Cheesecake Squares

 

Ever wanted to bring something to a potluck that would stir up a craze, and leave them talking about it for months?!  This is the one recipe that will do that.  The crust tastes like shortbread, the cream cheese is super light, and the topping is sweet and delicious! You can change it up and add whatever fruit you'd like, but both the mango & guava are the best.  I'll show you two ways, one with fresh fruit and the other with just the juice.  I like more cream cheese than fruit, but if you like a lot of fruit on your cheesecake, double your cubed fruit measurements. 

SHORTBREAD CRUST

ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (cold; cut into cubes)
1/2 vanilla bean

method:
It is important that your butter is cold, so don't bring it out of the refrigerator until you are ready. 

Put flour, sugar, salt, and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer.  Run the blade of a knife along your vanilla bean and scrape out as many vanilla seeds as possible (reserve seed pod).  Scrape it off into your bowl, or onto your paddle attachment.  Beat together until flour is just combined.  Chunky flecks of butter is what you want to see.  A smooth dough means it has been overbeaten. 

 

Press dough into a greased 9x13" pan, and dock it using the tines of a fork.  This will help to prevent your dough from puffing up too much.  Store in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, or refrigerator for half an hour.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Place pan directly from the freezer to the oven.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the edges have browned nicely.  Cool completely on a rack, then return to the freezer or refrigerator to get cold.

 



 CREAM CHEESE FILLING

ingredients:
16 oz. cream cheese
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
8 oz. Cool Whip or other brand whipped topping (do not use whipped cream)

method:

Beat cream cheese in a stand mixer until fluffy.  Add sugar and the seeds of the vanilla bean (reserve seed pod), and beat again until smooth.  Remove bowl from mixer and fold in entire tub of Cool Whip by hand.  Spread over cold crust, and refrigerate until ready to use. 

MANGO TOPPING (fresh fruit topping)

ingredients:
1 cup water
1 envelope Knoxx unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
reserved vanilla pods
4-6 cups cubed mango (cold)

method:
Measure out 1/2 cup of cold water, and sprinkle gelatin slowly over entire surface, being sure not to pour it into a clump.  DO NOT MIX, allow the gelatin to slowly dissolve into the water.  Heat up the other 1/2 cup of water along with the sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla pods until the sugar dissolves.  Strain and pour hot mixture in with the gelatin, and allow to sit until the gelatin has dissolved completely. 

Pour gelatin mixture over cold mango, and mix gently. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

 Spoon mango over cheesecake with a slotted spoon and spread over entire surface.  If you want to add the juice to fill in the spaces, you can.  It will gelatinize in the refrigerator.  Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours before serving.  Cut into squares.   

GUAVA TOPPING (fruit juice topping)

ingredients:
2 cups guava juice or nectar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon LorAnn guava flavoring (optional)
1 drop Electric/Neon Pink food gel
reserved vanilla pods

method:

 
In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat up all ingredients together on medium high heat.  Stir constantly until it has thickened into a hot pink gel.  Pour onto a flat plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour or until completely chilled. 

Whip up guava gel to loosen the consistency, and spread over cheesecake.  Refrigerate again for 2 hours to reset before serving.  Cut into squares.

Red Velvet Trifle

Happy New Year!  For last night's New Year celebration, I decided on a trifle.  Trifles are usually my go-to dessert.  They're very easy to make, and always light and delicious.  Some of the earliest trifles were usually made of various layers of cakes soaked in flavored gelatin, fruit, firm custard, and whipped cream.  My trifles are different since I don't care for gelatin much.  They are usually just layers of cake, pudding, fruit, and whipped cream.

 

This time, I decided to make a chocolate trifle.  The layers were boxed red velvet cake, instant Jell-O chocolate fudge pudding, crushed Heath bar (milk chocolate coated English toffee), and whipped topping.  You must think it absurd that I cheated for this dessert, but that's why it is so easy!  If you'd like to make everything from scratch, you could.  I, however, still think that whipped topping holds better than homemade whipped cream.  It deflates after a couple hours, where whipped topping will last for days.  If you are planning on serving this immediately after it's made, then I say go ahead with the homemade (I confess it does taste much better, and is probably better for you considering whipped topping is made of oil).  If using whipped topping, be sure to purchase it at least 5 hours ahead of assembling.  Frozen whipped topping is a pain to work with, and you can't just whip it up to defrost it.  It must sit in the refrigerator for 5 hours to defrost correctly.  There is no other way.  Leaving it out on the counter will deflate it and cause it to turn back into cream.  Good luck!

RED VELVET TRIFLE

ingredients:
1 boxed red velvet cake mix (or milk chocolate cake mix dyed with red food gel)
4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1 box Jell-O instant chocolate fudge pudding
2 cups half-and-half
3 Heath candy bars (crushed)
1 container whipped topping (do not get canned whipped cream, it will deflate immediately)

method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, and butter in a large bowl and whisk until blended.  You may use a hand mixer if you'd like, but whisking is not too hard, and cleanup is a cinch.  Pour into a greased 9" round cake pan (or 9x13), and bake for 35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before assembling.  Combine pudding and half-and-half in a bowl, and whisk until it starts to thicken.  Place in the refrigerator to firm up, until ready to assemble.

For homemade whipped cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Beat cream and vanilla with a stand or hand mixer until soft peaks form.  Sprinkle sugar over the top and beat again until fluffy.  Do not overbeat, or your cream will turn into butter.

 
To assemble, cut cake to fit in serving bowl.  I used a clear pyrex bowl, so I ended up cutting out a smaller circle.  The bowl was quite shallow as well, so one round was enough for the entire trifle.  Use the rest of the cake for another trifle.  If you don't mind having chunks of cake instead of layers, just tear the cake up.  Now start layering the rest of your ingredients.

 

I started with the cake, topped it with half the chocolate pudding, then a layer of whipped topping, sprinkled on half of the crushed Heath bar, another layer of cake, the rest of the pudding, the rest of the Heath bar (reserved a few crumbs for the top), then the rest of the whipped topping.  For the topping, I sprinkled the rest of the Heath bar in the middle.  I then set my trifle in the sink, and sprinkled red velvet cake crumbs on the sides.  It was simple to lift the trifle out and wash the excess crumbs down the drain.  Refrigerate to allow cake to become the same temperature as the pudding and cream, and serve.  This was a hit at the New Year's party!