black sesame rice krispie treats

basically the nyt recipe, but slightly varied

2 tsp toasted sesame oil, plus more for greasing
4 or 5 tablespoons grams unsalted butter (1 stick plus another tablespoon)
1/4 (or 1/3) cup black sesame seeds
1 (12-ounce/340-gram) bag mini marshmallows, divided
3/4tsp coarse kosher salt or 1tsp flaky kosher salt
5 cups Rice Krispies cereal

grease 9"x9" baking pan with sesame oil

brown the butter

reduce heat to low and add sesame seeds

cook, stirring constantly, until the seeds smell toasty, 1 to 2 minutes

turn off heat, stir in mini marshmallows (minus a handful) and salt, about 5 minutes

stir in the 2 teaspoons sesame oil

add the cereal and remaining marshmallows, quickly stir until evenly coated

lightly press into greased pan

wait until completely cool to portion

cinamon rice krispie treats

rough recipe for socow fundraiser. note that this is easier if you make two batches of rice krispie treats, whatever the flavor. that way you can get a 10oz bag, plus a 16oz bag of mini marshmallows and use them across two batches. plus, a single box of rice krispies cereal yields at least two batches of treats anyway. (and everyone knows that this cereal sucks when eaten as intended, with milk)

1 stick (4 tablespoon, 1/4 cup) butter
3 cups cinnamon toast crunch
2 cups rice krispies
>10oz mini marshmallows
handful more mini marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cinnamon
>1/4 tsp salt

grease 8"x8" dish

slightly crunch up 2 cups of the cinnamon toast crush to make smaller (otherwise they're too big compared to the rice krispies) 

brown the butter

add the >10oz mini marshmallows

add non cereal ingredients 

when marshmallows are melted, add cereals

start to stir and add in remaining mini marshmallows

press lightly into greased dish

wait until completely cool to portion 

 

reference recipes were from cookies & cups and also 365 days of baking and more

 

mini chocolate basque cheesecakes

basque cheesecake: Basque Cheesecake (with crust!)

chocolate versions - Chocolate Basque Cheesecake, Chocolate Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Chocolate Basque Cheesecake

oreo crust - 18 regular oreos, scant 4 tsp butter

cheesecake (ingredients mostly from the first cbc link from Catherine Zhang)
16 oz (450 g or two bricks) cream cheese, room temperature
200g (7 oz) dark chocolate, 65-70%.
    if regular chocolate, can add bit sugar
    melt at 20 second intervals in microwave
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 tbsp (7 g) cocoa powder (can add 1/2 tsp extra if non dutch processed)
1 tsp instant coffee (pretty much 1 packet of the travel size ones)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream

using a cupcake tin and liners, you'll make about 20 mini cheesecakes with the full cheesecake recipe.

like with the actual recipe, you don't need to pre-bake the crusts, just put into fridge while you prep the cheesecake. 

fill cupcake liners pretty near the top. they will rise a little, but not nearly as much as the full sized cake does. 

you can preheat the oven 25 degrees higher, then just before you put them in, drop it by 25 degrees.

pavlova recipe

the pot de creme uses only egg yolks, so what to do with the whites? make pavlovas with whipped cream and macerated berries! personal sized ones are especially fun :) 

recipes: pavlova and mini pavlovas

i had doubled the pot de creme recipes (and got 9 of those), so had 4 leftover egg whites. i made 12 pavlovas (on two baking sheets), but they were very fragile. maybe make them a little taller (so thicker) and less wide? it was a bit hard to make a little depression in each (to better hold the whipped cream and berries). also, possibly make 13, or one more than you want in total, in order to test the texture.

recipe: macerated fruit 

macerated berries "recipe": berries, lemon or lime juice, and sugar. marinate!, cover, and fridge. longer means more wet. can also use flavored liqueur and/or herbs.

these are quite a bit of fun, with nice presentation, but once you add the whipped cream, they get soft pretty so you'll want to serve pretty quickly. in other words, maybe not the best choice for potlucks. 

chocolate pot de creme

recipes: easy pot de creme, blender pot de creme, and pot de cremes

6oz dark chocolate
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
half packet of travel instant coffee packet (1/2 tsp?)
2 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract 

be sure to not overcook the wet stuff in the pot of the whole thing will be more dense. if you add more chocolate, probably add more heavy cream. this will make about 4-5 of the costco tiramisu cups worth. since you refridge them before serving, they'll have little condensation drops on top, so def leave space on top for whipped cream and some berries.

you'll also want to serve these closer to room temp so they won't be too cold. plus a little warmer makes for a better texture too.

basque cheesecakes

i'm publishing these on my blog cause i tend combine recipes and forget how / what i did. and since i'm generally baking the same thing many many months (if not years) apart, i'm finally taking notes!

basque cheesecake: Basque Cheesecake (with crust!)

chocolate versions - Chocolate Basque Cheesecake, Chocolate Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Chocolate Basque Cheesecake

oreo crust - 14 regular oreos, 3 tsp butter

cheesecake (ingredients mostly from the first cbc link from Catherine Zhang)
16 oz (450 g) cream cheese, room temperature
200g (7 oz) dark chocolate, 65-70%.
    if regular chocolate, can add bit less sugar
    melt at 20 second intervals in microwave
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 tbsp (7 g) cocoa powder (can add 1/2 tsp extra if non dutch processed)
1 tsp instant coffee (pretty much 1 packet of the travel size ones)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream

no need to pre-bake crust. just make, cover, fridge while you make the cheesecake batter

depending on how high you fill the cake pan, you'll end up with 1 or 2 standard cupcake liners extra, can fill with cheesecake insides, put in little ramekin, and bake with cheesecake for <10 minutes