Cheese Cake Bars

 Okay you need to make these now!! Wait, read this first, because I am super witty, but then, go make these!  I made these out of desperation last minute and I can tell you right now, I have made them again already.  These were a last minute treat for my hot Friday night date.  Which is to say, I stayed home with Pork Chop and my friend and her baby came over.  You would have thought Santa was coming the way Pork Chop was acting.  He loves his little cousin so much.  He is always "she is so cute!" "She is my favorite baby ever!"  And when I asked him the night before who was coming he said "Hannah, the cutest baby ever!"  I love how much he loves her.

This is pretty much all you need, but I forgot to picture the vanilla bean paste and the cinnamon.  Just try to pretend it's there.

Anyway, my friend was coming over and we were going to order pizza and let the kids play.  And by play we mean, Pork Chop would totally just stare at Hannah.  He did get to hold her and she was all up in his face.  Literally, poking him in the eye, and pinching his cheeks and what not.  With her little chubby baby fingers you could not say no.  And Pork Chop was not going to stop her, he was in heaven!  Makes me feel bad for not having a brother or sister for him, but then I think about the 9 months I couldn't eat hardly anything and I totally get over it.

 So this was the fastest desert ever.  I looked on pintrest for something easy and quick.  And this is what I found.  It was called a cream cheese square, which is kind of gross.  So I renamed it a cheesecake bar, because that sounds classy.

Here is the link I found.  Basically you need just a few things and it was magic!   I was worried that it would be weird as there were no eggs, and I figured the cheese part would be runny and gross.  I was wrong, but don't tell anyone.

See when I opened the tube I was trying to keep the dough together, the cut lines kept falling apart. If I go to the states I am going to get a whole bunch of the sheets and freeze them and never share.

Cheese Cake Bars
found on Piarecipes

-2 tubes of 8 count crescent rolls
-2 blocks of cream cheese
-1 TBSP vanilla ( I used vanilla bean paste, because I am fancy like that)
-1 cup sugar
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 TBSP cinnamon
-1/2 cup butter (the recipe said margarine but we don't have that so I used butter.)

The filling was thick but easy to spread, sort of.

So this is great, you pre heat your oven to 350.  Spray a 9x13 cake pan with cooking spray.  Roll out and press a tube of rolls into the bottom of the pan, try to get the seams together.  I hear in the states they have the rolls in a tube but it's a sheet you cut yourself.  I need those.

Cream the two blocks of cream cheese, add the vanilla and the 1 cup of sugar.  It will be firm, but spreadable.  Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough.  Be careful to make it even and not smoosh the dough.  Then roll out the other tube of rolls and lay on top.  Do not press it down or you will make a huge mess, just do your best.

Melt the butter and pour it over the top of the bars, then mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle that on.  I sort of globbed it on by mistake, but it was all good.

See how blobby my sugar mixture is?  Well it worked out.

 So then you bake it until the top has become crispy and the butter is no longer really there.  It takes my oven around 18-20 minutes.  Remove and cool.  I then place it in the fridge to help the cream cheese set up, it is very soft when you serve it at room temperature.

See how perfect the top was, even though I made a mess.  It smelled so good, Hubby came in the house and was all "what are you making!" as he ran to the kitchen.  You could see his heart drop when I said cheese cake, poor man, he was hoping for something he would eat.  But it did smell amazing.

So I cut it up and we ate it, and then I got a tummy ache.  So I sent half of it home with my friend.  Pork Chop wouldn't even look at it, but what else is new.  Hannah who isn't even a year old yet was trying to get at the plate, but her mom gave her nibbles of baby cookies.  Which is sort of cruel, but she is too young to know yet.

I really didn't think there was enough filling but it turned out to be the perfect amount.  So good! And so easy to cut, I thought it was going to smoosh.

I think this is the best treat I have made in a while, it was so good, and it lasted well in the fridge.  I can see making this again and again.

Cream Puff Filling

I know, they just look like brown blobs, but you should be used to my craptastic pictures by now.

  So earlier this week I posted about making Pate A Choux, or cream puffs as they are called.  Well by me at least.  Feel free to call them what you want.  So I wanted to share with you what I filled and topped mine with.  Firstly I was planning on using some sort of whip cream filling, I wanted the lightness of an eclair but I wanted something more stable than just whipping up some whip cream.  So I went to google and found this recipe for a cream cheese whip cream frosting. The reviews said it was nice and light and stayed nice and stable.  Well maybe I did something wrong, but who knows, I never was one to really follow directions properly.

I hate chopping chocolate, it is right up there with cleaning.  

  So to start I wanted to top my cream puffs with chocolate some how, as the filling was not going to be too sweet at all.  So I made a simple chocolate ganache. 

Chocolate Ganache

from, no idea, I just googled it

-9 ounces semi sweet chocolate

-1 cup heavy cream

See at this point the chocolate is just starting to melt, and I always think I have ruined it some how.

Chop up the chocolate and set aside.  Take a sauce pan and rinse it with cold water* then put in the heavy cream and heat until it just starts to bubble.  Then pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for at least 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes slowly mix it together until it becomes fluid and all consistent.  I hate this part as it always seems like my chocolate is getting all chunky and I think I have ruined it, but keep at it, it gets better.

*I do this as in school they taught us to when we were heating any kind of milk, I think it helps keep the fat in the milk from scorching on the pot, I could be wrong, but I do it anyway.

But then it turns into this and it's all good.

  Then the filling.

Cream cheese whip cream frosting

From All recipes

-1 8oz block of cream cheese

-1/2 cup white sugar

-1 TSP vanilla bean paste

-1/2 TSP almond extract

-2 cups heavy cream

See how it is holding it's shape?  It went flat after being in the fridge over night.

  Start by creaming the cheese and sugar, add the vanilla and almond.  I found that the almond I used was too strong, even the little bit I used so I might skip it next time, it gave the filling a boozy taste.  And if there is no booze in it, why have that right?  And now I want to make a boozy version.

Hello little cream puff.

I feel kind of badly just stabbing it like this, but it works.

 Sorry, back to the filling.  So once that is done, slowly add your cream while you whip the filling until it is nice and thick and sturdy.  I found that the left overs settled after being in the fridge over night.  Not sure if I had not whipped it enough or what, but I just whipped it again and it was all good.

And see, filled all the way, more is always better I say.

Ready to take the plunge.

Oh yeah!

  So to fill your cream puffs the easiest way is to use a pipping bag.  You don't really need a tip, but it may be easier.  The right way to do this, and you all know I didn't do it this way, is to cut a slit in the bottom of your cream puff to allow the pipping tip in.  What I did was look for a weak part of the cream puff and jam my pipping tip in.  It worked, may not be as nice, but it worked.  Then you squeeze the pipping bag slowly until the whole cream puff is filled, you will know when it is done when the pipping bag starts to push out of the puff.

 Then I took the filled cream puff and dipped the top in the ganache, and set them on a platter and put them in the fridge.  

Yum, I love chocolate.

  And that was it.  Now I found that the actual pastry got a little soft, probably due to the filling and the fridge, but I liked it that way, crispy puffs is not what I wanted.

  So I so want to make these again, and try different fillings, or even make them with ice cream inside, then dip the whole thing in chocolate.  

 Great now I'm hungry.

And I had to try one, and this is what happened, it squished right up and made a mess.  So be smart when you eat these, use a napkin and maybe a fork or something.  Or you too can be covered in cream puff filling.