One thing about me that many people don’t really know is that I love to cook and I love to bake. I also love playing around with recipes and doing a spin on classic recipes. Like Ina Garten would say, turn up the volume.
I taught myself how to cook when I was around 22. I got my first expensive cook set when I was 25 and that really was a catalyst for me to learn all there was about cooking. Since then, I’ve blogged many of the creations I’ve made and also created a baking website called The Baking Wives, partnered with my old roommate, Brooke.
With having a baby now, I try to push her into new things, but most of the time she spits it out. I will keep trying though. She is destined to have a sophisticated palette when she gets older. Between my asian background, my mother in laws gourmet cooking, and my experimentation with food- my little girl should be checking off a lot off her ‘plate’ as she grows up.
The other day, it was like snowmageddon around these parts. And I got a hankering to bake. Cause when you are stuck inside the house and cleaning is the last thing you want to do, baking is the next best idea. At first I was going to make a regular old cheesecake, but then as I was grabbing the vanilla extract out of the cupboard, I spotted the Speculoos. MMMM delicious cookie butter imported from Trader Joe’s. Okay I am not sure where it really comes from, but I was first introduced to cookie butter 2 years ago at Bruge’s Waffles in Downtown Salt Lake city, by an English girl who talked me into it. I couldn’t say no to the accent. I hope you get to make this. I have handed this cheesecake out to people like candy, but in this cake, a really fluffy candy.
Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cheesecake with Chocolate Joe Joe’s crumb Topping
Filling:
1/2 cup of sugar
18 oz of softened creamed cheese, 2 1/2 bricks
3 eggs
1 TB of flour
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
5 oz of Speculoos
Crust:
10 Graham crackers, crushed
2 TB of melted butter
Topping:
6 Chocolate Joe Joe’s crushed
powdered sugar
mandarin oranges
Prepare the crust. pour melted butter over the crushed graham crackers and mix. then press into a 9 inch spring form pan and bake at 325 F for 10 minutes.
in the meantime prepare the filling. mix the sugar and the cream cheese together until smooth, scraping sides of mixer every so often. add the vanilla extract and mix. add each egg one at a time, adding the next one after the first one is thoroughly mixed. scrape sides of the mixer often. after eggs are mixed add the flour and mix well, then add the speculoos. Mix on high until the mixture is smooth. some lumps will appear from the cookie parts of the cookie butter.
pour the filling into the spring form pan over the crust and bake for 35 minutes until the middle is set but jiggles.
cool completely once removed from oven. then refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Top of the Joe Joes Crumb topping and powdered sugar, serve alongside mandarin orange segments, if desired. Makes 12 servings.
{Foodie + Cakes + Classes} 