raspberry Archives - The Midnight Baker

Chocolate Raspberry Crisp

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 00:00:16 +0000

Chocolate raspberry crisp is a tasty and easy dessert any time of the year. And it’s perfect for Valentine’s Day too.

Easy Dessert

Fruit crisps are easy desserts, that’s for sure! They’re great desserts for when you’re in a pinch.

As berries are generally associated with summer when they are plentiful, a fruit crisp is thought of as a summer dessert.

What I usually do is buy up berries of all kinds when my local stores have them buy-one-get one and then freeze them. They’re perfectly good for baking and cooking if they’ve been frozen. So take advantage of sales and freeze if you don’t already do this.

Chocolate Please

Chocolate and raspberry are one of those marriages made in heaven. They complement each other so well; each enhancing the flavor of the other.

Dark chocolate, of course, is best here. So I highly recommend using it. Semi-sweet chocolate is good too, however, dark is better.

The good thing here is you can now get dark chocolate morsels. Yes, even the store brands are available and that’s what I buy. If your store doesn’t carry the house brand, they are available in the premium brands and they’re worth the extra cost.

Proportions

The proportions of raspberries to chocolate in this chocolate raspberry crisp is nothing scientific. If you like more chocolate to raspberry, then just increase the amount I used in my recipe to suit your tastes. Likewise the same applies to the raspberries.

These desserts are not like cakes which are scientific formulas where amounts matter a lot. Here, they really don’t so you can go to town with the flavors you and your family really prefer.

For the topping, I used quick oats, which is what I had on hand. You can always substitute old-fashioned or steel-cut oats if that’s what you have. Actually, the texture would probably be much crunchier if you did. The thing is, you don’t have to worry with “recipes” such as this–it will always be edible and delicious.

The Recipe

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Chocolate Raspberry Crisp

What’s better than chocolate with raspberries?

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy desserts, easy desserts with frozen fruit, fruit crisps with chocolate, raspberry chocolate crisp

Servings: 6

Calories: 339kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

4 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbs flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate morsels

Topping:

3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cold butter cubed

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

In a large bowl, gently toss raspberries with sugar and 3 tablespoons flour. Fold in chocolate morsels. Transfer to a greased 9-in. square baking dish.
In another large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar and 1/3 cup flour; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over berries and chocolate.
Bake at 350F/180C for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutrition

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Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 02 Dec 2018 00:00:18 +0000

A cheesecake topped with a raspberry swirl and ending with a chocolate crust. Perfection!

Easy To Make

It’s hard to believe that such an elegant dessert can be so easy, but it is!

This cheesecake goes together 1-2-3 and that makes it perfect when you’re pressed for time during the holidays. You can make the raspberry sauce ahead of time as well as the crust. All that leaves is the quick and easy cheesecake and that’s pretty much a “dump-and-go” operation.

Raspberries have been on sale quite a lot lately so this cheesecake won’t break the bank either. I always buy lots of them and freeze them. Since the sauce is cooked and sieved, the change in texture after freezing doesn’t matter one bit.

Chocolate And Raspberry: A Winning Combo

What goes better together than chocolate and raspberry? The answer to that is not much! It’s a very high-toned combination and a feature in many gourmet desserts and candies.

The crust is made with chocolate wafers. I will admit that they are not the easiest cookies to find, especially in smaller stores. However, you should be able to find them in larger food stores and most big-box stores. The crust is nice and buttery too. I usually use a bit of sugar when I make this, but if you want a more dark-chocolate taste, you can leave it out. I also recommend using unsalted butter; not just in this but in all baked goods and any time you cook with butter.

The amount of raspberry sauce you swirl in is up to you too. However, I wouldn’t advise drowning the top in sauce because the cake may not set up. I used a half cup of sauce and that flavored it nicely and created a nice swirl on top. If you want it to have more raspberry accents, the leftover sauce may be drizzled on top when you serve it.

Cheesecake Is A Custard

This cheesecake, like most of the cheesecakes I make is baked in a water bath. Cheesecake, because of the amount of eggs is actually a custard. So I tend to bake it as such.

The water bath baking also results in a cheesecake that’s creamy from stem to stern. You never have to worry about hard, dry edges.

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The Recipe

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Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

A cheesecake topped with a raspberry swirl and ending with a chocolate crust. Perfection!

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 20

Total Time1 50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cheesecake recipe, raspberries

Servings: 12

Calories: 533kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

24 oz cream cheese at room temp
2 cups sour cream at room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs at room temp
1/2 cup raspberry sauce

Crust:

1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs see NOTES
5 tbs butter melted
2 tbs sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan and wrap it in a double thickness of aluminum foil.
Mix all the crust ingredients together in a small bowl. Press into the bottom of the springform pan.
Beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Pour cream cheese mixture into prepared pan. Drop raspberry sauce randomly over top of cream cheese mixture; use a knife to swirl it through the batter—do not overmix!!
Set the pan in a large roasting pan and pour about 2-inches of water in the roasting pan (making a water bath).
Bake for 70-80 minutes, or until center is almost set. Remove from the oven and set the pan on a rack. Cool 10 minutes then run a knife along the outside of the cake loosening it from the sides. Cool an additional hour then cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, preferably overnight.

Nutrition

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Split Seconds Cookies

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 00:00:13 +0000

These split seconds cookies are so easy to make and your family will love them!

