers away.
• Precut as much as possible in advance into serving sizes, such as brownies,etc.
• Freeze drinks when possible. They’ll stay cool longer and can be used to help keep food cold (if stored in some cooler/container).
• If possible, pack cold food in a cooler separate from the drinks, as the drink cooler will be opened frequently
• Hot/warm foods can be transported using thermoses

Packing Checklist

• Soft blanket(s)
• Tarp to put beneath your blanket in case of wet grass — we learned that one the hard way!
• Tablecloth (if utilizing picnic tables)
• Unbreakable plates, flatware, serveware, cups, napkins/wet wipes
• Sun screen, insect repellants
• Corkscrew and/or bottle opener
• Cutting board/paring knife
• Trash bag(s)

The food was delicious and we had a great time relaxing and hanging out with friends! We can’t wait to do it again in the fall! The recipes for a lot of the menu items will be popping up on the blog over the next few weeks but I couldn’t post without leaving you with at least one recipe; this Strawberry Lemonade Spritzer is a perfect refreshing summer beverage!

Thanks Foodbuzz for sponsoring another great event and Happy Memorial Day!

Strawberry Lemonade Spritzer

3 cups strawberries, hulled & roughly chopped
2 Tbsp sugar
8 cups prepared lemonade
Club Soda

In a small food processor, combine strawberries & sugar. Puree until smooth. Strain if desired (I don’t mind the chunkiness). Combine strawberry puree & lemonade and refrigerate at least one hour. Just prior to serving combine lemonade & club soda (I prefer a ratio of 2 parts lemonade to 1 part club soda).

I know you’re curious to see who the winner is so here we are… #34!

… which is:

Congrats Erin! I’m thrilled this cookbook is going to another Pastry Queen fanatic! Hope you enjoy your cookbook!

My favorite new addition to my collection is another Pastry Queen Cookbook, Pastry Queen Parties: Entertaining Friends and Family, Texas Style. I already own her other two cookbooks! I adore her cookbooks! Maybe its the Texan in me, but they are awfully good! Great photos, delicious food… It looks like she’s done it again with her most recent release!

So what do you need to get your hands on this cookbook? To enter, simply leave a comment on this post answering the following question (Be sure to enter a valid email address): What is your favorite holiday treat?

Want to increase your odds of winning? Tweet about this giveaway and/or post about it on your blog! Then come back and leave a link to your tweet and/or blog post and you’ll be entered again! Total possible entries: 3.

Contest ends at midnight CST on Sunday, December 13, 2009. One winner will be selected at random on Monday, December 14. Please note this contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada (my apologies to my international readers!)

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

I love this photo of her son, Kendall, says it all!

Photo property of Baby Rabies.

Definitely go whip up some of this wonton soup if you haven’t already! And check out Jill’s commentary on the soup!

And stay tuned for the next challenge…

Even more excitedly, this year’s Thanksgiving feast was chosen by the editors of foodbuzz to be a part of the foodbuzz 24,24,24 event which is a live blogging event featuring 24 meals, in 24 hours, on 24 different blogs around the world! It was really hard not to let the cat out of the bag a few weeks ago when I found out. I’m so excited to be participating in the November event! Definitely go check out what the other 24,24,24 featured bloggers have done!

Planning your first Thanksgiving can be overwhelming, especially if you have a personality like mine. Without a doubt, I’m a planner and a perfectionist. Even though I had the menu picked out weeks ago, I knew exactly when each dish should go in the oven, and I had the shopping done. I was still anxious. What if I burn the turkey? What if it tastes horrible? What if my oven breaks? I can’t help myself! And I can’t help you with that sort of anxiety. But I can help you get all your ducks in a row! I can’t imagine how I could have pulled off this Thanksgiving without the planning I did (and I didn’t get it done at 2pm like planned but we were all sitting down to eat at 2:30 so I didn’t do too bad for my first try!). So here I am to share some helpful tips with other first timers such as myself. You can keep these in mind for next year, or really these would be helpful when planning any meal for company!

Its critical to plan your menu in advance, especially for a meal like Thanksgiving! With so many dishes needing to be cooked at the same time, you have to coordinate cooking times and oven temperatures. You ideally want to choose recipes that are close in temperature so you can make adjustments and cook it all together. Unless you’re blessed with a wonderful kitchen with multiple ovens! I unfortunately do not, I’m not even blessed with decent counter space! But with all that in mind, I started out by putting our wonderful menu together:

Thanksgiving Feast, Texas Style!

Cajun Roasted Turkey
Tamale & Green Chile Cornbread Dressing
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Green Bean Bundles
Green Bean Casserole
Roasted Cauliflower
Roasted Carrots & Mushrooms
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Chutney
Dinner Rolls

Dessert
Pumpkin Roll
Pecan Tassies
Apple Pie
Icebox Cake

So now what? You’ve got the menu planned but it doesn’t stop there! There are some other things to consider and plan for!

