Amaretto Cheesecake

August loves amaretto gelato from the shop down the street. I decided to make his amaretto cheesecake for his birthday. Cream cheese, sour cream and Disaronno are the main ingredients. I wanted to make a crust out of amaretti cookies but couldn't find any at the store so I opted for graham crackers instead. Nilla wafer is another crust I may try as the graham cracker taste was a little too prominent. The cheesecake was baked in the oven for an hour then cooled for another hour in the oven. Sadly it cracked about 20 minutes before I removed it.
The cheesecake was brushed with an amaretto glaze of Disaronno, melted butter and fine sugar, then garnished with toasted almonds and whipped cream.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

When a recipe calls for smooth peanut butter, never use chunky and try to make it smooth. I nearly broke by mini food processor and hand blender. By the end of this experiment I had a smoky smell coming out of both and they didn't sound very happy. Thankfully after a few days rest they were back to normal. These no bake bites were easy to make. Roll peanut butter and powdered sugar into balls, dip in melted dark chocolate and sprinkle with sea salt. Highly addictive!

Raspberry Brownie Ice Cream

Fresh Raspberry Coulis

 

Fudgy Brownies

 

Dark Chocolate Sauce

 

The boys wanted strawberry chocolate ice cream. Since the grocery store was out of strawberries, we went with raspberries. I made a vanilla ice cream base and at the end of churning, mixed in a fresh raspberry coulis. Though it didn't make the beautiful swirl pattern I thought it would, it was still pink and tasty. To this, I mixed in some bite-sized brownie bits and topped it with a decadent chocolate sauce. Not the ice cream I intended to make but it was a tasty experiment in going with the flow.

Triple Chocolate Chai Crinkle Cookies

I found it fascinating the way these round balls of dough were transformed in the oven into these crackle patterned cookies. These cookies were filled with chocolate chips, melted dark callebaut chocolate, and cocoa powder. In contrast, vanilla extract and vanilla chai tea were added. Soft and chewy, familiar yet intriguing I would definitely make these again.