Raspberry Cheesecake Crumble

There is something that happens to me when the weather starts getting a little cooler. The leaves begin to change color, Saturdays are football days, and I bake. Part of the reason I do this is to use all the great fresh fruit and vegetables that I have grown or received. So when I got some great raspberries I new I had to make something sweet. I love raspberries and have great memories picking them at my grandma's when I was younger. This crumble, is a great dessert and makes a lot. Give it a try and let me know what you think.


Raspberry Cream Cheese Crumble

www.lynnspin.com

Crust

2 cups of flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/8 cup of milled flax seed

1 cup of melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together and press firmly into a 9×13 baking dish.  I lined my with tin foil before starting.  Then bake for 15 minutes.

While that is baking make the Cheesecake mixture and the crumbles.

Cheesecake Filling

Three 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon of almond extract

Mix in a bowl until smooth.  Then pour over baked crust.

Raspberries

2-3 cups of slightly smashed raspberries mixed with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Crumble Topping

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup rolled oats (quick oats)

1/2 cup smashed graham crackers

1/2 cup softened butter

Mix together and crumble with hands.

Spoon raspberries over the top of the cheesecake.  Then sprinkle the crumble over that.  Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes.  Let it cool in refrigerator, the longer the better. 

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I don't know about you, but on Sunday evenings when I am bored I tend to make cookies. I have been doing this since I can remember. Growing up my mom never bought chocolate chips. Isn't that weird?!? So we would always make oatmeal cookies. So, this recipe is the one that I would always make when I was little. It is so good. Seriously the best oatmeal cookies I have ever. So give these a try. You will love them.

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
3/4 cup raisin
3/4 cup coconut (optional but highly recommended)

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Combine butter and sugars and mix until creamy and light. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes.

Cake Decorating

I had an opportunity last night to teach a little cake decorating class to some young women. We had such a fun time. I promised the girls that I would post some recipes that I used and some pictures.  I have never been trained as a cake decorator. I am pretty much self taught. With that being said, I don't think that you would be too surprised by that. I truly believe that the key to making great cakes is to PRACTICE!! Make lots of cake. Your family and friends will love it! Just see what works for you. It's a fun learning process. Here are some tips that I have come across.

Tip: 1 Make and freeze the cake the day before you will be decorating it. This is specific to two layered cakes. Cook them and then when cooled wrap them really good in plastic wrap. Lay them flat in your freezer.

Tip: 2 I have mentioned this before in a post. The best filling ever for a cake is very simple. You find a small package of instant pudding and mix it with heavy whipping cream and voila!! You have the best filling ever.

I am sure there are more tips, I just can't think of them right now. One of my favorite things about cake is the frosting. Here is the best buttercream!!

Buttercream Frosting


3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup of room temperature butter (no substitutions)
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 Tbsp. milk


Mix the first three ingredients until well blended. Then add milk. Mix in mixer for around a minute or two for a nice and fluffy consistency. 

Another really fun cake decorating trick is fondant. I love using fondant it is labor intensive, but really fun to do. One thing that I am a true fan of is not reinventing the wheel. So I found this great video on you tube on how to make fondant. Rather than me doing this, here it is. 

Share with me, your favorite cakes, and decorating tips!!

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever

I am asked for this recipe all the time. It is so good! I made it for my brother in law's birthday. He has been asking for it since the end of June. I found this recipe on the Hershey Chocolate website. It is such an easy recipe. I have made some minor adjustments. This is always a hit. I want to thank my brother in law Gordon for taking this picture.

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. 

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. 

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 10 to 12 servings. 

I make this into a three layer cake. I make some cake filling for the the layers. It is the best filling ever. It is so easy and, in my opinion, makes the cake. All you need to do is pick out an instant pudding and for this recipe I used Chocolate Fudge. So you throw the the pudding powder into the stand mixer and 1 and a half cups of heavy whipping cream and voila you have some great cake filling. After the cake has cooled wrap in plastic wrap and place the layers (separately) in the freezer. When you are ready and the cake is frozen enough than layer the cake with the filling and top with the next layer. When you have assembled the cake wrap it once more and put it back in the freezer. When you feel like the cake is frozen enough ( we aren't wanting crystals to form here ) ice it with your favorite chocolate buttercream recipe. Than always decorate it with some chocolate candies. The favorite seems to be the malt balls. 

This is a great cake. Trust me when I say that when you make this ALL will be grabbing a fork. 

if you have any question feel free and ask by way of leaving a comment  

Raspberries and Cream

I have great memories of going to my grandparents house in the summer. We would wake up in the morning and take Grandma's green colander out to the fence were there were thousands of raspberries. We would pick just a few to put on our cereal for breakfast. Whenever I smell raspberries these images come back to me. Since I have gotten older the raspberry bushes have been removed, but I will always remember those crisp Idaho mornings retrieving those raspberries. It is something that I actually spoke about at my grandma's funeral. I would love for my kids to have similar memories. So I found this fantastic farm in Mapleton that allow you to pick raspberries and blackberries till your hearts content. So along with a great friend we took our kids to the briar patch. We gave the kids their buckets and let them go. It was so much fun, a lot of work, but fun. My little gal kept telling me she couldn't wait to make raspberry shortcake jam with me. Much like the strawberry shortcake jam we made a couple of days ago. I decided for a special treat tonight to make raspberries and cream for our family night. It was so much better than I thought it would be. Go pick some berries and try this. 

Raspberries and Cream

Fresh Raspberries 

1 cup of heavy whipping cream 

1/4 cup of sugar

2 oz. softened cream cheese

Put all ingredients in a mixer ( I LOVE my red kitchen aid and use it whenever I can), and let that wisk attachment do it's magic. I let it mix until it starts getting stiff.  If you let it go too long it turns into butter. Talk about too much of a good thing. When you are done mixing then spoon into a cup and drop some fresh raspberries and enjoy. 

McBride Briar Patch 

1849 South 2100 West, Mapleton UT

pickyourown.org