I’m not sure there’s anything that screams Christmas more than eggnog and cranberries.  And when combined in a creamy cheesecake with a little zip of whiskey, I say let the festive season begin!

My White Chocolate Eggnog Cheesecake with Cranberry Whiskey Sauce is not only simple to make (really!), but it looks so stinkin’ impressive as the centerpiece to any Christmas table.  And when white chocolate snowflakes are added, guests will be ho ho ho-ing and rum pa pum pumm-ing their way through every bite.

No kidding.

And if you want a little tutelage on how to make the snowflakes (as well as other white chocolate garnish ideas), just visit my episode of I’m Dreaming of a White Chocolate Christmas.  It’s really quite amazing how much a white chocolate garnish can add a certain elegance to any dessert.   Plus, I did go a bit tart on the sauce itself, so if you want a sweeter flavor, I’d say go liberal with the white chocolate garnish.

5.0 from 2 reviews

White Chocolate Eggnog Cheesecake

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

80 mins

Total time

1 hour 40 mins

 

Smooth and creamy white chocolate eggnog cheesecake is topped with a bright and tangy cranberry whiskey sauce for a stunning Christmas dessert centerpiece.

Author: Sherry K

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• Crust:
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 16 squares)
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• White Chocolate Eggnog Filling
• 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup eggnog
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 8 ounces white baking chocolate, melted and cooled
• Cranberry Whiskey Sauce:
• 4 cups fresh cranberries
• 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons whiskey
• ¼ cup water
• Additional white chocolate for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°
2. In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and 3 tablespoons sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Place pan on a baking sheet, and bake at 325° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
3. In a large bowl, blend cream cheese and ½ cup sugar until smooth. Add flour and beat well. Add eggs, and beat on low just until combined. Add eggnog, vanilla, nutmeg and white chocolate; beat just until blended. Pour over crust. Return pan to baking sheet, and bake at 325° for 60-70 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen and cool 1 hour longer.
4. In the meantime, combine cranberries, cornstarch, ¾ cup sugar, whiskey and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stirring occasionally, cook for about 5 minutes or until mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
5. Spoon cranberry sauce over the top of the cheesecake and refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove sides of pan from cheesecake and garnish with white chocolate. Refrigerate leftovers.

Notes

Recipe by Jazzy Gourmet Cooking Studio at http://jazzygourmetblog.com
© 2013 Sherry Klinedinst
All rights reserved. Repost with permission only.

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There is something about using white chocolate as a garnish that turns any holiday dessert into a stunning centerpiece.  In this zippy tip video, I show how to create white chocolate curls, grated “snow” and snowflakes for use on cheesecakes, cupcakes, pies and any Christmas or winter dessert.  

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Can’t see video?  Watch it here:  I’m Dreaming of a White Chocolate Christmas

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I know that cooking for a big family gathering can be kind of overwhelming sometimes.  But with these quick tips, I’ll have your Christmas meal planning eezy, breezy, and oh so jazzy!

Watch video here:

Can’t see video?  Watch it here:  Making a List, Checking it Twice

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I was long overdue.

Every year for the longest time, I fixed an Indian feast for a small group of friends.  We gorged on Tandoori chicken, baba ganoush, chicken in a spicy coconut milk sauce with raisins and cashews, a turmeric spinach and potato dish, curried veggies, poppadom, fresh homemade naan and rice pudding.  In the earliest days, my tandoori recipe was so stinkin’ spicy that we placed a communal Kleenex box in the middle of the room for all the noses that were running.  People would sweat and lament about the heat,  but would continue to devour the chicken with smoke coming out of their ears and red rings around their mouths.  The only thing I would ask the guests to bring were their own beverage of choice and plenty of Tums, ha.

I remember one time when I was pulling an all-nighter in my prep work for the feast,  I carried a bowl of marinating chicken out to a fridge in our garage.  The next thing I knew, the bowl slipped out of my hands and the chicken went flying across the garage floor!  I ran to a 24-hour supermarket, purchased more chicken, and started all over.  When everyone complimented me on my tandoori chicken the next night, I said it was the special flavor of engine oil and tire tread that made it extra tasty!