Split Seconds: Loved For Over 60 Years

This is a very old recipe that my family has made for years.

It originally came from an old Pillbury Bake-Off from 1955 or 1956 where it won best in class. This was a cookie my mom made often because it was quick, easy and delicious.

The fact that my mom made these attests to how good and easy they are. Mom was not a cookie maker. She said most cookies were too much fuss for what they were. Cakes, breads and pies were her specialty; she wasn’t “into” eating cookies either.

It’s interesting that I always loved making cookies–even the ones you have to fuss with–but pies are next to impossible for me. Obviously, on that score I didn’t inherit my mother’s talents!

Now The Flour

Since I’ve made these more times than I can count, I can offer advice on how to insure they come out well formed and pretty as a picture.

And that advice goes a little bit against what is usually preached when it comes to measuring flour–use the dip and sweep method. Yes, you heard that right.

Any time I made these where I stirred the flour to aerate it and lightly spooned it into the cup, they spread like crazy. Oh, they still tasted fine, but they looked like a toddler’s first baking attempt. Seriously! I adopted the “preferred” method of measuring but when I used it with this, it was a disaster. Your dough should be soft but have enough body to roll easily and not stick when you make the depression in the center.

For making the depression, I use the handle end of a knife as it works out beautifully and evenly. The center depression may look small but don’t be tempted to make it wider. It will widen when it bakes.

Extract Flavor

I use almond extract in these, especially when I’m using raspberry jam. It tastes lovely. But you can also use vanilla. Vanilla blends with any flavor jam you use.

The Recipe

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Split Seconds Cookies

Split seconds cookies are a delicious version of thumbprint cookies. A soft, cake-like cookie filled with jam.

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cookies, jam cookie, split seconds cookies, thumbprint cookies

Servings: 48 cookies

Calories: 63kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract OR vanilla extract
2 cups flour see NOTES
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup red jam raspberry, strawberry, etc.

Instructions

Prepare 2 cookie sheets by lining each with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Beat in the egg and extract.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; mix well.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, combining well.
Divide dough into 4 portions and roll each portion into a 12 x 3/4-inch log.
Place 2 logs on each cookie sheet about 4-inches apart.
Make a 1/2-inch depression down the center of each log. Fill each depression with red jam.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cookies just begin to get golden around the edges. Cool for 5 minutes then cut into 1-inch diagonals.

Notes

Use “dip & sweep” method for measuring the flour. I’ve made these countless times and dip & sweep produces the nicest looking cookies.

Nutrition

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Raspberry Cheese Tart

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 00:00:34 +0000

Looks and tastes like you got this at an expensive bakery, but this raspberry cheese tart is made with leftover pre-made pie crust and ingredients you have on hand!

Who doesn’t have a leftover pie crust from the recent holidays? I’m one of those people since I only ever use one so I’m always left with it’s mate as they are a package of two. And since making my own rolled-out pie crust is so variable–from downright awful to pretty good–with more emphasis on downright awful, I buy the pre-made kind.

So I wanted this box out of my fridge. Had no room in any freezer so I wanted to use it up.

One thing I always have is cream cheese and I’d just found a can of pastry filling when I was rotating my canned goods. This is the stuff put out by Solo. It’s not pie filling–it has a consistency of fruit jam, so it’s perfect for swirling into cheesecakes and regular cakes. You could probably use ordinary pie filling or even fruit jam if you wanted to do so. Only thing I would say if substituting those is to cut the sugar in the cheesecake portion in half as pie filling and jam are a lot sweeter than pastry filling.

I decided a fancier presentation was in order so I used an oblong tart pan. My pan measured 11 x 7-inches approximately so if you don’t have one that size, an ordinary baking dish of the same proportions can be used and you can pat the crust in to fit. Just remember to build up the sides a bit–maybe 1/2-inch or so. It’d also work in a 9-inch quiche pan or cake pan.

My essence of choice in cheese fillings for these kinds of desserts is almond, but if that’s not your bag, vanilla can be substituted and you can leave the sliced almonds off the top. A drizzle of chocolate goes nicely with the raspberry and also the cheesecake, but that can be omitted as well. If you want my recipe for quick ganache drizzle, it can be found in my recipe for White Chocolate Heath Bar Crunch.

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Raspberry Cheese Tart

Looks and tastes like you got this at an expensive bakery, but this raspberry cheese tart is made with leftover pre-made pie crust and ingredients you have on hand!

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

Total Time50

Course: desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: raspberries, tart recipe

Servings: 10

Calories: 209kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 pre-made pie crust or your own if you have success with from-scratch crust
1 12 oz can raspberry pastry filling
8 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp almond extract*
1/4 cup sliced almonds optional
Powdered sugar for dusting optional
Chocolate ganache for drizzle optional

Instructions

*vanilla may be substituted
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Press crust into a 11 x 7-inch rectangular tart pan. What I did was lay the rolled up crust in the center of the pan lengthwise, then unrolled it and cut off the part that overhangs and place what I cut off at the ends of the pan, pressing up to the rim.
In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sour cream, sugar, almond extract and egg and beat until well combined.
Spread cream cheese mixture over crust.
Drop dollops of raspberry pastry filling randomly over top; swirl it into the cheese mixture with a knife.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and center is set.

Nutrition

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