A creamy cheesecake recipe that’s delicious and easy to pull together!

Classic Strawberry Cheesecake

Serves: 16

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup butter , melted
• 2 (4-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs
• zest of half a lemon

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Mix graham crumbs, 3 Tablespoons sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

3. Beat cream cheese, sour cream, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Add lemon zest and mix. Pour over crust.

4. Bake 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours. Serve with stawberry glaze (recipe below)

Strawberry Glaze:

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar

 Directions:

1. Add strawberries to medium saucepan. Add water and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until mixture is thick and clear. Cool room temperature.  Place atop chilled cheesecake. Pour glaze over. Chill 2 hours.

Yummy!

Your family will enjoy the benefits of freshly-made bread in many forms and varieties.  There is a limitless selection of muffins, biscuits, rolls, yeast and quick breads. In this week’s menu, you’ll find we’re making some breads that are quick and easy like this  classic Crumb Top Coffee Cake along with others that are designed for a day of leisurely baking.

Crumb Top Coffee Cake

Serves: 6

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten

Yum…I can’t even tell you what I was thinking when I saw this picture while I was searching for some new Fall Recipes to try.  It’s definitely added to my weekend to bake list. I’ll be adding more new recipes to my favorites on my Pinterest as I find them.

I found this recipe by Julie on Willow Bird Baking while I was searching for Fall Recipes to add to my collection of Fall Recipes Roundup.  Julie is a fellow Featured Publisher on Food Buzz. She has lots of wonderful looking recipes for Fall.

I haven’t started making any recipes with pumpkin yet and I can’t tell you how anxious I am right now about trying this recipe out.  It’s the perfect Fall Recipe for this baking season which is starting for just about everyone and for me the recipe has the perfect combination of pumpkin and spices joined together. So thank you Julie for sharing this recipe.

To view and add this Fall Recipe to your collection of recipes and learn a little more about Julie and Willow Bird Baking please CLICK HERE.

Photo Credit: Willow Bird Baking

If you give this recipe a try, please come back and tell me how you and your family liked it.

What Fall Recipes are you rounding up?

I am not quite back into the groove this week as I had anticipated. It was a very exhausting past week with some devastating family issues going on. We found out mid week that my sister-in-law was in a tragic car accident caused by a washing machine falling off the back of a truck. Details on the accident are a little sketchy still but we know she was hit head on by another vehicle. The accident totaled the car and caused some serious injuries to her. She was in surgery for six hours Thursday morning where they tried to put her legs back together. She has broken ribs, cracked vertebrae, her leg (compound fractured) and foot (bone severed at the ankle). She had another surgery late yesterday on one of her knees and all went well. We found out this morning, she goes in for more surgery on Friday for her ankle. It will be a long journey to recovery. She’s in our thoughts and prayers every day. She has lots of family and friends supporting her. Just thought I’d ask  all of you to say a little prayer for her.

Family at Last Year's Thanksgiving

Our 10-year old son, had tubes placed in his ears on Friday. As a baby and until recently, he is prone to ear infections.  This caused some damage to his hearing and he is on the borderline of having hearing aids. He was having difficulty hearing people speak to him and failed his hearing tests. It was an easy procedure that lasted literally 10 minutes and he is recovering well.  The results of whether or not the tubes work will be determined at his post op appointment later this month.

Dante (middle) and friends having fun at the school walk-a-thon

On a much lighter note, I’m so happy it’s Fall. Every year, I wait for Fall to come around. Not just for the cooler temperatures or the beautiful foliage, they are just the icing on the cake. I wait for those satisfying flavors of fall: creamy pumpkin soups, easy savory stews, Apple Butter, pumpkin bread, yummy desserts like apple pie or pumpkin cheesecake are all top recipes to celebrate fall flavors.

Yummy Apple Pie!

Cooler autumn weekends definitely bring on bigger appetites so I’m sure I’ll be happily cooking in the kitchen.

Rustic Fruit Tart

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe for Single-Crust Pie
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups sliced peeled fresh fruit of your choice-apples, peaches, strawberries,blackberries, or blueberries
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 egg, beaten
• Powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Set aside. Prepare pastry for Single-Crust Pie. Roll pastry into a 9-inch circle; place on prepared baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, stir together granulated sugar and flour. Add lemon juice and fruit. Toss gently until coated.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mound fruit mixture in center of pastry, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold border of pastry up over fruit mixture, pleating pastry gently as needed to hold in juices. In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork; brush onto top and sides of pastry.
4. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until pastry is golden and fruit filling is bubbly. Cool on baking sheet for 30 minutes. Dust pastry edges with powdered sugar.

Pastry for Single-Crust Pie: In a medium bowl, stir together 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Using pastry blender, cut in 1/3 cup chilled unsalted butter until pieces are pea size. Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon cold water over part of flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Repeat moistening flour mixture with 1 Tablespoon water at a time until all the flour mixture is moistened (about 4 to 5 Tablespoons cold water should work). Form pastry into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.  Place in a 9 inch pie plate. Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyound edge of pie plate. Crimp edges as desired.