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Friday, July 06, 2012

Easy Truffles!

This past Monday I went to a friend's house for a BBQ gathering and I volunteered to bring desserts. In case you haven't noticed, I'm on a major baking spree these days.

I've always loved baking but lately I've been loving it more and more and now that's summer, I actually have time to bake!

My friend who's a 7th grade teacher had her kids make truffles for their mothers for Mother's Day. What a great idea! I don't remember making anything for my mom at school for Mother's Day...do you? Maybe a card?

So anyways, I asked her for the recipe because hey, if 7th graders can do it, surely I can too.

And easy it was! You can use all sorts of different coatings but I went with cocoa powder and pistachios.

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I'll admit, they looked pretty good!

The recipe she gave me was really simple- just the way I like it! Why haven't I made these before?!

They are really really rich though. I recommend a little more cream cheese and a little less icing sugar. 

I chopped up the pistachios but didn't think to toast them!

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That's another adjustment for next time!

Untoasted, and after being in the fridge overnight, the pistachios were not as crunchy! I think if they were toasted, they would taste better and be a little more crunchy!

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My friend also suggested making them smaller so that you could pop them in your mouth without having to bite into them 2, 3 times.

In addition to these truffles, I also wanted to make something else!

Remember these keylime cupcakes? I initially planned to make these as they main dessert but then I had the brilliant idea to make a keylime cheesecake instead.

It's been several years since I last made a cheesecake. About 5 years in fact. I remember making it with my friend and we had to take turns beating the cream cheese by hand because we didn't have an electric mixer. Talk about a major work out! But the cheesecake turned out well and I love cheesecake so I figured I'd give it a shot. How hard could it be right?

Well...

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Epic fail...

I don't know what happened! I tried baking this thing for over almost 3 hours and it just would not bake. And there I was, happy that the top hadn't cracked!

I even Googled it and tried rebaking it at a lower temperature. I tried the water bath method which I had never even heard of!

I thought just the center hadn't baked but when I cut into it, I realized, none of it, other than the top layer had baked. Even the crust was soggy... what in the world...by this time it was 2am.

So I did what anybody would do after trying to bake a cheesecake for 4 hours. I shredded it. This pic was taken about half way through my anger. Haha

Ok so I MIGHT have an idea of what went wrong.

The recipe called for butter.

I didn't have any. It was 10pm, the party was at noon the next day so... I used margarine. It was only 6 tablespoons. How much damage could happen with 6 tablespoons?

Well I think that's where I went wrong.

But still. Really? There was only margarine in the crust. Would margarine prevent the whole cake from not baking?

Well, either way... it was a major fail.

I'm a little gun shy now.... pancake flat cookies, uncooked cheesecake... I'm not on a good roll. I might have to give it some time before I try a cheesecake again. =)

4 comments:

  1. Nancy,

    First...I love cocoa coated truffles. A lot. These look great! Second...I used to make cheesecake without fail in my old kitchen. But since we moved, I can't figure out my darn oven. It's perfect on the outside, but won't set completely in the middle! Ugh. I know its the cooking time - but I hesitated to cook it longer than the 60-70 minutes it called for! And like you, I was making mine late into the night and early morning hours!!! Talk about stressful :)

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    1. Hi Sarah! Thanks for the comment! Sorry to hear yours didn't work out either! But it makes me feel a tiny bit better! Haha! Especially since you're a baking queen! I might try again but with my sister's oven...If I do, I'll be sure to post how it goes- good or bad! In the meantime, let me know if you figure this out!
      Nancy

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  2. The cocoa truffles look amazing! I have to try this recipe! I've never made a baked cheesecake so I have no idea what might went wrong because I always make it with crashed digestive biscuits and butter and it's super easy!

    Have a lovely week :)

    Maria

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    1. Hi Maria! I modified the truffles recipe to make it less rich! Check back tomorrow for the post!

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