Over the years, the tradition of the Indian feast got dropped when some of the core group moved away.  It wasn’t until recently when I made naan for a special World Communion Sunday at church that I realized how much I missed making naan and hosting the feasts.  So I sent out invites to a whole new set of feasters – some from the core group and several new foodie friends.   It was a good time had by all!

For dessert, I made my Gingered Carrot Ice Cream, lemon ice cream, and Alton Brown’s Indian Rice Pudding (only jazzed up of course).  I had just been to a restaurant that served Fireball Whisky with hot apple cider, and it totally warmed my heart and tastebuds.  So I incorporated both ingredients, along with diced apple, golden raisins and pistachios into the pudding. I’d say it was a definite hit!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Fireball Cider Rice Pudding

 

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Prep time

25 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

 

Cider cooked basmati rice is swimming in a creamy coconut milk pudding that is fired up with cinnamon-y Fireball Whisky, apples, golden raisins and pistachios.*

Author: Sherry K

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 cup apple cider
• ¼ cup Fireball Whisky
• ⅔ cup white basmati rice, uncooked
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1½ cup coconut milk
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ⅔ cup peeled diced apple
• ⅓ cup golden raisins
• ⅔ cup chopped salted pistachios

Instructions

1. Put the cider and Fireball Whisky into a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the rice to the boiling cider. Bring the cider back up to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cover. Allow to simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to set undisturbed for 15 minutes.
2. After 15 minutes, check the rice. If it's still a little underdone, let it set a while longer. If it looks too dry, you can add a little more hot cider. When the rice has the correct texture, add the salt and milk. Bring the mixture to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and cook until the mixture begins to thicken, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes.
3. Increase the heat to medium, add the heavy cream, coconut milk, brown sugar and apple and continue to cook until the mixture just begins to thicken again, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Once the mixture begins to thicken, remove from the heat and stir in the raisins and pistachios. Transfer to a glass bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Notes

Recipe by Jazzy Gourmet Cooking Studio at http://jazzygourmetblog.com
© 2013 Sherry Klinedinst
All rights reserved. Repost with permission only.

*Recipe adapted from: Alton Brown's Indian Rice Pudding

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 Well dang, I had fully intended to make a new zippy tip video this week, but a case of the crud has left me without a voice.  Phooey.  Good thing it’s Christmas time and I have the perfect archive video for the season.  Sugared cranberries make a stunningly wonderful addition to a holiday table, and you wouldn’t believe how easy it is to make them.

I adorn my Spiced Cranberry Chocolate Cake with them, as well as my Holiday Spinach Bread Wreath with Cranberry Spinach ‘Wow’ Dip.  But heck, they can be placed on cupcakes, pies, puddings or even made into garland.

Start by submerging cranberries in a simmering pan of simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, heated till the sugar has dissolved). Make sure the water is not boiling, because the cranberries will pop open (Ask me how I know!).  Cover the pan and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.  Remove the cranberries from the syrup and spread out onto a wire rack.  Let dry for 1 hour.  Roll the cranberries, a few at a time, in sugar.  Return to the rack and dry for another hour.

Simple, eh?  You bet’cha.  If I cran make them, so cran you!

Watch video here:

Can’t see video?  Watch it here:  Sugared Cranberries? Yes We Can!

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Have you ever been in the throes of making homemade bread for a big family gathering, only you didn’t have a warm place for your bread dough to rise because your oven was already full?

Well, I have just the solution!   Just stick your bread dough in another major appliance.

Yep, you heard that right.

Watch on fellow bread makers, watch on–

Can’t see video?  Watch it here:  House of the Rising Dough

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How many times have you needed some lemon zest for a recipe and discovered that you don’t have any fresh lemons on hand?  In this Zippy Tip archive video, I show how easy it is to always have lemon zest available when you need it.