• Consider what kind of turkey you want (fresh turkeys should be ordered in advance, and frozen turkeys will require planning as they take time to defrost). Check out this Turkey Guide. We ordered a fresh turkey from a local butcher)
• Make a grocery list from menu several weeks in advance and double check your list twice to make sure you’ve got everything covered (this saves you from having to run out on Thanksgiving day!)
• Clean out the pantry & fridge! You’ll be bringing home a lot of groceries and you need to make room.
• Stock up on shelf stable items one to two weeks in advance and make a run to the grocery store or farmer’s market a couple days before Thanksgiving for all the fresh veggies, bread, etc.
• Plan a time line. Consider how long each dish needs to prep and cook. Review each recipe twice (or more)! You don’t want to suddenly realize the day of your event you should have started the night before! And if you’ve familiarized yourself with your recipes, you’ll be calmer the day of!
• Check to make sure you have all the proper cooking equipment and enough serving dishes for everything
• Print and/or make copies of all your recipes. You don’t want to hassle with having 4 or 5 open cookbooks
• Prep/chop as much as you can the day before a big event. Things such as dicing onions, peppers, celery for stuffing can be done in advance. What does that leave you the day of? Simply combining it all and throwing it in the oven!
• Make all baked goods the night before. These hold up very well and it greatly frees up your kitchen time the day of the event
  

So where are the recipes?? I know that’s why you’re here! Well you’ll find the turkey and dressing recipes below. I was inspired by a hometown restaurant, Z’Tejas for the dressing recipe. The recipe was shared by my fellow blogger at Slightly Cheaper than Therapy. I substituted roasted Hatch green chiles for jalapenos and scaled back the cilantro which I’ve shown below but pop over to her blog to check out the originals. I’ll be honest and say its not my favorite cornbread dressing of all time. The family raved about it though so I was definitely in the minority. I do have to say though, I liked it enough to go back for seconds It was different and I loved the color! It was worth blogging about!

The green bean casserole… well it was my disaster. It should have been good. But I had overcooked the green beans for the bundles when I blanched them the night before so I was worried about overcooking the green beans when I blanched the 2 pounds of green beans for the casserole. I ended up undercooking them and didn’t know it til it was too late. It was the crunchiest green bean casserole I’ve ever had and the sauce didn’t really thicken up like it should have. Oh well. I guess they couldn’t all have been winners my first thanksgiving

The green bean bundles however were a huge hit. Unfortunately I don’t have a recipe to share yet. I’ll work on measuring and bringing you a recipe soon. But you can’t bean bacon wrapped green beans covered with brown sugar, garlic & butter!

All the roasted veggies got all around raves. Not many had had roasted veggies before which was surprising! They’re a fave in our house though and so simple! This particular recipe for roasted carrots & mushroom came from my fellow blogger, Kalyn. She has a great blog for those watching their waistlines (new year’s resolutions anyone?), particularly south beach dieters. These were a huge hit and so very simple! I meant to add pearl onions but with the help in the kitchen and everything going on, I got distracted. But we’ll definitely be eating these in the future so I’ll give the onions a try another time.

The sweet potatoes were a huge hit. But again, I don’t have a recipe to share as of yet. I threw in some butter, cream cheese, cinnamon and nutmeg and then topped them with chopped pecans and marshmallows. The side y were fabulous. I don’t even like sweet potatoes that much and I think these were actually my favorite dish! So I’ll be working on recreating the recipe to share. I need to make these much more frequently!

And of course the biggest and most important recipe of all… the turkey recipe! It got all around raves from everyone, myself included. None of us had ever had a brined turkey before. We’re all used the smoked varieties, but this was fabulous! I loved the seasoning and it was so moist! I wish I had bought a larger turkey; we’ve already taken out all the leftovers! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I can’t wait to do it all over again! I’m so thankful for all the blessings in our lives. I hope everyone had as fabulous of a holiday as we did! And stay tuned because Christmas is just around the corner which means the surplus of baked goodies is about to come a knockin!

Cajun Roast Turkey

Brine
2 c water, plus more water to cover the turkey
1 c kosher salt
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
Ice cubes for cooling

12-14 lb turkey, giblets removed
1 onion, quartered
2 Tbsp cajun seasoning
1 lemon, halved
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 c unsalted butter
1/2 c all-purpose flour

To make the brine: In a large saucepan, combine the 2 cups water, salt and sugar and set over high heat. Cook, stirring, until the salt and sugar are completely melted. Fill the saucepan with ice cubes to quickly cool the brine. Put the turkey in a large stockpot, heavy plastic bag or cooler large enough to hold the bird when covered .Add enough cold water to cover the turkey. Add the cooled brine and the onion. Add more ice if you are brining the turkey in a cooler. If brining in a stockpot or plastic bag, place in refrigerator. Leave the turkey in the brine for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours.

