Sweetheart Cheesecake

I can’t believe that another month has already flown by. It’s June in a few days! All the days have really been blending together and now with the kitchen being worked on, it seems like it has been a very long time since I last baked anything or had a kitchen to use.

A little while back, I think it was for Easter, I made my chocolate cheesecake, or Sweetheart cheesecake. I hadn’t made it in ages but I had a craving and I thought it might be a yummy dessert for an isolating Easter dinner and it definitely was. It was so good, yet another cake that I could eat for breakfast, haha. So take a look below and see how I made Sweetheart cheesecake and try one out while you isolate and to ring in the month of June!  

Sweetheart Cheesecake Recipe

Crust:

1 cup of graham wafers

3-3  ½ tsp. of cocoa powder

2 tbsp. of sugar

3-3 ½ tsp. of melted butter

Filling:

3 pkgs. (250g) of cream cheese

1 cup of sugar

3eggs

½ cup of cocoa powder

Whipping cream for the top

Combine the crumbs along with the sugar, butter, and cocoa. 

Mix well and press into 1.5 l spring form pan. I suggest lining the bottom with parchment paper first.

Now in your mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Then beat in the sugar gradually.

Now add in the eggs one at a time at a low speed.

Add in cocoa and beat until smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. It usually take a few minutes longer. You want it to be moist-ish but not dry and cracked. Mine does always tend to crack but I hide it with whipped cream and it’s fine.

Allow it to cool. I like to make this the day before. This cake is best served nice and cold. You can top it with whipped cream and berries (strawberries and raspberries are the best). I also added on some white chocolate shavings for an extra added touch.

Bread Maker Cinnamon Bread

Happy Thursday! On top of self  isolating, we have been doing a kitchen reno so we haven’t had a kitchen for a few weeks and will not have one for a few more at least. I am already having baking and cooking withdrawals as that’s what I love to do. I especially love to bake every Friday night as a release after a long week at work. Since I anticipated that I’d be out of a kitchen for a little while, I did some baking beforehand to “get it out of my system” so I’ll be sharing those recipes with you for the next little bit. Once the new kitchen is done, we can do lots of baking and cooking in there to share with you all.

I tried out another bread maker recipe not long ago. This time I made some raisin bread and boy was it delicious. I actually made it a few times and did a loaf right before the kitchen was pulled apart so that I could have some yummy bread for breakfast’s.

Bread Maker Raisin Bread

You will need...

1¼ cup of warm water (microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds roughly)

2tbsp. of butter

3¼ cup of flour

2tbsp. of sugar

1¼ tsp. of salt

1tsp. of cinnamon

1tsp. of active dry yeast

½-3/4 cup of raisins

Warm your water and add to the bread maker pan.

Now add in the butter, sugar, salt, yeast, and flour and sprinkle the cinnamon on top.

Put on the sweet setting on your bread maker and choose the large loaf and darker crust.

You should hear a bunch of beeps about half way through and that’s when you’ll add in the raisins.

When it’s ready, allow it to cool before slicing it and put it all in a tightly sealed container. Enjoy!

Workout Time!

Change of pace this week. I thought it might be nice to do a fitness post. I am a huge fan of getting in exercise as many days of the week as I can. Usually when I am at work, I’ll do my workout in the evening after dinner but I have been switching it up while we have all been isolating. Some days I’ll workout during the day and some days at night and sometimes even twice a day. The type of workout varies as well. Some days we’ll go on long walks or I’ll run or even jump rope. I also like to do HIIT workouts and circuit workouts as well. I thought today I would share a favourite one that I like to do and that I have been doing a lot of now. It’s easy because you can do as many rounds as you like, so take a look below and give it a try if you need a different workout to do.

Jump Rope Circuit

One round of this circuit is about 10 minutes. I like to do 3-5 rounds depending on what kind of workout I feel like I want. Basically you do each exercise in the order listed and then go back to the start for the next round.

Start by doing 2-5 minutes of warm ups. Do rounds of 10 squats, 10 lunges, and 10 jumping/plank jacks

100 jumps of the jump rope (I love to jump rope because it isn’t as hard on my knees and joints as running is, plus you can get one quite cheap and you can do it almost anywhere)

40 squats (choose your favourite. I like plies, sumos, goblets, or just regular squats)

75 jumps of the jump rope

30 mountain climbers, 60 if you count each side

50 jumps of the jump rope

20 sit ups or crunches (again choose your favourites)

25 jumps of the jump rope

10 body weight dips

10 double under jumps of the jump rope

5 push ups (choose the variations that you like best)

Now jump the rope for 1 minute.

Now do a cardio conditioning exercise for 45 seconds (you can do high knees, jumping jacks, star jumps, side to side jumps, butt kickers, plank jacks those are just a few options)

Repeat the circuit again or as many times as you want. You don’t always have to do the exact same type of squat, push up, or sit up/crunch/ab exercise each round. Switch it up. 

Once you have done your final round, jump rope as fast as you can for 30 seconds and then you are done!

Bread Maker Rolls

Happy Thursday! I’m making good use of my rediscovered bread maker and I tried out a dough recipe this time. We were having some pasta, so I thought I’d make some fluffy rolls to go with it and it they were a huge success! I actually have made them twice since pulling out my bread maker a few weeks back. Take a look at my adventure in roll making below.

Bread Maker Roll Recipe

You will need...

1 cup of warm milk (microwave for 1 minute and 50 seconds)

½ cup of margarine

¼ cup of sugar

2 eggs

1½ tsp. of salt

4 cups of sifted flour

2 ¼ tsp. of active dry yeast

Warm the milk and then add to the pan.

Add in the soft margarine.

Then add in the sugar, salt, eggs, and flour.

Finally, make a little well in the center of the flour and spoon in the yeast.

Select the dough setting on your maker and then wait for it to mix up, about 1 hour and 30 minutes depending on your machine.

While the machine is working its magic, grease a 13x9 inch pan or glass dish. This is where your rolls will rise and eventually be baked in. 

When you hear the final beep and the dough is ready, turn the dough onto a floured surface.

Divide into 24 balls and placed in rows of 6 in your 13x9 inch prepared pan/dish. The balls may look “rough” and they may seem super close, but all will be fine in the end.

Cover the balls of dough in your pan/dish with a dish towel and place in a warm spot. Allow to rise for about 45 minutes. Since it isn’t Winter and we don’t have any heat on or super consistent sunny spots, I allowed my rolls to rise in my oven on the Warm and Hold setting which is a very low temperature just enough to keep food warm. If you feel more comfortable then you can dampened your dish towel before placing it in the oven if you’re using this as your warm spot.

Once risen, the dough balls will look like very pale dinner rolls all connected together.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 16 minutes. I like my rolls to be a bit more golden so I let them bake for about 3 extra minutes. You can do what you like though. Add extra time for extra golden rolls. 

You can let them cool for a bit in the dish and then break them apart (they have natural “division lines” where you can separate them) but if you’re like me and my family, we pretty much started snacking on some as soon as they came out of the oven. They’ll be super hot so be careful but they are so tasty warm with melted butter on them!