More Cheesecake in a Jar!

I fell in love with cheesecakes in jars from the first time I tried the recipe.  Ever since then I've come up with different variations and recipes but nothing beats the original (except perhaps the dark chocolate cheesecake in a jar which is climbing in ranks and soon to be posted!). 
After a few variations of this recipe, I've finally decided that I like it better without the crust. And besides, this cheesecake doesn't need a crust because it's already held together by the jar! (My "duh" moment)
In this variation I've left out the crust and made one batch with berry layers and another with caramel layers. 


Berry or Caramel Cheesecake in a Jar
Servings: 12 Servings (8oz. mason jars)

Prep & Cook Time: 1 hour 30minutes +refrigeration time

Ingredients:

3 -8oz packages cream cheese (at room temp)
1 1/3 cups sugar

5 large eggs (at room temp)

16 ounces sour cream (at room temp)

1/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (at room temp)

2 teaspoons lemon juice (at room temp)

1 jar strawberry or caramel topping (even better with your own homemade recipe)

Directions:

1- Prepare your jars as you would for canning mason jars. Set aside being sure they do not become contaminated

2. Preheat oven to 325F

3. Keeping your mixer on a low setting throughout the beating and mixing process, start by beating the cream cheese until light and fluffy.

4. Add the sugar a little at a time and continue beating until creamy.

5. Add one egg at a time and beat after each egg.

6. When eggs have been mixed into the cream cheese add flour, vanilla and lemon juice, mix well.

7. Add the sour cream last and beat well.

8. One jar at a time, begin layering the cheesecake batter and strawberry or caramel topping. Be sure to leave about an inch of space at the top of the jar since cheesecake does puff up when baked. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean paper towel when finished layering.

9. Place the jars in a large roasting pan and fill the pan with boiling water, careful not to splash any water into the jars. (I also placed the roasting pan on a large cookie sheet to make it easier to move around)

10. Place the roasting pan with the cheesecake jars in the oven and bake until they no longer jiggle in the middle, about 1 hour.

11. Once finished baking, turn the oven off and leave the oven door slightly ajar.

12. After 30 minutes take the pan with cheesecakes out of the oven and begin placing the lids on the jars. Be careful to use oven mitts as the jars are still hot and you need to get the tops screwed on nice and tight. You may hear the jars make a pop noise when they seal.

13. Let the jars cool on the counter for about 2 hours, and then place them in the fridge overnight.

14. Open a jar when you’re ready to eat and ENJOY! (I found them to be the best around day 3-5)

Biscuits

My first time making biscuits and unfortunately I forgot to add the baking soda which meant these were pretty flat, but still delicious! The second time around I made sure not to forget this key ingredient. Both times the bf and I ate them in one sitting with jams, so baking soda or not these biscuits are a great way to start the day. You can also add ingredients to the biscuit recipe such as green onions, bacon, or herbs. This recipe is adapted from another recipe I found, but without the green onions.
Interesting factoid, biscuits have been around for centuries, usually made dense, dry, and unsweetened. But around the 7th century AD, the  Persian empire started experimenting with the basic recipe by adding eggs, honey, spices, and cream. Have I mentioned that I'm Persian? Go Persians!
In addition, biscuits were very valuable to travelers and sailors because of it's long shelf life.

Biscuits
Recipe adapted from Baking Bites
Makes 10 biscuits
Prep and Cook Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 cup sour cream


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (optional).

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar

3. Add butter to bowl and rub into flour mixture with your fingertips until mixture resembles very coarse sand. The average piece should be about the size of a pea. 

4. Stir in sour cream until dough is moistened, then turn out on to a lightly floured surface and lightly knead until the ball comes together smoothly. Press dough out until it is 1/2-inch thick.

5. Use a 2 1/2-3 inch round cookie/biscuit cutter to cut rounds, then place on baking sheet. Dough can be gathered and rerolled once. You should get about 10 biscuits, depending on size of the biscuit cutter.

6. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until tops of biscuits are golden and sides are puffed and firm.
Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Strawberry Cheesecake in a Jar

Yes you read that right; this is a recipe for strawberry cheesecake in a jar! I’ve recently discovered that you can bake cake in a jar (go figure!) from reading someone’s comment on AllRecipes about sending home baked goods baked in jars to their husbands overseas. Seriously great idea!

