People who bake with me always say that the tale of a good baker is someone who makes what they’ve set out to make and never has any extra batter. Well, I always have extra batter. When I’m cookie-cutting there are always leftover corners, bits that can mold together into a very small round cookie but not much else (I usually just feed the tapeworm). When I’m in the mood for cheesecake I always make the rookie mistake of getting ingredients for only one pie crust, so I’m left with a lot of extra batter.

What do you do with that batter, Michelle? you might ask. (Actually, someone did ask, which is why I’m telling you about it here.) Some people just eat it. Having a tablespoon of cookie dough left is no problem, but I personally can’t wrap my head around eating the extra five cups of cream cheese and sugar. Maybe that’s just me.

I wanted to find some use for the leftover candy canes from Christmas so I decided to make a peppermint cheesecake following cheesecake directions but adding peppermint extract and some candy cane pieces. Here’s what I used:

· 3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese
· 3/4 cup sugar
· 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
· 4 eggs
· 1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
· 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
· 4-5 crushed candy canes (depending on how many you want inside) + 2 crushed (for top)
· Oreo crust (ready-made, or make one yourself)

1. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, then add flour. Mix well. Add eggs one at a time. Add sour cream. Beat all ingredients until smooth.
2. Mix in peppermint extract and crushed candy canes.
3. Pour to fill the pie crust.
4. Bake at 325° for 35 minutes or until the center is almost set. Cool for one hour.
5. Refrigerate over night. Garnish with crushed candy; refrigerate leftovers.

If you haven’t purchased two pie crusts, half the batter will remain. I simply took out a muffin pan, filled the muffin cups, and poured the leftover batter 3/4 full in each of those. You can also smash graham crackers or a vanilla wafer on the bottom for makeshift crust, but I didn’t have either of those on hand. The cheesecake cupcakes are just as good without the makeshift crust. Bake at the same temperature, shorter time (325° for 30 minutes). Follow the same instructions for cooling and refrigeration as well, or eat them warm. Garnish with remaining crushed candy canes. Makes about 12, depending on how much batter you have leftover.

There you have it! A full-sized cheesecake and some little ones to boot. These ideas only get rid of about six of your candy canes unless you want crunchy cheesecake; in that case, by all means, crush more and mix ‘em in!

I say this “used to be a soup” because that’s true; this was a soup recipe that I tried once, but it came out much less like soup and much more like sweet potatoes. So I modified it a bit and voila! A recipe for sweet potatoes! I’ll take appetizing photos next time I make it; for now, you can just visit my Soup for Every Body review and see the photos of the soup.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs. yams or sweet potoatoes
2 tbs. butter or olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
1 cup apple cider
1 tbs. molasses + 3 tbs. water
1/2 cup stock (chicken or vegetable – optional, but I find it adds a nice flavor)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake potatoes until tender, about 1 hour. Set aside to cool, then peel.
2. While potatoes are baking, heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high. Stir in the onions, then adjust the heat to medium; saute until golden brown and very tender — about 20-25 minutes, stirring often.
3. Puree onions, sweet potatoes, and apple cider until smooth.
4. Return the puree to the pan, stir in molasses. Add the stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add salt to taste.

This is Alexander McCall Smith’s pumpkin soup recipe because I got it from The Book Club Cook Book by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp. Well, I got most of it from that anyway… This is my modified version, set to suit my own tastes. I will take photos next time I make this dish.

Ingredients

3 tbs. butter
2 large shallots, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 29 oz. can pureed pumpkin
3 tbs. tomato paste
3 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
2 cups water
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. cardamom
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. sugar

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a pot. Add shallots, onion, and carrot, and sautee until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Add pumpkin, tomato paste, broth, water, coriander, cardamom, cloves, and sugar. Stir well.
3. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
4. Add salt or pepper to taste.
5. Add about 1 tsp. honey if desired for each serving.

Serves about eight.

