Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake with a Shortbread Cookie Crust

This is just a lemon cheesecake I dressed up with some blueberries. This is an epicurious.com recipe.

Well, I know that with all of the other recipes I have made, I have had nothing but rave reviews for. This cheesecake was... okay. I don't think I would make it again, even though it tasted all right. It didn't have time to set up as much as it should have, which made it creamier than it should have been near the crust. The crust was actually pretty good; made with crushed shortbread cookies. However, it was very hard to spread on the bottom of the pan. Also, the recipe had no instructions on how to make sure that water didn't leak inside your spring form pan during the water bath inside the oven. My makeshift foil around the pan leaked a bit, making the crust a bit soggy. Not an awesome recipe

Lemon Cheesecake Squares with Fresh Berries

A creamy lemon cheesecake filling lies above a buttery, crumbly graham cracker crust. The whole thing is topped off with three fresh blackberries. This recipe is from the July 2009 Bon Appetit Magazine.

These were wonderful to say the least. The cheesecake was in perfect balance with the crust, not too much, not too little. It was also the right amount of lemony-ness, not too overpowering. The crust was soft enough to cut through with ease, but not soggy. I used blackberries on top because that was what was shown in the magazine picture, but any type of berry would work. Try blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries. I would make this again soon.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This is a tried and true recipe out of The Joy of Cooking. The results were great. Sweet pineapple and a coffee cake-like cake paired together were fantastic. Did you know that pineapple upside-down cake was created to market canned pineapple?

This was a test run for a birthday cake request I got. Since I had never made pineapple upside-down cake before, I figured it would be better to try it once before I made for real, lest I muck it up. I really liked the fact that the cake was like a coffee-cake. The caramelized brown sugar on top really made the pineapple lose its acidity, and bring out its true sweetness. Even my sister who says that "pineapple makes my tongue acid-y" enjoyed it. It's a great recipe and I'm making it again soon.

Chocolate Chip and Peanut Blondies

Blondies are basically brown sugar brownies, which are actually pretty simple to make, and extra delicious. Watch out, because these will go fast. This is from the July 2009 Bon Appetit Magazine.

These blondies are almost more of little cake bars than cookies. Lots of reviews of this recipe that I have seen has said that they thought the blondies too salty. They were salty, but not overly salty, I thought. The chocolate chips balanced that out. The recipe made more than what is shown in the picture, these were for a family member to take for dessert at a friends house. According to them, the bars were gone very quickly. This is definitely a keeper.

Coconut-Lime Bars with Hazelnut Shortbread Crust

This bar cookie recipe was a great contrast of flavors and texture. From the nutty crust, to the creamy and tangy interior, and to the sweet shredded coconut on top. This is from the July 2009 Bon Appetit Magazine.

As I was saying, the contrast of flavors and textures is really what makes the bars so good. I had never toasted hazelnuts before, so I was glad that I didn't burn them. They were food-processed and went into the shortbread crust. Make sure that you use sweetened coconut on the top to add sweetness. The one difficult part of these bars are cutting them. As you can probably see in the picture, its hard to do. I probably wouldn't do triangle cuts again if I made these, because it would be hard enough to cut through the crust with just square cuts, let along triangle cuts. Overall, a great recipe.

Pluot Pinwheel Tart

This recipe is simple, yet delicious. This is a recipe from the July 2009 Bon Appetit Magazine. It is made with pluots, which are a cross between and apricot and a plum. The combination is fantastic together.

The high point in this recipe is the crust. The crust cannot be missed, so don't exchange the crust for some other crust you think would work better. Between the crust and the fruit is a meringue layer, which crisps up during baking. It was excellent warm (no one could wait for it to cool, it looked too good) and cool. Pluots were a pleasant surprise, and I am excited to try other recipes featuring this wonderful fruit.

Three Layer Brown Sugar and Berry Pavlova

This is a fantastic recipe from the July 2009 Gourmet Magazine. For those of you who don't know, a pavlova is a meringue with cream and berries. It is an Australian/New Zealand dessert which is named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.

The pavlova was just heavenly. I made it for the Fourth of July. The unusual addition of brown sugar in the meringue gave it a melt in your mouth texture. The recipe calls for no sugar in the cream, and I was a bit hesitant about not putting any in, but I am glad I didn't. The meringue and the macerated berries were very sweet, but not overpoweringly. The cream acted as a sort of balancer between the two. I would make it again, and I am making it again right now for a picnic in the park.