To bake the turkey: Preheat oven to 325°. Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse under cool water in the sink, and pat dry with paper towels. Place it on a greased V-shaped roasting rack in a large roasting pan. Pat the Cajun seasoning evenly all over the turkey, inside and out. Place the lemon and garlic in the turkey’s body cavity. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Stir the flour into the melted butter and pour over the turkey, taking care to cover the whole bird. Bake the turkey, basting about every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours. The turkey is done when the legs are loose in their sockets and an instant-read thermometer stuck in the thickest part of the thigh without touching bone registers 175° to 180°. Remove from oven and let rest for about 30 minutes before carving.

Source: Adapted from The Pastry Queen Christmas by Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman

Z’Tejas Sweet Corn Cornbread
Yields two 10″ skillets

1 1/2 c stone ground corn meal
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 c plain nonfat yogurt
1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp canned creamed corn
1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp frozen whole kernel corn (thawed)
3 large eggs
1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all dry ingredients together and set a side. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk all wet ingredients (including corn) together. Then add dry ingredients to form a batter. Spray a 10″ cast iron skillet with nonstick spray or melt 1/2 a stick of butter. Fill with 1/2 the batter. Bake at 400° (375° for convection ovens) for about 20 minutes. Test by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cornbread; toothpick should come out relatively clean but still a little moist.

*If using this for the Tamale Dressing, make at least one day in advance and allow to dry out.

Tamale and Green Chile Corn Bread Dressing

One recipe of Sweet Corn Cornbread, crumbled into quarter sized chunks
6 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 red peppers, steemed, seeded & chopped
2-3 poblano peppers, steemed, seeded & chopped
3 roasted Hatch green chiles, steemed, seeded & chopped
1 Tbsp fresh sage or 4 tsp of dried
1 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 c crushed corn chips
1 1/2 c frozen corn kernels (thawed)
12 pork, chicken or beef tamales, shucked and chopped into 1″ chunks
3 c chicken stock, heated
3/4 c canned creamed corn
Salt & Pepper to taste

Melt butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, bell peppers, all chilies, sage and oregano. Sweat the vegetables (sauté until about half way cooked). Transfer to bowl with cornbread. Mix in cilantro, corn chips, kernel corn, creamed corn and heated chicken stock. Stir well. Mix in tamales, being careful not to break up the chunks. Add salt and pepper. If stuffing is too dry for your tastes, add a little melted butter.

Preheat oven to 325°. Butter a 13×9×2 baking dish. Pour mixture into baking dish and cover with foil. Bake approximately 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until top is browned.

its time to announce a winner for our blogoversary giveaway. I’m giving away a copy of the Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining cookbook. Its perfect for thanksgiving and Christmas party planning. It has ideas for centerpieces, menus, and its filled with beautiful photos! I used the Random Number generator to pick one of my lucky readers:

So… our lucky winner is Clara of iheartcuppycakes! Clara you should have an email from me, so get me your information and I’ll get your cookbook in the mail! Thanks to all my readers for participating and making my first giveaway a success!

That was a lot of fun but its time to talk food! I am getting SO excited about Thanksgiving! This is our first time to host and I just can’t wait. I’ve been working on a menu and I’ll be trying a few recipes out next week. I absolutely can’t wait! The weather here in Texas hasn’t exactly been that cool lately. Its definitely not summer but its not as cool as you’d hope for November! I hope we get another cold front soon! Despite that, I’ve been fixing lots of great fall favorites like soup!

I’ve been trying to figure out a veggie soup for awhile that hubby and I would both like that was hearty enough to be a meal. Its hard to do since hubby is very muchly a meat and potatoes man and he isn’t really a fan of green veggies so I have some limitations. And I’m not gonna lie, he didn’t love the spinach in this recipe so when I fix it again for just the two of us, I’ll scale it back for him but I quite loved the spinach in this soup! Although I do think zucchini would be a great substitute. Anyway, I plan on making this many more times this winter. Hope you enjoy!

Vegetable Minestrone

2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 ribs of celery, chopped
3 medium sized carrots, sliced
1 cup corn
4 c vegetable broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1 medium russet potatoes, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, over medium-low heat, heat olive oil and add onions and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent. Add celery and carrots (add corn at this step if using frozen), saute for 2-3 minutes to soften veggies. Add broth, diced tomatoes with juice, drained kidney beans, corn, spinach, potatoes, oregano, basil and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30-40 minutes. Season with kosher salt and pepper as desired.

