Welcome back!  Today, we have another cheesecake recipe, this time putting a little spin on the main attraction of the dish: the cream cheese, in which we incorporated some ricotta cheese. Another variation we implemented was the Ritz cracker crust. Of course, any other crust  would work just fine with this cheesecake, but we wanted to try something a little different - the flavor of the crackers certainly makes for an interesting combination. Ricotta Cheesecake Makes a 9" cheesecake Ingredients: Crust: 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers 5 tablespoons melted butter Filling: 2 8-ounce boxes of cream cheese, room temperature 15 ounces ricotta cheese 1/2 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 tablespoons flour 12-16 ounces cranberry or other fruit preserves (optional) Directions: Prepare the crust: Crush the Ritz crackers. Mix the melted butter into the crushed crackers until even. Press the crust down into the bottom of the cheesecake pan. Bake in the oven at 3...

 Welcome back!  Today, we have another cheesecake recipe, this time incorporating some lemon curd ! The idea is pretty simple, it's a standard cheesecake, but specifically using Meyer lemon juice in the cheesecake and topped with lemon curd. The flavor of the lemon curd works very well with that of the cheesecake, so it's a perfect pairing.  Meyer Lemon Cheesecake Makes a 9" cheesecake Ingredients: Crust: 10 sheets (20 squares) graham crackers (about 140-150 grams) 5 tablespoons butter, melted Filling: 3 8-ounce boxes of cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup meyer lemon juice 1 teaspoon meyer lemon zest 1/3 cup heavy cream 4 eggs Topping: 8-12 ounces lemon curd Directions: Prepare the crust: Crumble the graham crackers into crumbs. Pour the butter into the graham cracker crumbs and mix until even. Put the crust into a springform pan and press it down so it covers the bottom. Bake in the oven at 350°F for 10 minutes. Let cool a little. Prepare the...

 Welcome back!  Today, we have a delicious spread: lemon curd! This lemon curd is made out of a unique variety of lemons known as the Meyer Lemon, which actually comes from China as a sort of hybrid citrus - it's not a pure lemon! This makes the fruit quite distinct from the typical lemons you see: they're larger and less sour while still retaining the taste of a lemon. It makes for a really great lemon curd, and the lemons themselves are great for many other things! Meyer Lemon Curd Makes about 12 ounces Ingredients: 2 eggs 2 egg yolks 1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice 1 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest 1/3 cup sugar Pinch of salt 6 tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes Directions: In a bowl, crack the eggs and egg yolks in and whisk. Rub the zest and sugar together to let the flavor come out. Mix in the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and salt. Make sure that the mixture is very smooth and even. Put a pot of water on the stove to boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and put the bowl ...

 Welcome back!  Today, we have a really interesting dish: a pavlova! This dessert hails from Australia/New Zealand, and is actually associated with summertime, which includes their Christmas/holiday season. It is similar to a meringue in terms of its composition and production, and you get a wonderful contrast between the crunchy outer shell and the fluffy interior. Plus, the fresh berries greatly add to the dish, adding color in both visual presentation and flavor. Berry Pavlova Ingredients: 4 egg whites 1 cup sugar 2 teaspoons corn starch 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice/white vinegar) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract For the whipped cream: 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1 tablespoon sugar Directions: Crack the eggs open and pour the egg whites into a bowl. Mix the sugar and corn starch together in a separate bowl. Whisk until the egg whites have reached soft peaks. Add this sugar/corn starch mixture into the egg whites, 1 tablespoon at a time while whisking until stiff ...

 Welcome back!  Today, we have a delicious holiday roast! This is another prime rib roast , but this time, we cooked it in a different way - using a technique called reverse-searing. In contrast to traditional searing, this method has the meat cooking at a lower temperature for a long time before finishing with a sear so that the meat has evenly cooked across the whole cut, kinda like sous vide . It makes for a very tender and delicious dish that is a perfect centerpiece for a holiday feast! Reverse Seared Prime Rib Roast Ingredients: 1 standing rib roast (note the weight, it varies and significantly impacts the cooking time) 1 tablespoon salt 2 tablespoons oil 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary and thyme, chopped (optional) For the gravy: 1/4 cup drippings 2 tablespoons flour 2 cups broth Some pepper Directions: Pat the ribs dry. Rub the ribs with the salt. Let the ribs rest for 3-4 hours on the counter. You can loosely cover it up with some foil or...

 Welcome back!  Today, we have another pumpkin variation: this time with bread pudding ! Bread pudding is a dish that is highly customizable, and so it was easy to adapt it for a seasonal, Thanksgiving version. This recipe uses pumpkin butter, which is a bit of a deceiving name, as there's no butter or any sort of dairy involved in this ingredient. In fact, it's really just pumpkin with some sugar, honey, and spices, but it functions incredibly well in adding flavor and sweetness to the dish! Pumpkin Butter Bread Pudding Makes 8 ramekins Ingredients: 8 slices bread, cubed into about 1" cubes 6 eggs 2 cups milk 1/2 cup heavy cream (or more milk if you want) 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup spiced pumpkin butter (just add 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice if your pumpkin butter is not spiced) Chopped pecans Turbinado sugar Directions: Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat them evenly. One at a time, mix in the milk, heavy cream, vanilla, and pumpkin butter until you get one even mixture. Evenl...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a fun seasonal variation on the Basque Cheesecake , featuring pumpkin! It's similar to the original, with the burnt-looking top and the rugged edges all there, but it has its own differences that make it really unique.  Pumpkin Basque Cheesecake Makes a 7 inch cheesecake Ingredients: 1 box (8 ounces) cream cheese 200 grams pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and steamed (we used kabocha pumpkins) 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tablespoon flour 1/4 cup heavy cream 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Spices (you can substitute for 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice): 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder 1/8 teaspoon ginger powder 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon allspice Directions: After peeling, seeding, and steaming, mash the pumpkin with a fork. If you want an even smoother texture, you can pass the pumpkin mash through a sieve to press out the large chunks. Add the cream cheese and pumpkin into the food processor and pulse a few times to mix the two ingredi...