Dream•sync

I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be in my own kitchen.  A kitchen that has all the equipment I've collected over the last several years.  A kitchen that I picked out appliances for as opposed to using whatever was in the apartment.

It is such a blessing.

And it allows me the opportunity once again to try recipes both new and old.  Including one of my favorites - Chocolate-covered Cheesecake Bites.  I've made these for all kinds of events, from work carry-ins to birthday celebrations and it's become one of my 'signature' desserts I guess.  I've even been told by friends never to bring these to their house ever again (because they couldn't stop eating them :)

So without further ado...

Chocolate-covered Cheesecake Bites

Prep Time: 50 minutes
Start to Finish: 4 hours roughly
Yield: 4 dozen

My Plan of Attack: I work from home 8 - 5 every day, so I can't take a huge chunk of time to make this.  Instead I break it up.  Make the cheesecake over lunch hour, let it cool for an hour on the rack at room temp, then cover and stick in the fridge.  After work, pull it out, cut into pieces and freeze for dipping later that evening.  The following day at lunch do the drizzle and plating.

Ingredients
      Crust

• 1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter

      Filling

• 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

       Coating

• 2 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons shortening

       Drizzle

• 2 oz white chocolate
• 1 teaspoon oil

Substitutions/eliminations:

• You can completely remove the almond extract in the cheesecake with little effect.
• Shortening - I looked high and low in my local grocery for a non-vegetable alternative to shortening and found none.  So this batch of coating I made reluctantly with shortening.  You should be able to substitute an animal fat like lard which a friend of mine has been using more recently - i expect her to blog about it soon :)
• Oil - the original recipe calls for vegetable oil.  My favorite oil - Olive - which I use for essentially all my cooking is not really the best thing to use in sweets.  If you have coconut oil you may try using that instead.  Trina - that same friend who's been experimenting with lard - has a great post on where she gets her coconut oil.
• Don't limit yourself to just white chocolate drizzle. This time I've used caramel, and at some point in the future I'd like to try dulce de leche which is a little more solid than the caramel I used. You could top with a fruit as well.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. Line and 8x8 square pan with foil so that it extends over the sides of the pan. Coat the foil with butter or cooking spray.
3. Melt the 1/4 cup butter and combine with chocolate graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl.  Press in the bottom of your pan.
4. In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar.  I usually do this with a pastry cutter to help eliminate lumps.  Be sure your cream cheese is softened otherwise you'll have chunky cheesecake :)
5. Add the sour cream and beat on medium with an electric mixer.  Scrape the sides as necessary.  Do this until the mixture is smooth and fluffy in appearance. Add the egg and almond extract and beat until completely combined.  Pour this into your crust and even out with a spatula.
6. Bake 30-40 minutes until the edges are set.  The middle will be soft, but will set when cool.  Cool on a baking rack for an hour.  Then cover and transfer to the fridge for at least another hour.  You can leave it in longer if necessary.
7. Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper - you can use wax paper as well.  Remove the cheesecake from the pan by lifting the foil, then remove the foil completely and place your square cheesecake on a cutting board.  Cut into 8 rows by 6 rows, making 48 oblong cheescake bites. Place half of these on one cookie sheet, half on the other.
8. Put both sheets in the freezer.  You can try to coat the chilled bites with the hot chocolate but you'll end up very frustrated - trust me :)  Freezing the bites makes coating much simpler.
9. While the bites are freezing, make the chocolate coating.  This is where having a double boiler comes in handy.  Melt the chocolate chips and shortening/lard in the double boiler.  I usually do this on medium to low heat once the water is hot.  If you don't have a double boiler you must be extremely careful when melting chocolate on the stove-top.  It is very easy to burn chocolate - and it tastes awful.... You can try microwaving the chocolate and shortening for 3 minutes on medium heat, stirring and them microwaving in 15 second increments and stirring after each until the chocolate is completely melted. If you like working with chocolate and don't have a double boiler - ask for one for your next birthday or for Christmas :)
10. Once the chocolate coating is ready, Pull one cookie sheet out of the freezer.  Using a fork or toothpick - I actually use fondue forks which are perfect for dipping - dip one bite in the chocolate, lift and drain the excess back into the pot, then place back on the lined cookie sheet.  Do this for the rest of this sheet, then place back in the freezer.  Repeat for the second half of the bites.
11. Prep the white chocolate drizzle using your clean double boiler (or you can microwave this as well - 1 minute on high, then stir and microwave in 15 second increments stirring after each until melted).  Using a piping bag (which you can make by taking a ziplock bag and cutting a very small hole in one corner) drizzle the white chocolate over the coated bites.  The chocolate will be very hot so use caution when drizzling...  When done put the bites back in the freezer.
12. Plating - When you're ready to serve or transport, pull those sheets out of the freezer and onto your favorite serving dish.  While they are thawing back to room temperature you might see condensation forming on the chocolate - this is perfectly fine.  Most of the time they disappear before you have to worry much about this :)
    