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Can’t see video?  Watch it here:  The Zest is Yet to Come

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I had a friend text one day and ask me how to speed up the process of making bean soup.  She had just decided to whip up a batch for dinner, but had not soaked the beans overnight.

How many times does that happen to us, where we make a last minute decision to make something, and a preliminary step in the process has not been executed yet?

Well in this case, there is a very good shortcut for preparing dried beans, and the answer is in the video below.

Want more bean info?  Visit:  How to Cook Beans: A Fast, Foolproof, No-Soak Method by The Kitchn

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Watch it here:  Bean Appetit

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OK, so whoever is planning on making pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, raise your hand!

OK, you can put your hand down.

Now, those of you who would like to make something similar but uniquely different and yet just as easy to prepare, raise your hand!

Well I have just the thing for you. My Apple Butternut Pie is a 3-way butter fest:

butternut squash

apple butter

buttered almonds

Actually, it’s 4-way, when you consider some more butter in the crust.  And then when you throw in some Biscoff Cookie Spread, you’ve got the whole sh’bang.  Not familiar with Biscoff Cookie Spread?  I wasn’t either until I saw it around the foodie blogging world.  I used the actual cookies in my Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Pie

(Yet another great Thanksgiving alternative, but a bit more labor intensive)

Biscoff cookies are tasty all-natural Belgian “biscuits” that have been around for 80 years or so, and now have been turned into a sweet creamy spread.  It can be used to dunk apples or other fruit, maybe spread on toast, or my favorite method is to spoon it straight from the jar!  Want to know more?  Visit:  Biscoff.com

Anyhoo, enough about Biscoff, back to me, ha!  Dad delivered another garden care package (probably the last for the season, boo hoo), and it was loaded with butternut squash.  I’ve been roasting and souping and everything else with it, so I decided to turn it into a pie.  Then I had made a batch of apple butter the other day (see a link to the recipe in the “Notes” section below) and threw some of it in for spice and light freshness.  A handful of buttered almonds seemed like a good choice for crunch.  The final product came out looking very much like it’s original pumpkin counterpart, but with a little extra zing, a little pizazz, a little jazz, you might say!

For my Zippy Tip on peeling butternut squash, visit:  The Easy Way to Peel Butternut Squash

5.0 from 3 reviews

Apple Butternut Pie

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

 

Sweet butternut squash, paired with apple butter and Biscoff Cookie Spread, is topped with buttery almonds to make a wonderful alternative to pumpkin pie.

Author: Sherry K

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups butternut squash puree
• 1 cup apple butter*
• ½ cup Biscoff cookie spread
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
• 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
• 1 10-inch prepared pie crust, unbaked*
• ½ cup slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• pinch salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Stir in squash, apple butter, cookie spread and orange zest. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for an additional 30 minutes.
4. Combine almonds, butter and pinch of salt. Sprinkle almonds around the outside edge of the pie, and continue to bake another 10-20 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean..
5. Allow pie to cool completely on wire rack, about 2 to 3 hours. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Notes

* I made my own here: Simply Recipes Apple Butter
* I used this crust recipe: Epicurious Caramelized Apple & Pecan Pie

Recipe by Jazzy Gourmet Cooking Studio at http://jazzygourmetblog.com
© 2013 Sherry Klinedinst
All rights reserved. Repost with permission only.

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If you’ve ever tried to crack into a butternut squash, you know that it can seem like quite a daunting task.

The outer shell is extremely rock-like.  And its odd, roly poly, irregular shape is not what you’d call user-friendly on a cutting board.  So one has to ask oneself, what powerful tool should be used to obtain access to that smooth sweet nutty interior?

Crowbar?   Sledgehammer?  TNT?

Believe it or not, there are a couple of common kitchen staples that can take you from woefully bashing to gleefully gliding your way through this very popular squash.  It’s true!

Watch video here:

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Watch it here:  The Easy Way to Peel Butternut Squash

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Mom always said it is nice to share!