I must admit that after goats, my favorite people to feed are the moaners and the Oh My God-ers (I’m talking about food here people…although…). Oh and if you can find a goat that moans…WOW, you are in ultimate luck.

Call it my need for positive reinforcement , but I absolutely love when someone bites into my food and either moans, or yums, or says OMG. Just like in other areas of your life (ummm), when someone is moaning or saying Oh My God you know good things are happening and you are doing things right. I like to do things right. I call it my need to be an A student.

A couple weeks back I gave a referee I was working with a brownie. I didn’t get to see him eat it as I had to leave but the next few times I saw him he commented on how much he liked it. This is also acceptable. I happened to have some peanut butter bars with me that night and gave him one. The other ref looked sad that he didn’t get any so I gave him some too. The one ref just stuck it is his mouth and that was that. Not even a thank you. The other ref however made the foodgasm noise (if you cook for people you know the noise I am talking about). I immediately let him know that if he would just email me before he works (since I never know what ref I’m going to get) that if I had treats at home, I would bring him some the night that he worked with me.

The other ref piped up with something about what about him. I told him that he could do that as well, but that I preferred feeding C because he seemed to really enjoy my food. Now, I know that not everyone is vocal. But let me tell you something, if you want to get treats from foodies, be nice and throw them a moan or two if you really like what they make. Now don’t go faking (never girls), make sure it’s a genuine food moan. Be heard people…be loud and proud.

From time to time I ask random people, usually while I am sitting around getting my allergy shots, what they would like to see on a baking blog/in a cookbook. One woman told me that she loved cinnamon rolls and loved cheesecake and if I could somehow combine the two that she would erect a shrine in my honour.
Well, bust out the Swedish Fish (I want my shrine made of Swedish Fish) because here you go. Many, many years back a reader sent me the recipe I adapted this from. It wasn’t hers. She doesn’t even know where she got it from, so I don’t really know who to give credit to.

It really is half cinnamon roll and half cheesecake. The bottom puffs up and is bread-like. The cheesecake, is well, cheesecake. I suggest that you use a strong cinnamon (I used Red Ape) to really get the cinnamon filling flavor to shine through. And of course, it’s topped with Cream Cheese Frosting. Ummm, can you say foodgasm. MMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cinnamon Roll Batter:
2/3 cup white sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
½  cup whole milk
1 TBSP vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Cheesecake filling:

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 TBSP vanilla extract
2 TBSP flour
3 eggs

Cinnamon Filling:

1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
3 TBSP cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
milk (if needed to thin frosting)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 9-inch Springform pan.

Cinnamon Roll Batter:
Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or hand mixer) cream together the butter and sugar for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Add egg, milk,  and vanilla. Beat for another minute. Scrape down bowl.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine the sifted and creamed ingredients together. Mix on low speed until throughly combined.

Spread half of the batter onto the bottom of the Springform pan. It will be sticky and thick so spray your hands with baking spray and press down. It will be a thin layer, but trust me it will rise up during baking.

For the Cheesecake Filling:

Using a stand mixer (and a clean bowl) fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and sugar for 2 minutes on medium-high speed.

Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Add the vanilla and flour and beat for another minute.

Pour all of the cheesecake batter on top of the cinnamon roll batter that is in the prepared pan.

Cinnamon Filling:

In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Drop spoonfuls of the cinnamon filling over the entire top of the cheesecake.

Take the rest of the base batter and drop spoonfuls over the entire top of cheesecake. Once finished, take a knife to swirl the ingredients together. This is hard to do as the batter is pretty thick, just do what you can.

Bake for about 50-55 minutes, cake will be puffy and lightly browned. Let chill for 20 minutes at room temperature and then cover and move to fridge for 4 hours. Remove cake and let it warm up to room temperature just a bit. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Using a stand mixer (and a clean bowl) with paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and beat until desired consistency is reached. If too thick, thin out with milk.

The month of love is upon us and so I thought it would be best to spread some of the wonderful knowledge obtained over the years in the locker room. Don’t panic men of the world, not spilling secrets, just helping you out on a few things (I promise).

Men are not into the details. They just don’t think this way.

If you ever watched the movie Legally Blonde there is a great scene where the lead character Elle is asking about her shoes. “Don’t stomp your little last season Prada shoes at me, honey” is what the gay guy says to her about her shoes. Turns to her straight ex and asks what kind of shoes am I wearing…he says “black”. Your husband or boyfriend may be trained by now, I mean even my husband can pick out a Coach bag (though he could not tell you if it was real or fake) but overall, men are just not paying attention.

Before you go off saying that if he loved you or heck even liked you he would notice. Yeah, not so much. In some ways this is good and you should go with it (think back to all the times you have said “this old thing” and gotten away with it). First off, if your husband/boyfriend is bad about not noticing what outfit you wore on your first date that you had 7 years ago, you should just be happy that after 7 years have gone by you are still together. Nagging on him because he didn’t remember you were wearing the red Marc Jacobs dress with the small slit down the right leg with the T-strap nude heels really doesn’t get anywhere.
And if he does remember the outfit, it’s more likely just how your boobs looked in it, than the outfit itself. But really what are you gaining? Do you love him more because you remember he was wearing a black cashmere sweater, white button down J. Crew shirt (that no doubt some ex-girlfriend bought him), and jeans?

Some may find it unromantic but I have lists. Amazon.com. Anthropologie. Tiffany’s(a girl can hope). Nordstrom’s…they all have wish lists with my name on them. This takes stress away from my husband. He appreciates it greatly. I get what I want and am therefore happy. I am happy, therefore he is happy. He has lists too. I greatly appreciate it as well.

I recently forgot this rule. I forgot that men don’t take big giant, giant, in your face everyday for over two years hints.
Case in point. I have a small love of Louis Vuitton handbags. I own a couple. I always want more in my consumer driven life. So for over two years I had what I thought was a decent sized picture of the Louis Vuitton Damier Azur Hampstead PM hanging up on my cork board which hangs over my computer. In the computer room. That we both share. Clearly he would have caught on. As a woman I would think so. As a man, no. And I should have remembered that.
When we came into some bonus money I had made a comment/joke(though truth in humor) about how he should get me my purse now.
“What purse?” What purse I thought to myself, giving him the lovely WTF look.
“The purse in the picture above my computer.”

 He stared.

“How long has that been up there?”
“Over two years.” 
“Really?”
Needless to say, I own that purse now. The hints did not work. Hints never work. Stop hinting ladies.

Women, however are good at taking hints. So when my friend R started to reminisce about a bread pudding I had made for him and his friends a few months back I knew what he really meant was, please make us some bread pudding. So I did. Though I made it in a flavor I wanted. Brown sugar with apples and a nice toffee sauce.
We all know I love bread pudding and this one is no exception. I added a little Lyle’s Golden Syrup and it added a nice caramely flavor to it. Mmmm. So very good.

 Brown Sugar-Apple Crossiant Bread Pudding with Toffee Sauce

4 large croissants or 6 small ones
1 pint heavy cream
4 egg yolks
¼ cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup apples, diced (you could probably used dried as well)
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F

Tear the croissants into pieces. Place half of them onto bottom of a prepared baking dish (buttered 8-x-x8).

Sprinkle bread evenly with ½ cup raisins and ½ cup apples.

Mix the egg yolks, brown sugar, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a bowl. Then stir in the heavy cream. Whisk until thoroughly combined.

Pour ½  the custard over the bread. Press down the bread pieces until the bread is soaked with the custard.

Place remaining bread on top of the soaked bread. Then sprinkle with remaining apples and raisins. Pour the remaining custard over and again, press down on the bread pieces until they are soaked with the custard.

You will most likely have extra custard depending on how stale your crossiants are. Don’t feel like you have to use all the custard.

Place pan into another pan that will hold a water bath. Bake the bread pudding for 45 minutes until golden on top. Cool 10 minutes and serve warm.

Toffee Sauce

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup whipping cream

Stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Add cream and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve over bread pudding warm.

First off, Happy Groundhog Day (go six more weeks of Winter)! If you are a loyal CCbP reader than you know today is my favorite holiday. For cute Groundhog Day cupcakes, go here.

Ebay, like Amazon.com is evil. Evil because you can find just about anything on that site. And I often do. The thing I seem to search for the most though is clothing. And not just clothing, Anthropologie clothing. For months I had been stalking a skirt that I wanted for years (yes, I wear skirts…dresses too, want proof…go here). It was never in my size at the store and when it finally was, I was flat broke. Sigh.

Finally, a few days ago, there it was. In my size and from a seller with good feedback. I jockey back and forth with someone who apparently wanted to skirt as much as I did, but in the end, I won (was there ever any doubt). And the brown skirt all covered in different colored bows will be mine!

And though a rare find on Ebay is nice, a rare find in a person is even better. In this case a goat. I know, a goat is not a person. It is to me. See, that is what I call the people I find who will eat pretty much anything I throw their way. And when you can find a true goat, one that eats ANYTHING you throw your way…that boys and girls is a rare find.

Nothing makes someone who bakes/cooks more happy than finding someone who will eat whatever you make. No, there’s nuts in there comments. No, I don’t really do coconut. No, I don’t like white chocolate. Just…thanks. Thanks for making me food. Ahhhh, so very, very nice and very, very rare.

This here cake is the result of me having a true goat again. You eat key lime. Sure. You eat raspberries. Sure. You want cream cheese frosting (though really, who says no to that). Sure. Sure is a good thing to tell a girl who wants to bake.

My raspberries were less than flavorful on this one, mostly because it isn’t the time of year. So I did throw in a little extra raspberry puree between each layer of cake to try and give it a little more flavor. Fairly straightforward cake. I used the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe and just took out the vanilla and replaced it for key lime juice. And before one more person asks, why I use self rising flour in the recipe…because that is what they used. Simple as that.

Graham Cracker Cream Cheese Frosting Covered Key Lime Cake with Raspberry Mascarpone Mousse Filling
Key Lime Cake

1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
4 TBSP key lime juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 6 (4 ½ -inch diameter) spring form pans with parchment paper. And spray with baking spray (or grease and flour).

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.

Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and key lime juice.

With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Equally distribute batter among pans, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 23-27 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Adapted from More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey’s Home Kitchen

Raspberry Mascarpone Mousse:

2 eggs, separated
4 TBSP sugar
4 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
5 ounces heavy cream
2 tsp. powdered gelatin + 2 TBS water
1/3 cup raspberry puree (sees removed)

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, stir and let sit to bloom.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the mascarpone with the sugar, add egg yolks and whisk until well incorporated.

Heat the gelatin for about 10 seconds in the microwave and quickly whisk it in the mascarpone batter.

Add the raspberry puree.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, fold into the mascarpone mixture. Whip the heavy cream to medium stiff peaks, and fold into the mascarpone.

Adapted from Tartlette

Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup key lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 cups powdered sugar (depending on the consistency you are going for)

Beat together the cream cheese and butter, about 2 minutes. Add key lime juice and vanilla while mixer is on low until fully incorporated.
Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach desired consistency.

To assemble: Cake, mousse, cake, mousse, cake. Frost the heck out of it. Cover with crushed graham cracker pieces if desired.