Sticky Toffee Pudding Cheesecake

I briefly mentionined this cheesecake a while ago, and now am finally posting it! I made it for Christmas dinner's dessert and everyone, including myself, loved it. (And so you can see why it all looks a mess as I was more concerned with just serving it to everyone versus it being beautiful. Though it is still beautiful to me.)

There's a graham cracker crust which goes up the sides of the cheesecake, a layer of cheesecake, a layer of toffee sauce, a layer of sticky toffee pudding cake, topped by another layer of toffee sauce, broiled and THEN topped with more toffee sauce. Delicious delicious. It's a great special event dessert and though it takes a bit of time to make, it's not difficult.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Cheesecake Pops
Lemon Cheesecake
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Brown Sugar Apple Cheesecake

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cheesecake
Slightly adapted from Willow Bird Baking who used Food Network’s pudding recipe

Makes 12 servings

Cheesecake
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Sticky Toffee Pudding
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup pitted dates, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Toffee Sauce
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup packed light brown sugar

Make the cheesecake: Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9" springform pan. In a bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and butter, making sure to moisten all the crumbs. Using a flat-sided glass, press into a thin layer covering the bottom and sides of your cheesecake pan. The crumbs should come up the side of the pan 2.5 inches. Bake the crust for 6 minutes and let it cool as you make your cheesecake filling.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium-high speed until well blended. Beat in the flour. Beat in the vanilla until well incorporated. (Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.) Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Pour the filling into your crust.

Bake until the top is lightly browned, puffed and cracked around the edges, and the center moves only very slightly when the pan is lightly shaken (about 40 minutes). Check while baking periodically and put a pie shield (or strips of foil) around the top of your pan to protect the crust edges if they’re getting too dark. (If you do this, make sure the shield/foil doesn't touch the cheesecake.) Let cheesecake cool at room temperature for at least 3 hours, then put in the fridge to chill overnight or for 8 hours.

Make Sticky Toffee Pudding: In the meantime, grease a 9-inch round cake pan. Place a parchment paper round in it to line the bottom.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. In a separate small bowl, mix the dates, boiling water, and baking soda. Set this aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Gradually add in the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Gently fold in the date mixture with a spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the pudding is set up and firm, about 35 minutes (jiggle the pan and watch the middle). Let the pudding cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before inverting it onto a parchment paper lined plate. If you are going to assemble the cake right away, after cooling put the cake in the freezer to firm up, otherwise put it in the fridge overnight (covered with plastic wrap).

Make the Toffee Sauce: In a small saucepan, combine the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Turn the heat down to medium low, and boil gently for about 8 minutes, or until the mixture is thickened.

Assemble the cake: Preheat the broiler. Spoon about 1/3 cup of toffee sauce onto the surface of your cheesecake to serve as a “glue” and gently place your sticky toffee pudding layer on top, pressing to adhere. Top this layer with about 1/3 cup of the toffee sauce and spread this around evenly on top. Place the cake under the broiler until the topping is bubbly, about 1 minute (keep a close watch and rotate for even bubbling if necessary). Carefully remove the sides of the springform pan. Serve slices with extra toffee sauce, and whipped cream or ice cream (if desired).

Patrick's Salad

I know this salad totally doesn't look like much, and you can't even really tell what's in there (romaine lettuce, red bell pepper, snow peas, toasted almonds) but it's SO good. The first time my mom made it I didn't like it that much but now it's my favourite salad and she makes it all the time. The dressing has olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, parsley, onion and sugar. There's more oil in there (1/2 cup) than I'd usually have in a dressing but it's just so good that I don't want to try and change it.

When recipes say to toast nuts, I often don't do it. But for this salad, I think the toasted nuts make it extra delicious so don't skip that step!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Weekend Glow Kale Salad
Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Potato Salad Nicoise
Wheat Berry Salad with Zucchini and Mozzarella

Patrick's Salad
Adapted from The Rest of the Best and More, Volume 2 (The Best of Bridge)

Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar
Juice of half a small lime
2 tsp soy sauce
1 large garlic clove
Salt & pepper to taste
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp minced red onion
3 1/2 tbsp sugar

Salad
1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bite-size pieces
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 package snow peas, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Add all the dressing ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and well mixed.

Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with the dressing before serving.

Turkish Carrots and Lentils

Look at my beautiful Staub! We received this as a wedding gift and I was so happy and it was so precious to me that it took me forever to use it.

I like the idea of this dish because it has 1 lb of carrots and carrots don't get the spotlight too often (and I love them). I also love that it's lentil based, as lentils are much better than beans (to me anyway).

And while I did enjoy this dish, I also admit that it lacked some flavour. A bit of spices could really help here. Maybe some smoked paprika and thyme? (I have no idea if that would taste good I was just googling Turkish spices and those 2 sounded good to me! I also have some sumac from my visit to Turkey last year and have yet to use it.)

I'm off to Trader Joe's today!!!! So excited.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Lemon Curried Lentils and Potatoes
Dal Makhni
Spice Market Sweet Potato and Lentil Packets
Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Turkish Carrots and Lentils
Adapted from Cooking Light Way to Cook Vegetarian

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp chili pepper flakes
1 lb carrots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups water
1 cup uncooked dried green lentils
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook for 10 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add tomato paste and chili pepper flakes, stir for 30 seconds. Add the carrots and 1/4 tsp salt and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a separate large pot, bring 3 cups water and the lentils to a boil. Cover, reduced heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and increase heat to medium-high, and stir in onion/carrot mixture. Cook for 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in remaining 1/4 tsp salt and ground black pepper.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

I had some leftover buttermilk - though now I have no idea what it was for, maybe the pralines I made my mom - and we were going away for a few days so I went to search for a quick and easy buttermilk recipe. I love biscuits and love when I can make biscuits and don't have to roll out any dough!

These are super quick to put together as you just whisk the dry, whisk the wet, stir together and drop onto a cookie sheet. I went with all whole wheat flour and was a bit scared as to whether they'd be too dry but they turned out really well and E was in love with them.

I forgot to say thanks to the people who shared some of their things they were grateful/happy about last week - it made me happy to read!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Squirrelly Scones
Peppered Pear and Goat Cheese Scones
Three Seed Biscuits
Baking Powder Biscuits

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
Adapted from Pink Parsley who adapted from Cook's Illustrated

makes 9-10 biscuits

2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup cold buttermilk
8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 475F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter and buttermilk, stirring until small clumps are formed.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and use a rubber spatula to stir, until they are just incorporated, and the batter starts to pull away from the sides.

Use a large cookie scoop (or a greased 1/4-cup measuring cup) to scoop out the dough and drop on an ungreased baking sheet, spacing the biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Each biscuit should be about 2 inches in diameter and 1 inch high.

Bake until the tops are crisp and golden-brown, 12-14 minutes.

Sweet Chili Lime Tofu

I was hoping to get all our meals cooked for the week today, and bake some cookies to use up the vegan shortening in my fridge. But then I sliced my thumb this morning while chopping onions and didn't have any bandaids. After the sliced thumb I decided to just stick to the essentials, cooking for the week. Not baking gave me time to watch Grey's Anatomy and read, so it all worked out in the end!

I didn't make this tofu today but it was one of the delicious things I've made recently. It's kind of similar to Matthew's Delicious Tofu (one of my favourite tofu recipes) but a little different as it has lime juice and mint. Basically pan fried tofu with a sweet-sour-spicy-salty-sticky sauce. I imagine it would be good with tempeh too, if you're not scared of it like I am.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Tofu and Broccolini in Peanut Sauce
Broccoli Cashew Teriyaki Tofu Stir Fry
Sweet and Spicy Cashew Tofu
Lemon Miso Tofu and Eggplant

Sweet Chili Lime Tofu
Adapted from Vegan Yum Yum

Serves 4 (with vegetables and a grain)

1 package of extra firm tofu
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 3/4 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 zest of a lime
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/4 tsp salt
4 mint leaves, chiffonade

Prepare the sauce by whisking together all ingredients except the tofu.

Drain the tofu and cut it into small triangles. Heat a dry frying pan over medium heat. Spread the tofu out into a single layer, and cook for about 5 minutes. Flip and cook for another 5 minutes.

Turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the prepared sauce and stir to coat the tofu. The sauce should be bubbling. Turn off the heat, and serve.