Chocolate Cheesecake

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons butter or margarine melted

2 pounds cream cheese

1 cup sugar

8 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup cocoa

2 eggs

1 cup flour

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

In a 5 quart mixing bowl place 2 pounds of cream cheese and 1 cup granulated sugar and mix on low speed until cream cheese is softened and smooth, place in bowl 8 ounces sour cream and continue mixing until well blended, at this time add 2 eggs, mix for 2 minutes then add 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup cocoa, and 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, mix on second speed until smooth and creamy.

At this time your cheesecake mixture should be fluffy like ice cream as it comes out of the ice cream machine. Prepare your 10 inch x 2 inches spring form pan, in a large bowl place your graham cracker crumbs and 2 tablespoons sugar, and your melted butter or margarine, then with a wire whisk, whisk them together until well combined, brush onto the sides of your spring form pan a little softened butter so the crumbs have something to hold to, place the crumbs on the sides and bottom of the pan. Now you add slowly to the pan your cheesecake mix as not to disturb the crumbs too much, now you should have a full pan.

Preheat your oven to 275 degrease and not more, when your oven is hot place the cake in it and bake for 55 minutes then shut off the oven and let it in there for 3 hours, at the end of this time you should have the most beautiful cheesecake you ever seen, let the cake on the table for 1 1/2 hours then place it in the refrigerator for about 2-3 hours. Now remove it from the pan and enjoy. You can put a coconut pecan topping on it if you like.

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Sleepyheads Love Cookie Pancakes.

Delicious cookie pancakes are even more fun topped with jam or whipped cream.

Here’s the newest way to serve up some fun at breakfast. Turn everybody’s favorite fluffy pancakes into scrumptious Cookie Pancakes. Think of the happy possibilities–Chocolate Chip Cookie Pancakes, Snickerdoodle Pancakes, Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes, with aromas guaranteed to get your sleepyheads out of bed and racing to the breakfast table.

All you do is add a few fresh ingredients to pancake mix and then get creative. The best news? These cookie pancakes are so delicious, your family can either dress them up with jam or whipped cream, or keep it simple on busy mornings and just grab some to go.

Breakfast has never been more fun!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pancakes

2 cups Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon salt
11/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix, brown sugar, chocolate chips and salt. Add milk, egg, butter and vanilla. Stir with a whisk until blended. For each pancake, pour 2 tablespoons batter onto lightly greased and preheated 375F griddle (medium heat). Cook 11/2 minutes per side, turning only once.

Snickerdoodle Cookie Pancakes

Prepare chocolate chip cookie pancakes as directed, substituting 1 teaspoon cinnamon for the chocolate chips. Serve pancakes with additional butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar topping.

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

Prepare chocolate chip cookie pancakes as directed, substituting 3/4 cup rolled oats (quick or old-fashioned) for the chocolate chips and adding 2 teaspoons cinnamon.

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First, chocolate is produced from cocoa beans that are from the Theobroma cacao tree. In English, this term means “food for the Gods? because of its heavenly taste that the Aztec and Mayan civilizations have enjoyed for years.

These degrees are harvested mainly from the Ghana and the Ivory Coast with some getting their supplies from other countries in South Africa and South America.

The reason why chocolate is abundant is because the pods from these trees are produced all year long. There are three types that each have their own distinctive flavor namely Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario.

Of the three, the most abundant among them is Forastero. Criollo on the other hand is very rare while Trinitario is a hybrid of the two.

Harvesting the pods is usually done by hand with machetes. The farmers have to split open the pods to get to the cocoa beans. Afterwards, they scrape the pulp and beans from inside the pods and left to ferment in baskets from 2 to 8 days.

Fermentation is important because without it, the beans inside would be too bitter to enjoy. After this process, the contents are spread in a single layer to dry usually under direct sunlight before this is packed and shipped to the buyer.

Now you understand what farmers do, it is time to explain what the manufacturers do. Once the beans reach the factory, this is roasted and then transferred to a winnower. This machine removes the shell of the bean and leaves the “nibs? which is what is used to making chocolate. This is then grounded and turned into a rich thick paste now called chocolate liquor.

The liquor then undergoes one more process to remove the cocoa butter which has an end product known as “cocoa presscake? or cocoa powder and here, manufacturers decide what kind of chocolate to make.

If the presscake is of low quality, this will have to be mixed with other ingredients like vegetable fats, sugar and artificial flavoring. If what they have is of good quality, then this will be added again to chocolate liquor and other ingredients like milk, sugar and vanilla before this is transferred to a conching machine.

The conching is considered to be the last step in screening the chocolate in order to get its ultimate flavor and texture. The speed, temperature and length of this process has a lot to do with the taste of the chocolate. Also, this helps remove any acidic tones.

This is then tempered into a large machine which pours the chocolate into the mold. Once it is frozen, the bars are then packed and ready to be shipped off to the consumer.

Now that you know what it takes to make chocolate, you can begin to appreciate what you buy whenever you go to the grocery store and buy a few of these as a snack. Some of these are cheap while others are expensive and it all boils down to what kind of cocoa tree was used to make the finished product.

First, you have to get ready all the materials and ingredients you will be using. The two most important happen to be the chocolate and the mold both which can be purchased at the craft store.

Chocolate comes in many flavors. Some examples of these are bitter sweet, milk, dark, semi-sweet, sweet and white. These are often sold in blocks if you don`t have the time to convert these from cocoa beans. As for your molds, make sure that these are made from FDA approved food grade plastic.

You will also need sugar as this is a basic ingredient in most chocolates recipes. When you buy this from the grocery store, make sure that this does not have any trace of flour, salt or other kitchen ingredients.

Another important ingredient is unsalted butter. This is because the kind that contains salt is hard to ascertain and there are instances where it could spoil the taste of your dish. You must never substitute butter with margarine if you don`t have any because this will just make the cooking time longer as the water content here is much higher than that of butter.

There are three ways to liquefy chocolate before shaping this to its final form. You can heat this using the microwave, a double boiler or the oven. When making these into candies, it will be a good idea to also use a thermometer so you are able to monitor its temperature.

If you are using a thermometer that has a bulb, make sure that it does not touch the sides of the pan because this could give you the wrong reading.

When the chocolate is ready, this is the time that you put these into the mold. So it doesn`t look messy, get some using a teaspoon and pour this into the cartridges. This is also the time you should add in other ingredients like peanuts, marshmallows or candy sprinkles.

If there are air bubbles, remove them by holding the mold a few centimeters from the ground and dropping it on the table. You may have to do this several times to make sure that there is nothing left then you put these in the freezer.

You should check on your chocolate molds after 5 to 10 minutes. The bigger the mold, the longer it takes but you can check if it is ready by looking at the back of the mold. If a graying figure appears on the bottom, this means it is ready to be removed from the mold.

Once they are removed, put this in a plate or in a box if this is going to be given away. As for your molds, wash them in hot water and never with soap because this will remove its stickiness.

It should be dried thoroughly using a dry piece of cloth and stored properly so it looks good as new when you need to use it again.

You won`t have any problems making home made chocolates as long as you follow these tips. Who knows, this could open new doors for you like starting your own business.