Rise Up Ye Sons and Daughters…Mom Loves Dessert!

In my salad days, when I was in denial about being addicted to sweets, our hostess asked us if we would like a piece of her homemade cheesecake with a hint of Bailey’s Irish Cream. I said, ‘Yes, but only a sliver.’

She gave me a sliver.

I said, ‘I really didn’t mean it!’

Lesson learned: if someone asks for a sliver, give her a generous slice.

Mom really does love dessert. So make your mom something she loves. Here’s one of my favorite cheesecake recipes. I came up with this version when I was publishing Celebrate Home Magazine.

Happy Mother’s Day to all!

Mother’s Day Cheesecake with Nectarines

This cheesecake is extra creamy much different than a New York-style cheesecake. A unique crust and a topping of fresh nectarines gives it a unique tang. Can also use apricots when in season.

• 1-1/2 cups vanilla cream cookies (Golden Oreos or Vienna Fingers)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese (do not use low fat), room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon rind, grated finely
• 5 nectarines, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 1 heaping tablespoon of apricot Polaner All-Fruit, high fiber

Crust: Grind cookies into a medium crumb consistency in a food processor (similar to graham cracker crumbs). Mix crumbs with melted butter and sugar. Press mixture into a nine-inch ungreased spring form pan.

Filling: Beat together cream cheese, and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Blend in butter, vanilla and lemon rind.

Topping: Put nectarines and apricot All-Fruit in food processor and coarsely chop to spreadable consistency.

Preheat oven to 450⁰. Put creamy mixture into spring form pan. Bake 15-20 minutes until slightly browned around edges. Refrigerate overnight, at least for 12 hours.

When ready to serve, remove sides of the pan and top with nectarine topping. Garnish with a few slices of nectarine and mint.

Photo by Cindy Dyer Photography.

Spring Cleaning

The pantry was cluttered with ingredients from holiday baking. A half of a bag of red and green chocolate chips, a half box of red and green Rice Krispies, dried cranberries, some chopped pecans in the bottom of a bag — you get the messy picture. It was time to make room for spring stuff.

Basically, I threw everything into a cookie batter. I know that nowadays you can buy cookies as good as, or even better than, what you can make at home. But, there’s something about warming up the oven and allowing the sweet smell to waft through the house. It all screams, “Mom’s home!”

Hopefully, the sights and smells of a spring day, still cold and damp outside, will linger in the memories of those I love.

House Special Cookies

These are chewy cookies and you can improvise on how much of what you want to add (e.g. raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.). Use what you have on hand.

• 1-1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled outs
• 1 cup Rice Krispies
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 nuts or 1/2 dried cranberries/raisins

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugars together in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla, blend until combined.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined. Mix in the remaining ingredients.

Working with 1/4 cup of dough at time, toll the dough into balls and place on baking sheet about 2-1/2 inches apart. Slightly flatten the balls of dough.

Bake until the tops of the cookies are lightly golden but the centers are soft and puffy – about 22 to 25 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes then transfer to a cooking rack to finish cooling.