Keep them in a sealed container either in the fridge or freezer - If I have any left they are usually in the freezer as they keep longer there where people don't think to look for them :)

The original recipe for this was in a Betty Crocker Spring 2007 'Indulgent Desserts' magazine.  I have yet to try all the recipes in there - but the one I have tried have been very well-received.  Now that I have a kitchen to experiment in you might start to see more of these posted.

Enjoy!

It seems for many life is in transition once again.

For me it's a moving of sorts - that's right - I'm finally moving into my apartment.  It's been such a long time coming that it hardly feels real.  And I find myself questioning my direction all over again.  I'll have my own place again which I have mixed feelings about honestly.  After living alone for so long it's been a welcome respite to actually have people around all the time even if they are my parents ;)

Now that I'm moving into my own space there's this feeling of isolation once again, though I know it to be only half true.

This past Sunday I was reminded that I am constantly being lied to.  And before you think it's because I discovered deception by a friend - yeah nothing like that happened :)

I am being constantly lied to - on a personal level within my own mind, and on an external level from influences of the culture.  Ultimately these lies originate with the Father of lies - the Devil.  Here's Jesus giving a description of him while rebuking the Pharisees in John 8 (my emphasis):

..He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

 "There is no truth in him."

Contrast that with what Jesus says about himself in John 14:6 (again my emphasis):

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

 "I am...the truth..."

Jesus is the truth.  He didn't say just that he "speaks the truth" (which I believe he did speak the truth - he would have to if he was the truth).  Or that he "had the truth" (which I also believe is a true statement). He said he is the truth.

What I find remarkable is that Jesus said there is "no truth in him [the Devil]".  No truth in him.  If I take that for an absolute - absolutely no truth in him - and then look at the number of times I've listened to his influence on me through media and my own lack of faith - my own internal battles of the mind fought not in the Spirit but in my own flesh... It's astonishing just how many times I've believed his lies and so-called 'half-truths' to be true.  Lies about my 'unworthiness' because of my relationship status, or my employment status, or my physical appearance, or the sins which beset me... I'm sure you could list many more.

So where does that leave me?  I'm sure it's the Enemy's purpose to put me in a fog - to cause me to focus so much on the battles I've lost that I become ineffective in the overall campaign.

On the contrary - it causes me to yearn after truth.  To equip myself in order to identify and squelch those lies and 'half-truths' that so easily condemn without just cause.  How do I do this?  Thankfully Jesus made that clear earlier in the John 8 passage :

"If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

So I need to abide in his word.  Which I've been having a hard time doing lately because of all the travel.  Which is probably another reason why I've been struggling with all the change that is happening to me and around me.

Nevertheless - Laus Deo.  Praise be to God.  For His providential working to show just a little bit more of Himself to me even through this transitional time.  Now for the grace to accomplish what needs to be done - more time in the word so that I can be prepared to squelch those lies.