It's Christmas in 834!

To start, a little explanation... 834, said "eight three four" not "eight thirty four," is what we (Shannon, Jocelyn, any other friends, and I) call our apartment. Over the past year and a half, it's become more of a name than an apartment number.


We've been waiting for Christmas, for what seems like months. It's all of our favorite time of year. Family, friends, presents, cookies, fudge, decorations, and NO SCHOOL! Classes have been coming down hard on all three of us for the past few weeks, but we finally found some time to get in the Christmas spirit! We spent all of yesterday transforming 834 into a winter wonderland. Now, recently we have noticed that a few balconies around the complex are decorated, but most consist of half-ass strung lights looped around the railing. There is one balcony, though, that looks professionally done. Our goal was to, and I mean this in the least Grinch way, have our balcony kick all the other balconies' butts! We totally did, by the way.

View from the ground

A little blurry, but from down the street a bit.

We also put up our tree, although, this picture is from last year!

Aside from decorating, we filled 834 with the aroma of freshly baked cookies! THREE different kinds, to be exact. I also decided to add in a treat I haven't had in a really long time, but remember from when I was a kid... 5 minute fudge! 

We had homemade chocolate chip cookies...

Sugar cookies...

Red Velvet cookies...

And only one mishap!

She's notorious for breaking things, so we shouldn't be too surprised she's holding half of a measuring cup.

Okay, procrastination over. Time to get back to the books!

Merry Christmas!!

Cheesecake Time!

Last month, my roommate Shannon turned the big 2-1! My other roommate Jocelyn and I were in a bit of a predicament, because Shannon does not like cake. At all. Luckily, for my birthday, Rebecca gave me a binder full of about 52 cheesecake recipes, so I gave it to Shannon and let her pick one. She chose the White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. I'm pretty sure it's a Cheesecake Factory recipe, but I gave it a go.

The inside

Just a slice... of heaven!

Shannon and Jocelyn loved it! I liked the middle, but thought that around the edge there was too much raspberry. 

OH! The recipe calls for Oreos without the stuffing for the crust, but that seemed like way too much work. Instead, I used chocolate Teddy Grams. 

The Cheesecake Factory's White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake

crust 

1½ cups chocolate cookie crumbs or 20 crumbled Oreo cookies (filling removed) 
1/3 cup margarine, melted

filling 

½ cup raspberry preserves 
¼ cup water 
4 x 8 oz pkgs cream cheese 
1¼ cups granulated sugar 
½ cup sour cream 
2 tspn vanilla extract 
5 eggs 
4 oz white chocolate, chopped into chunks

garnish 

2 oz white chocolate, shaved 
whipped cream 

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. 

Place a large pan or oven-safe skillet filled with about ½" of water into the oven while it preheats. This will be your water bath. 

Combine the raspberry preserves with ¼ cup water in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1½ minutes on high in your microwave. 

Stir until smooth. Strain to remove the raspberry seeds (toss 'em out), then let the strained preserves sit to cool, then put the bowl in the refrigerator until later. 

Measure 1½ cups chocolate cookie crumbs, or crush 20 Oreo cookie wafers ( with the filling scraped out ) into a medium bowl. Mix in 1/3 cup melted margarine. Press the crumb into a 9" spring form pan that has been lined on the bottom and side with parchment paper. Using the bottom of a drinking glass or similar, press the crumb mixture flat into the bottom of the pan and about 2/3 the way up the side. Wrap a large piece of foil around the bottom of the pan to keep the cheesecake in the water bath. Put the crust in your freezer until the filling is done. 

Use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese with the sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix for a couple minutes or until the ingredients are smooth and creamy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl and then add them to the cream cheese mixture. Blend the mixture just enough to integrate the eggs. 

Remove the crust from the freezer and sprinkle 4 oz of white chocolate chunks onto the bottom of the crust. Pour half of the cream cheese filling into the crust. Drizzle the raspberry preserves over the entire surface of the filling. Use a butter knife to swirl the raspberry into the cream cheese. 

Just a couple passes is fine, you don't want to blend the raspberry and cream cheese together too much. Pour the other half of the filling into the crust. 

Carefully place the cheesecake into the water bath in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes at 475°F, then turn the oven down to 350°F and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the top of the cheesecake turns a light brown or tan color. Remove the cheesecake from the oven to cool. When the cheesecake is cool, use the foil from the bottom to cover the cheesecake and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. 

Before serving, sprinkle the entire top surface of cheesecake with 2 oz of shaved white chocolate. To serve, slice the cheesecake into 12 equal portions. Apply a pile of canned whipped cream to the top of each slice and serve.