I took it one step further and decided to make a layered cheesecake since you can see the different layers so well in a jar. Once I had the idea I thought about it for two days straight until I finally got a chance to try it out (I’m pretty sure strawberry cheesecakes were flying around in my dreams).

After searching around the internet for recipes of cheesecake in a jar I only found one that I really liked and unfortunately my browser would kick me off the website because it was infected! Bummer. So I did the next best thing I combined advice from different websites on baking cakes in jars, and then I found a cheesecake recipe I wanted to try. I found this Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake recipe on Food.com, and just omitted the steps for the crust. I kept the crust nice and simple using a common ration: 1.5 cups crushed graham crackers: 2 tbsp butter. Finally, to give the cheesecake a pretty layered look, I used two jars of strawberry topping that you normally find in the ice cream isle at the grocery store. This is definitely a semi-homemade recipe, but you can of course make it a full homemade treat by just making a simple strawberry (or any fruit) sauce.

On a side note, cheesecake originated in Greece, but “cheese molds” have been dated back to 2,000 B.C!!

Strawberry Cheesecake in a Jar

Servings: 12 Servings (8oz. mason jars)

Prep & Cook Time: 1 hour 30minutes +refrigeration time

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 ½ cups crushed graham crackers

3 tbsp melted butter

Filling:

3 -8oz packages cream cheese (at room temp)

1 1/3 cups sugar

5 large eggs (at room temp)

16 ounces sour cream (at room temp)

1/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (at room temp)

2 teaspoons lemon juice (at room temp)

Strawberry Topping:

2 jars strawberry topping

Directions:

1- Prepare your jars as you would for canning mason jars. Set aside being sure they do not become contaminated

2- Preheat oven to 325F

3- In a medium bowl add the melted butter to the crushed graham crackers. Mix and set aside.

4- Keeping your mixer on a low setting throughout the beating and mixing process, start by beating the cream cheese until light and fluffy.

5- Add the sugar a little at a time and continue beating until creamy.

6- Add one egg at a time and beat after each egg.

7- When eggs have been mixed into the cream cheese add flour, vanilla and lemon juice, mix well.

8- Add the sour cream last and beat well.

9- One jar at a time, begin layering the crust, cheesecake filling, and strawberry topping. I chose to do from the bottom up: crust, cheesecake, topping, crust, cheesecake, topping so you can see the layers all throughout. I did about 3-4 tablespoons of the crust, 4-5 tablespoons of cheesecake filling, and 2-3 tablespoons of strawberry topping for each jar, split into two different layers. But you can do any amount you want for each layer, just be sure to leave about an inch of space at the top of the jar since cheesecake does puff up a bit when baked. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean paper towel when finished layering.

10-Place the jars in a large roasting pan and fill the pan with boiling water, careful not to splash any water into the jars. (I also placed the roasting pan on a large cookie sheet to make it easier to move around)

11- Place the roasting pan with the cheesecake jars in the oven and bake until they no longer jiggle in the middle, about 1 hour.

12- Once finished baking, turn the oven off and leave the oven door slightly ajar.

13- After 30 minutes take the pan with cheesecakes out of the oven and begin placing the lids on the jars. Be careful to use oven mitts as the jars are still hot and you need to get the tops screwed on nice and tight. You may hear the jars make a pop noise when they seal.

14- Let the jars cool on the counter for about 2 hours, and then place them in the fridge overnight.

15- Open a jar when you’re ready to eat and ENJOY!

Chelow

Rice, you are my weakness! Maybe it's because white rice is such a staple of Persian food, or maybe it’s because growing up I was sure to have white rice at least 5 of the 7 days every week. As much as I read how great brown rice is for you, I just cannot pull myself away from white rice. Especially long grain basmati rice made the Persian way: steamed aka “Chelow”. You have never had steamed rice!!?? Well it’s a good thing I learned my mom’s recipe, because you are in for a treat with this new method of cooking rice. Once you learn how to make “Chelow” you can move onto making “Polow” which is rice that has been cooked the same way as “Chelow” but has either meat, vegetables, beans, or fruit in alternating layers with the rice. But we’ll learn more about that later.

