Merry Pinterest: Day 1

SO, ya I know I have not been able to blog much...

yes, I know even my Halloween pics

and Disney World posts are not up, but....

We are really, really excited about Christmas around here...

However, between our big trip to Disney World and

my etsy store busting at the seams I found myself feeling

very overwhelmed with everything I wanted to do, make, eat, and see.

Then after a long soak in the tub and a glass of wine,

I settled on a plan...

I would pick 12 pins off of my Pinterest board (HERE)

 and just make those Christmas pins happen...

ahhh... it has been perfect...

and yummy!

 

One pin the whole family wanted to try was this Gingerbread Cheese Cake!!

This recipe of an original from the great Martha Stewart,

but my pin came from

Munchkin Munchies...

which happens to be one of my newest favorite blogs!!

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1/4 recipe of the dough for Molasses-Gingerbread Cookies
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (my fisrt time with this!)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 6 gingerbread men (see link above)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap exterior of a 9-inch spring form pan in 2 layers of foil.
2. Roll dough to a 13-by-10-inch rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. Slide dough onto a baking sheet. Bake until firm and golden brown, about 14 minutes. Let cool completely on sheet on a wire rack. Break into large pieces, then pulse in a food processor until finely ground.
3. Combine butter, 1/4 cup sugar, and 2 cups cookie crumbs in a bowl. Press mixture firmly and evenly into bottom and one-third of the way up sides of prepared pan. Bake until set, about 10 minutes. Let cool on rack.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and the vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping sides of bowl as needed. Beat in molasses, salt, spices, and lemon zest. Pour filling into cooled crust.
5. Place cheesecake in a large, shallow roasting pan.(we had to use a jelly roll pan, because our roasting pan was not large enough for the spring form pan-but it works just fine!) Move to oven, and carefully add enough hot water to roasting pan to come about halfway up sides of spring form pan. Bake until cheesecake is set but still slightly wobbly in center, 60 to 65 minutes. Carefully remove spring form pan from roasting pan, and let cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 8 hours (we did this overnight).
6. Before serving, run a hot knife around edges of cheesecake to loosen, and remove sides of pan. Arrange gingerbread cookies in center of cake in a circle (this kids did this)

This was kinda a long baking event... we did it over three days.

Day one we made gingerbread cookies for our gingerbread night

and just set aside the extra dough.  So I did double the cookie recipe.

Day two we made the cake and put it in the fridge...

it was SO hard not to eat it right away! but we had the cookies

from the night before to snack on!

Finally, on day 3 (4&5) we ate this fantastic cheesecake.

We plan on making it again for our family on Christmas Eve!

 

 

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