What's Baking: Healthier Raspberry Crisp

Catherine from Pursuing Domestic Godess-ness, our hostess for What's Baking? this month, chose the theme of baking healthier.  How timely!  By this time of the month, the novelty of New Year's resolutions is starting to wear off, so this is a great way to indulge yourself but still stay on track!  Plus, you can get some great ideas for a lighter Valentine's Day dessert, as that's coming up soon--romantic dinners need not leave you in a food coma!  Better to have something a little lighter to leave you feeling better for after-dinner cuddling and smooching!  ;)

Fruit crisps are one of my favorite desserts, especially when I'm trying to make something a little healthier.  First off, they are insanely simple to whip up, especially if you use frozen berries, like I do here.  Also, fruit is healthy!  And if you use a nice sweet fruit, you don't need to use much in the way of sugar, although I add some honey here, since raspberries are pretty tart.  I always add oats to the crisp topping, so you get some protein and fiber from the whole grain.  In this recipe, since I cut down the amount of butter in the crisp topping, it won't end up being quite as crunchy, but you add some nuts instead to make up for it--these add more protein, too!  All in all, this is a pretty healthy dessert...so you don't have to feel guilty about putting a scoop of ice cream on top.  Or eating it for breakfast.  Or both.  ;)

Raspberry Crisp (a Blondie original)

• 4 c. raspberries (or any other fruit)
• 1 Tbl. lemon juice
• 1 Tbl. flour (only if your fruit is frozen or SUPER juicy!)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 Tbl. honey (use less if you're using a sweeter fruit, like blueberries)
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. oats
• 1/3 c. raw sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 c. cold butter, diced
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans (almonds or walnuts would also work)

Toss the first 5 ingredients (fruit through honey) together until everything is well-distributed.  Pour the mixture into a greased 9x9" baking dish.

In a food processor, pulse the remaining ingredients (flours through butter) until the butter is in pea-sized pieces and is well distributed.  Mix the nuts into the topping mixture.  Sprinkle the topping over the fruit, distributing it evenly.  Bake at 375* F for 35-50 minutes (the longer time is if your fruit is frozen), or until the top is lightly brown, and the filling is hot and bubbling.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

So, last Sunday was supposed to be my wedding day. Yup, I was supposed to be one of those 10/10/10 brides. Then my (ex-) fiance decided he didn't want to marry me. Silly him. My wedding cake was supposed to be a pumpkin swirl cheesecake. I decided that not getting married was not a good enough reason to not eat cheesecake (did you follow that, with all the nots?). So, I made my own!


Two of my best friends came in from out-of-town to visit and to cheer me up that weekend, and one of them has Celiac's. I wanted to make sure she would be able to enjoy the dessert (and other foods!) I cooked up for our celebratory bbq, so I made the crust for this cheesecake with gluten-free gingersnaps. You could certainly leave off the crust altogether or substitute a different gluten-free crust if you can't find gluten-free gingersnaps. Or, if it isn't something you have to worry about, use real gingersnaps!

Also, may I just say, this recipe is extremely forgiving. I did not read the original recipe thoroughly before starting, so I missed the part when the crust is supposed to chill for an hour. And the part where you add the sour cream topping right after baking and before cooling, rather than after the cheesecake has set in the fridge overnight. No matter. It tasted fine, anyways. And I'm sure your texture will be much better than mine was, given that I mixed this up by hand since my stand mixer broke last weekend. *Sigh* As I said, it's very forgiving, since it still tasted fantastic!

I did try to get a picture of the whole, uncut cheesecake, but given the line of bottlecaps in the picture and the lack of focus, the drinking had proceeded too long to get a decent picture. The other picture was taken a few days later, while sober, and, as you saw, it's MUCH better!


Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake (Adapted from Apple A Day)

Crust

• 3/4 c. crushed gingersnaps (gluten-free or normal)
• 1/4 c. finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 4 Tbl. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Tbl. bourbon (I subbed Jameson, since I was out of bourbon)

Pulse together crushed gingersnaps, pecans, butter, and bourbon (or Jameson) in a food processor until moistened and starting to come together. Press into the bottom of a 10" springform pan. Chill 1 hour (or don't, since I forgot this step). Bake the unfilled crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Filling

• 2 c. pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2/3 tsp. nutmeg
• 2/3 tsp. ginger
• 2/3 tsp. salt
• 2/3 c. brown sugar
• 2/3 c. granulated sugar
• 4 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3 Tbl. heavy cream
• 1 1/2 Tbl. cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 Tbl. bourbon (or Jameson)
  

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until creamy. Cream the granulated sugar with the cream cheese. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin puree with the spices and salt. Add this to the cream cheese mixture, and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Beat in the brown sugar, vanilla, and bourbon. Dissolve the cornstarch in the heavy cream, and beat this into the cream cheese mixture until the batter is smooth.

Pour the filling into the pre-baked crust. Wrap the springform pan in a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil and place in a water bath (or don't, since you're going to put a topping on it anyway that will hide any cracks). Bake for 65 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until center is just set. Without removing from the pan, let cool for 5 minutes.

Topping

• 2 c. sour cream
• 2 Tbl. granulated sugar
• 1 Tbl. bourbon (or Jameson)
  

Mix all topping ingredients until thoroughly combined. Spread over the top of the (still hot) cheesecake. Return the cheesecake to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes at 350 degrees F. Or, if you neglect to read the directions and cool the cheesecake completely, top the cooled cheesecake with sour cream and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Let the cheesecake cool in the oven for 2 hours. Once it is somewhat cooled, refrigerate until it's time to serve (at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight). Feel free to decorate it with whole pecans, if you have any on hand (I didn't).

Pumpkin Blondies

We're continuing the pumpkin obsession here. I have pumpkin blondies for you today, and I have one other post ready to go on a different pumpkin dessert. Plus, there's still one more 29-oz can of pumpkin sitting in my pantry. Think I'll have any trouble using it before the season is over? Nah, me neither.

The blondies my mom always made were very much like a bar cookie--dense and chewy, not cake-like at all. I'm coming to learn that perhaps other people may understand other things as blondies...the first indication of this was when my white chocolate blondies turned out cakey. Then, someone asked on What's Cooking the other day for pumpkin blondies that weren't cakey...and didn't get many helpful replies. Hmmmm. So I looked at the picture in my source recipe, and I was suspicious. The looked like they could go either way. After looking at my mom's blondie recipe, I decided to make a couple edits to the pumpkin blondies recipe to try to make them denser and less cakey. I was partially successful. This is what comes from playing around with baking chemistry without fully understanding it. These were definitely dense enough, but still had more of a cakey texture, rather than a chewy texture. I guess I'll just have to keep baking test batches until I get it right. Darn.


Pumpkin Blondies (Adapted from Annie's Eats)

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbl. pumpkin pie spice (or eyeball a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg)
  
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 16 Tbl. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• Heaping 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. pumpkin puree
• 1 c. white chocolate chips
• 1 c. butterscotch chips
• 1/2 c. toasted chopped pecans

Sift together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, mix together melted butter and sugars. Stir in egg and vanilla extract. Next, stir in the pumpkin puree until well-combined. Add the sifted dry ingredients, and stir just until combined. Finally, stir in the white chocolate, butterscotch chips, and pecans.

Pour the batter into a greased 9x13-in baking dish, and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.