The Mini Pie Trial

So! Richard and I have a sort of tradition of buying and eating pies on Pi Day (March 14). This year I thought it would be cute if he and I could bring mini pies into work, each of different flavors and types, for our coworkers to eat. It’s work, but it means everyone can eat their favorite pie instead of only having one to choose from! So today I did the “trial” pies. They may have been a bit overcooked, but they turned out really wonderful.

Want the recipe? No? Too bad.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare your supplies:

Pillsbury readybake pie crust. They seem to come in a pack of two, which is okay, because you can only make about four pies with one.

Two circles (made of cups or tupperware, I suppose) – one large enough to make the pie “bowl” (the bottom crust) and one for the pie top. The star is for cutting a hole in the top (I later found out it was way too big).

Then, of course, your filling. You can either make it from scratch or be lazy like me and buy it. However, if you buy it, it’ll be too big for your small pies so be prepared to cut it into bits before filling the pies.

Note: You might have to use a rolling pin at some point (to reflatten the pie crust dough before cutting out the top circles), so acquire one of those. I don’t mind just using my palms, but some people do.

Step 1. Lay out the pie crust. The package says to let it thaw for 15 minutes first, so this step comes after that.

Step 2. Using the larger circle, cut out the pie bowls. You might be using a cookie cutter or other sharper thing; in which case, you can just cut the circles by pushing down, but I had to actually cut them.

Step 3. When you’re done making the circles, put them in the muffin cups. I underestimated the size of my muffin cups so they’re a little awkward, but you get the idea.

Step 4. Fill the pie.

Step 5. Cut out the smaller circles for the tops. You can be creative with the tops, like I was, but most pies seem to have a hole up there so I suggest doing that (I really don’t know why though, I didn’t do that much research about pie-making). Now, before you attach the tops, I suggest coating the edges of the pie bowls with a little bit of milk. It makes them gummy and sticky so when you put the tops on, they’re in place better. This keeps the tops from popping off in the oven.

Step 6. Bake for about 20 minutes. I checked in on them after 10 minutes, then every five minutes after that. Tempuratures vary, of course, so rely on the smell and how they look to see if they’re done. (”Golden brown” seems to be the general rule for these things.)

You’re done! Now you have some delicious minipies to devour. It’s quick and easy – between preparation and baking, it only takes about 45 minutes. Enjoy!

This, with the images, is a recipe I was required to make for a job application. The application asked for detailed instructions on making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and… for some reason I didn’t get the job.

Supplies
Kitchen knife
Plate (about the size of two pieces of bread side-by-side)

Ingredients
Peter Pan peanut butter (creamy)
Welch’s grape jelly
White or potato bread (usually white)
Marshmallow fluff (optional)

Instructions

1. Place two slices of bread on a plate. They must have been next to each other on the loaf, and none of this end-piece business.

   

2. Remove the top slice as if it were the cover of a book so that the bottom side is now the top side, and place it to the left of the other slice.

   

3. Dip the knife into the peanut butter jar until a hefty chunk is stuck to it – say, about 2 tablespoons or more. Slab this onto the left-side slice of bread until it is spread evenly but thickly. Do not paint the entire canvas edge to edge; leave about half an inch of bread on the sides.

   

4. Wash the knife thoroughly.
5. Tilt the jelly jar toward the right-side slice of bread and using the knife, scoop out a large chunk of jelly onto the bread (1 ½ tablespoons, or so, but not much more than that). Spread the jelly across the bread thinly, again leaving about half an inch of bread on the edges.

   

6. Wash the knife thoroughly.
7. (Optional.) With the help of the knife, shake four medium-sized mounds of marshmallow fluff on top of the jelly. Do not attempt to spread; it is impossible.

   

8. Place the peanut butter slice over the jelly slice, taking care to make sure every corner of the bread is even so that when looking at it face-down, one might perceive only one slice of bread.

   

9. Enjoy.