Toffee Cheesecake

Gingersnap crust:

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 1/2 cups ground gingersnap cookies (about 7 1/4 ounces)
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar

Cheesecake:

• 4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 5 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel topping

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

• 4 1.4-ounce English toffee candy bars (such as Heath or Skor), chopped

For gingersnap crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 9-inch springform pan with 2 1/2-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Stir ground cookies, butter, and sugar in medium bowl until moist clumps form. Press cookie mixture firmly onto bottom of prepared pan. Wrap outside of pan with 3 layers of heavy-duty foil. Bake crust until firm and beginning to darken, about 14 minutes. Cool crust. Maintain oven temperature.

For cheesecake:
Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in butter, then eggs, 1 at a time, until just blended. Beat in vanilla. Pour batter over crust in pan. Place springform pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to come halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake cake uncovered until filling is puffed around edges and moves slightly in center when pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove pan from water; remove foil. Place hot cheesecake uncovered in refrigerator overnight.

For caramel topping:
Stir sugar, water, and lemon juice in large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil without stirring until mixture turns deep amber, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, about 9 minutes. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Chill until thickened but still pourable, about 15 minutes.

Spoon caramel over top of cake just to edges (do not allow caramel to drip down sides). Garnish top edges with chopped English toffee. Chill at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.

OVERALL: Okay so, No I did not make the caramel topping, instead I added about 1/2 cup of chopped toffee candy. It turned out really good. It was not as smooth as I wanted, probably because I forgot to add the butter (oops), but my friend who I gave it too as a birthday cake enjoyed it. Next time I would add more toffee to the cheesecake and probably just buy some caramel to melt and pour on top... But it was very good.

Also, no pictures because I fail, so the photo is the stock photo from the original recipe.

I've died and gone to heaven

Cappuccino Hazelnut Cheesecake $52.00

Candy Crazy Sampler Reg Price $44.00 on sale for $30.80


Heath Bar Cheesecake Price $35.00

Chocolate Lover's Sampler Reg Price $40.00 On Sale $28.00

Oh god. Saw this on Unwrapped.

Eli's Cheesecake

Oh. My. God. I don't think there is one cheesecake there I would not try. They have Cheesecake Couture!

Grandpa' Joe's Cheesecake

Sorry I've been gone for a while. My boyfriend is in town and I'm spending as much time with him as I can before he leaves for Japan for 2 years. I've been bragging about a cheesecake my grandpa made when I was little. We just called it Italian Cheesecake.

Grandpa Joe's "Italian" Cheesecake

3lbs of Ricotta Cheese
8 eggs (I did 2 eggs and 6 egg yolks)
1.5 cups sugar
0.5 cup flour
0.5 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
Graham Cracker crumbs.

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 425.

2. In a VERY large bowl beat the Ricotta until smooth. gradually add in the eggs, beating after every addition. Once the mixture is smooth, add the sugar and flour. Beat. Add the Lemon zest, vanilla, and heavy cream. The mixture should be smooth, no lumps.

3. Butter the sides of a large spring pan. Sprinkle the graham crackers over, making sure they stick. For a thicker crust, add more crumbs but make sure to press them down.

4. Pour in the batter. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Then turn the oven temp down to 350 degrees and cook for an hour. After the hour, turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool for about 10 minutes.

5. Refrigerate for about 3 hours before serving.

OVERALL: This is honestly my FAVORITE cheesecake ever. It's not nearly as sweet as cream cheese based cheesecakes, but is still smooth and rich. It would go great with any type of topping be it fruit, chocolate, or even a base for a pumpkin pie cheesecake. My boyfriend really like it, never having a ricotta cheesecake. But watch out, it's really not that healthy for you, so make this when you are having company over or giving some away because, trust me, you WILL eat it all if precautions aren't taking.

This recipe is very near and dear to my heart. I hope you guys try it and love it as much as I do :)

Still not right :(

So I loved the cheesecake cupcakes I made a while back, I've tried on multiple occasions to make ricotta based cheesecake cupcakes.

Now I have a super awesome cheesecake recipe my grandpa made when I was little waiting in line to be made. But at the time I started fiddling around with this idea, I didn't have the recipe.

I don't remember the exact recipe, but I know I wasn't happy. I used a combination of Ricotta cheese, some cream cheese for the creaminess & stiffness, vanilla extract, and some sugar. As well as Resee Cup topping :)

I found that they weren't sweet enough for me and were lacking some serious flavor. Next time I'll try to mimic this lemon tart recipe from one of my favorite bloggers.

Trust me, they look better than they taste. Very bland. Any suggestions on how I could spruce this up?

I've got about 4 posts in the making this week. I went out today and got all but 2 of the ingredients. Go figure I forget something. Anyways, since exams are done (for about 2 weeks) I have time to play around.

Mini Cheesecake Cupcakes

So this is actually a dessert! Sadly I made these a while ago, but I loved them so much and I stumbled on the recipe again, I had to post it.

Mini Cheesecakes

2 (8 oz.) block cream cheese

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Oreo Cookies

1. Soften cream cheese to room temperature.
2. Mix cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla together until smooth.
3. Place 1 whole oreo in bottom of foil cup, fill 3/4 full with cheese mixture (approximately 2 dozen).
4. Place cups on large cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
5. Refrigerate until served. Optional: Top with pie filling or fruit of your choice. (I opted for the Kiwi and Strawberry)

Overall: These are such a wonderful dessert. If I remember they weren't heavy when you ate them. But man were they addicting. The oreo at the bottom added a nice base and flavor for the cupcake. I sadly don't have any pictures without the wrappers on them. I suppose if you wanted to be health concious, you could use low fat cream cheese or something.