Since today is my blogoversary, I have a special first giveaway! With the holidays just around the corner, I’ve been hunting for menu ideas for thanksgiving. Have I mentioned we’ll be hosting our first Thanksgiving this year? I’m so excited!

Anyway, I stumbled across a copy of the Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining Cookbook this week. I already own one Williams-Sonoma Entertaining cookbook which I really like so I went ahead and got myself a copy but I also got a second copy for one lucky winner!

Leave a comment on this post letting us all know your absolute favorite thanksgiving dish (brownie points for sharing recipes with other readers) by midnight (CST) on Wednesday November 5th. The winner will be announced on Thursday November 6! (Only one entry per person, please!)

Oh and be sure you leave your contact info when you leave a comment, otherwise I won’t know how to reach you if you’re the lucky winner! Good luck!

Edit: Contest Closed as of Novmber 5, 2008. Winner drawn.

EDIT: This post accidently got deleted on Nov 22, 2008. I was able to revive the text of this post but the comments are gone

This time it was another new challenge… Danish Braid. The guidelines this time around required that we use the basic dough recipe and do the apple filling and/or a filling of our choice made from scratch. I made the apple filling for one large danish braids and did a cream cheese filling for the rest of the dough (hubby’s favorite kind of danishes) and made a bunch of smaller danishes.

The apple Danish braid was amazing. So delicious! It’d be great for a weekend brunch. It was pretty time consuming so not something I’d make again frequently but I’ll definitely give it a whirl again! And next time I’ll remember to put sugar in my cream cheese filling

A special thanks to Kelly of Sass & Veracity, and Ben of What’s Cookin’? for hosting this month’s edition of Daring Bakers. Be sure to checkout the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see what my fellow bloggers created this month!

Danish Dough

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

APPLE FILLING
Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 – 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Source: The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard

Due to the fact that I’m not a huge cheesecake fan, it makes it a little difficult for me to rate this recipe. Hubby isn’t a very good judge either – when he eats cheesecake (which it is his favorite dessert) he likes it PLAIN. No fruit, no chocolate, no caramel, no nuts… just cheesecake. With that in mind, I wouldn’t say its one of the best desserts I’ve had but it was pretty good. I of course tried the cheesecake recipe before making it into pops and it was allright. I certainly prefer my usual recipe over this one. But once they had the chocolate on them and were chilled… they were quite good! Instead of using pure chocolate, I bought dipping chocolate that hardens nicely (the same stuff I use to make strawberries). The result: when you bite into a cheesecake pop the first thought was a chocolate dipped haagen-daaz bar… then the cheesecake flavor hit you. Wonderful!

The recipe said you’d get about 30-40 pops, but I ended up with around 60, but this was probably due to the fact that I didn’t have the right size scoop so I had rolled balls of cheesecake to be what I thought was about 2 ounces but I must have been off. Although, I can’t imagine making them any larger for the size of the lollipop sticks. Next time, I’d use a scoop thought. The result of Hand rolling the balls was a slightly rough texture which didn’t make them as pretty as I would have liked.

I wish I’d had more time on my hands to try a larger variety of flavor combinations for dipping. There are endless possibilites – be sure to pop over to the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see what everyone else did this month! And a special thanks to Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell for hosting this month! It was a fun challenge!

Cheesecake Pops
Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) – Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety. Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Source: Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor

I’m very excited to be able to participate in this year’s wonderful blogging event, A Taste of Yellow hosted by winos and foodies. A Taste of Yellow is a blogging event supporting Livestrong Day, which is on May 13th this year. Livestrong Day, an event developed by the Lance Armstrong Foundation was created to to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight.

As soon as I heard about Barbara’s a Taste of Yellow event, I knew I had to participate. My entry honors hubby’s recently deceased Grandfather; he passed away peacefully on March 25th, only 2 weeks after his diagnosis… Grandpa, we miss you!

Onto my dish for this event…I couldn’t decide whether to call this a salsa or salad. When I got to work in the kitchen I imagined a spicy savory sort of pineapple salsa. But I didn’t have cilantro or red onions. So I started to shift gears. I was in the mood for something sweet anyway, so a sweet pineapple salsa it’ll be!

And oh my goodness, I wish I had tried making this sooner because it was so delicious! I literally ate about half of it standing over the bowl in the kitchen as soon I finished making it. It was sweet with just the slightest bit of kick from the jalapeno… absolute pineapple heaven. I plan to make this a lot more in the future!

Be sure to check out the write up on May 13th at winos and foodies!

Pineapple Salsa

2 cups freshly diced pineapple, chilled
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 Tbsp fresh chopped mint
1 Tbsp light brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp lime juice, as desired

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix. Taste and add more brown sugar and/or lime as desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate.