Today’s recipe is a little complicated, but oh-so-worth it!! Oreo Cheesecake!

Ingredients

Crust:

Baking spray with flour

28 chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Oreo)

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Cheesecake:

3 (8-oz. each) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. kosher salt

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

16 chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Oreo) chopped (about 2 cups), plus more for garnish

Sweetened whipped cream, for serving

Directions

Prepare pan:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap the exterior of a 9-inch springform pan with aluminum foil (see Note). Lightly coat pan with baking spray, and line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Lightly coat parchment paper with baking spray, and set aside.

Prepare Crust:

Put cookies in a Ziploc bag and using a rolling pin, crush the cookies.

Add butter to cookie crumbs:

Add melted butter and salt; mix with crumbs.

Press Crust into pan, and bake:

Spoon crumb mixture into prepared pan. Press firmly into bottom and about 1 1/2 to 2 inches up sides of pan. Bake in preheated oven until set and fragrant, about 12 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack, about 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

Meanwhile, prepare the Cheesecake:

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and salt with a mixer on medium speed until smooth, light, and fluffy, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add eggs and vanilla:

With mixer on low speed, add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Beat in vanilla until combined.

Add sour cream and flour:

Add sour cream and flour; beat on medium-low speed until combined, 15 to 30 seconds.

Add cookies:

Fold in chopped cookies until evenly distributed.

Add batter to pan:

Pour batter into cooled crust, and spread into an even layer. Place springform pan in a large roasting pan, and pour hot water into roasting pan until it comes halfway up sides of springform pan.

Bake cheesecake:

Bake at 325°F until edges are set and top appears mostly dry but cheesecake still jiggles as a whole, 50 to 55 minutes.

Cool cheesecake in oven:

Turn off oven, and crack oven door open; allow Cheesecake to cool in oven 1 hour. Remove from oven, and let cool at room temperature on a wire rack 1 hour.

Refrigerate cheesecake:

Refrigerate, uncovered, until set, at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours. (Loosely cover with aluminum foil only when completely cool to prevent condensation buildup.) Run a small offset spatula around edges, and remove Cheesecake from pan.

Top with whipped cream, and garnish with additional chopped cookies.

ENJOY!

Arizona uses ‘Ditat Deus’ as its official motto. A state motto is a phrase chosen to represent important values or ideas. Arizona’s motto has remained the same since territorial days in 1863. The motto appears on Arizona’s state seal. You see it on government documents, official letterhead, and state buildings. The seal shows mountains, a reservoir, irrigated fields, and a miner with the motto above. Arizona law recognizes this as the official state motto. The phrase survived all the changes to the seal design over the years. It stayed constant while other elements of the seal were added or removed.

The English translation is God Enriches. The Latin word ‘ditat’ means ‘enriches’ or ‘makes rich.’ The word ‘Deus’ means ‘God.’ Put them together and you get a simple two-word phrase. Some scholars think the phrase comes from Genesis 14:23 in the Vulgate Bible. Abraham refuses help from the king of Sodom and relies on God’s blessings instead. The exact Latin words don’t appear in scripture, but the concept matches. The broader meaning points to Arizona’s natural wealth. Copper mines, agriculture in the desert, and natural resources like the Grand Canyon all fit the idea. Many residents see the motto as recognition of blessings that made Arizona prosperous despite harsh conditions.

Richard Cunningham McCormick created ‘Ditat Deus’ in 1863 for the Arizona territorial seal. President Abraham Lincoln had appointed McCormick as Secretary of Arizona Territory that same year. McCormick was a writer and journalist who brought a printing press with him when he moved west.

The motto appeared on the territorial seal from the very beginning. The seal showed miners, mountains, and mining tools along with the Latin phrase. Critics made fun of the first design and said it looked like a baking soda label. The seal changed many times over the years, with elements added and removed, but the motto stayed the same.

Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912. The territorial motto became the official state motto that year. The phrase had already been in use for 49 years by the time Arizona gained statehood.

The next entry this month is Butter Pecan Cake!

Ingredients

2 cups Pecan Halves, chopped into small bits

3 Tbsp butter, diced into 3 pieces

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup milk

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup butter, nearly at room temperature

12 oz cream cheese, nearly at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup Pecan Halves, chopped, for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven, prepare cake pans: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and line 3 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper, butter parchment paper and lightly dust pans with flour shaking out excess. Set pans aside.

Saute pecans in butter: Melt 3 Tbsp butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once melted add pecans and cook until slightly browned and fragrant, tossing frequently, about 4 minutes. Pour and spread onto a sheet of parchment paper or a baking sheet. Set aside and allow to cool.

Mix liquids together: stir together buttermilk and milk, set aside.

Whisk dry ingredients: In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt for 20 seconds, set aside. 

Cream butter and sugar, then eggs and vanilla: In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip together butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time adding in vanilla with last egg. 

Mix in flour alternating with milk mixture: Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed just until combined, then add in 1/2 of the buttermilk mixture and mix just until combined then repeat process once more. Finish by mixing in remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix just until nearly combined. 

Fold in pecans: Remove bowl from stand mixer and fold in pecans (fold batter until there’s no longer streaks in the batter). Divide batter evenly among prepared baking pans. 

Bake until set: Bake in preheated oven 23 – 28 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in cake pans 10 minutes.  

Let cake cool completely on wire rack: Run a knife around edges of cake to ensure they are loosened and invert onto wire racks to cool completely. Once cool frost with cream cheese frosting and top with pecans. 

For the cream cheese frosting: In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in vanilla and powdered sugar and blend until smooth and fluffy.

ENJOY!

Today would have been Georgia’s birthday.  I miss her posts early in the morning.  I am comforted that she passed peacefully in her sleep.  Her absence is still felt and is still painful but hopefully the pain will fade and only the memories of this wonderful mother will remain.

Happy Birthday Georgia!

Don’t eat too much!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Sego Lily is a sacred plant in Native American legend. Sego is a Shoshonean word thought to mean “edible bulb.” The flower thrives in desert-like conditions. It blooms in May and June. There are about seven variations of the plant in Utah. The white flower species displays three large, waxy petals. Each petal, on the inner surface, shows a distinctive crescent-shaped, purplish marking with a fringe of bright yellow hairs. The plant’s leaves, withered by flowering time, appear grass-like and sparse.

Sego Lilies, are the Utah State flower. This plant is responsible for staving the hunger of the Mormon pioneers many times. They retained their color to some extent after cooking, thus making a colorful dish. The pioneers of 1848–49 ate the sego lily bulb to help ward off starvation. Some bulbs were as large as walnuts, but most were the size of marbles. The bulbs were best fresh-cooked because they turned thick and ropey when cool.

By the 1880s those early settlers who had eaten the bulb felt it set them apart from newcomers to the Salt Lake Valley. The old-timers thought that to have suffered through the hard times of the early Utah colonizing showed their tenacity and righteousness. For those pioneers it became a badge of virtue to have been a “bulbeater.”

On March 18, 1911, the Utah State Legislature designated the sego lily as the state flower. Early in 1913 the LDS General Relief Society Board chose it as their official emblem. During the First World War the flower became a symbol of peace. Karl E. Fordham’s poem “Sego Lily” portrayed the plant as an image of home, mercy, freedom, and peace for the men and women of Utah who were serving on the battlefields of Europe.

Few Utahns today have eaten a sego lily bulb. Instead, people harvest the flower by taking pictures of it in its harsh, Utah desert setting. Others just look at the flowers and store memories of the sego lily’s beauty of springtime blossoms. Today, the delicate bloom nourishes the senses and the soul.

SOURCE: HISTORYTOGO.UTAH.GOV

The final offering in our Back-to-School series is Pumpkin Spice Cookies!

Ingredients

1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 and ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon divided

1 and ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice divided

½ cup unsalted butter melted and allowed to cool

¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar divided

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

6 Tablespoons pumpkin puree

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cooled melted butter, brown sugar, and ½ cup of the granulated sugar until smooth, then whisk in the vanilla and pumpkin puree until smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spatula until everything is combined. Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

Combine the remaining ½ cup of granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Stir or whisk together until uniform in color. Set aside.

Roll the dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon in size. Roll each of the dough balls generously in the sugar/cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice mixture and place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes or until the edges are just set. Cookies will look very soft and under-baked. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store leftovers covered at room temperature, up to 5 days. Baked cookies freeze well, up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator or at room temperature.

ENJOY!