Eggnog Cheesecake

Happy Thanksgiving.

I've a confession to make. Every year my sister gets to make pies for our family's Thanksgiving dinner and I've felt cheated. I love to make desserts (truth be told I'm a chef, not a pastry chef but still, I love desserts). Still I cook better than anyone else in my family. I say this not to boast, but ten years of professional cooking has its advantage. I've also become somewhat of a food snob. So this year, I took dibs on the desserts. My sister-in-law wanted to make pies so I'll let her but I get to make the cheesecakes and my sister gets to bring a salad this year.

A little over a month ago I made my first ever cheesecake, a Pina Colada Cheesecake and it was good, but it fell. So I made it again and perfected the technique. Since then I've experimented with a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip for Halloween and it also turned out well. So for Thanksgiving I am upping the anti by making three different varieties. A Peppermint Chocolate Chip, a Dark Chocolate and an Eggnog Cheesecake. These three are going to the family dinner so sister, eat your heart out.

With five different varieties under my belt, I think my favorite so far is the Eggnog. A friend of mine, Tina requested the recipe so what better place to share than this blog. Here goes.

Eggnog Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients

Crust

1 package Graham Crackers

4 oz Candied Pecans

1/2 cup butter

Filling

12 oz Cream Cheese (3 pgk)

3/4 cup Sugar (I use Splenda® for a lower sugar content)

1/3 cup Heavy Cream

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Rum Extract

2 Tbl AP Flour

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Tbl Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg + nutmeg to top

4 large eggs

Instructions

1. In a food processor combine graham crackers and pecans and puree to a course texture. Add butter and blend. Press into a 8" springform pan along the bottom and up the sides. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool but leave oven on.

2. In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, sugar, heavy cream, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum extract, flour and eggs (one at a time) and blend until smooth, scrapping down the edges as needed. Pour into the prepared crust, sprinkle with nutmeg and bake for about 1 hour. Center should be soft set.

3. Turn off oven and let cool for 15 minutes before removing the cheesecake. After 15 minutes remove to a counter, run a thin blade knife around the edge to separate and loose the pan. Let cool completely and then refrigerate for 4 hours or over night. Can be made several days in advance.

4. Top with sweetened whipped cream.

Enjoy.

Banana Nut Muffin Oatmeal

The other day I ran into a friend at the grocery store and we started talking about oatmeal (I know a strange topic). Both his family and our family eat a lot of oatmeal because it is cheap, healthy and tastes good - just don't ask my kids about the last part. I noticed he had banana's also in his cart and it got me thinking.

Banana's are one of my favorite fruits. A little bit of tropical delight for the palette that is high in potassium (and slightly radioactive). Despite common misconceptions, banana's don't grow on trees, but are actually one of the largest flowering plants on the planet. Anyway, I digress.

After our meeting, I got to thinking about other ways to make oatmeal more edible for the kids. They love banana breads and muffins. And muffins and breads are a good way to hid oatmeal. But my chosen task was to make a traditional porridge that they would not only eat, but also like. I knew I wanted to use bananas and oatmeal but what else. So I began my quest where it all started, by wandering the isles of the grocery store.

I started with the rolled oats (not instant) and bananas but I kept coming back to banana muffins and so decided to make a banana muffin porridge. I needed to change not only the flavor of the oats but the texture as well. So here is a recipe that not only tastes good (according to the kids), but will warm the heart and fill the belly.

Banana Nut Muffin Oatmeal

Ingredients

Serves 6-8

4 cups Rolled Oats

8 cups Water

3 Banana's cut into slices

1 cup Grape Nuts Cereal®

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Banana Extract

Glazed Pecans to top

Directions

1. In a food processor on pulse, cut the rolled oats to a med-fine texture. (An optional step to make the oatmeal smoother but can easily be skipped).

2. Add brown sugar and banana extract to the water and stir to dissolve. Bring to a boil. Slowly add rolled oats (to avoid clumping) and Grape Nuts Cereal® to water and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add desired amount of cooked oatmeal, sliced banana's, glazed pecans and top with heavy cream and/or milk.

Enjoy