Persian style steamed rice gives you soft loose grains, and the best part is the “Tahdig” that forms at the bottom. Tahdig is the rice at the bottom of the pot that becomes crunchy, but many Iranians place a layer of "Lavash" bread on the bottom of the pot as well. Both forms of tahdig are delicious, and of course the more butter you use to fry that first layer of rice ( or lavash bread) the better it will be. Yes I said it, deal with it. You can find lavash bread at Persian stores, international food stores, and sometimes even local organic stores carry a version of lavash. Another variation of “Chelow” is using saffron. Yes, I know saffron is quite expensive at $500 to $5000 a pound depending on the quality, but if you really want to indulge just buy a few strands from your local market, like Whole Foods. A few strands can go a long way.

For the below recipe though I left the lavash bread out, but I did use saffron.

Chelow ( Steamed Rice)

Servings: 4

Prep & Cook Time: About 1 hour 30 min.

Ingredients:

2 cups long grain basmati rice

Water

1 tbs. salt

½- ¼ tsp. ground saffron, dissolved in 3-4 tbs. hot water. ( optional)

½ cup butter

Directions:

1- In a large pot wash the rice several times in water gently with your hand, pouring out

the water after each wash.

2- Once washed, pour water over the rice. Instead of using a measuring cup here is an easier way to measure the water. Put the tip of your index finger on the rice in the pot. Pour in water until it reaches the crease in your finger where is meets your palm.

3- Add the salt and a dollop of the butter.

4- Bring to boil, and boil for about 6-10 minutes, or until the grains are soft. Stir the rice once or twice to make sure the grains are not sticking.

5- Drain rice in a colander and rinse with 1 or 2 cups of cold water to stop the rice from continuing to cook.

6- Using the same pot, on medium melt the remaining butter and add the saffron water if you are using it. Let cook for about 30 seconds and then pour the contents into a small bowl leaving about 2 tbs. of the butter/saffron mixture in the pot. If you are not using saffron water then leave 1 tbsp of the melted butter in the pot.

7- Taking one spatula full at a time of the drained rice, place the rice back in the pot forming it into a pyramid. This helps with the steaming process and forming the Tahdig at the bottom.

8- Place the lid on the pot and cook on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes.

9- Reduce heat to medium-low, remove the lid and pour the remaining saffron water/butter mixture ( or just the melted butter) over the rice.

10- Place a couple layers of paper towels, or a clean dish towel ( I prefer the paper towels) over the pot and then put on the lid, making sure the lid fits tightly so that no steam is released.

11- Cook for about 45-50 minutes.

12- Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes so that the Tahdig can separate from the pot.

13- To serve, you can either just scoop out of the pot onto each plate leaving the Tahdig intact till the end. Or you can invert the pot onto a plate so that it looks like a cake with the Tahdig on top. In Iranian homes you will most likely see the rice served on a large platter with about a spatula full of rice on top which has been mixed with saffron water to give it that golden yellow/orange color.

Yogurt

I love Yogurt. Hands down, my favorite food of all time and you will mostly likely be seeing it in many of the posts in this blog. Yogurt has been eaten for more than 5,000 years by people all over the world, and is so versatile that it can be used in hundreds of recipes. Now I’m not talking about those fruity, sugary yogurts. I’m talking about thick, creamy, sour, almost Greek-like plain yogurt.

With the economy the way it is, I can’t afford to buy those $5 little tubs of Greek yogurt, so instead I apply a technique that my mother used when she would make yogurt. Though I do not make my own yogurt, the technique can still be used on most tubs of plain yogurt. I buy those big tubs of Mountain High Yoghurt that you can find in your local Safeway, Lucky’s, or Costco (which has the best deal). I go through a lot a week, so I usually get the biggest size.

You may have heard of strained yogurt, in which the yogurt is strained through a cloth or paper to remove the whey, which is the watery substance that separates from the yogurt. This technique is pretty much the same thing, except I take it to a whole new easy level.

Next time you open a new tub of yogurt, instead of mixing it or removing a spoonful from the middle, take your spoonfuls only from one side of the tub, creating a well for the whey to gather. Each day open the tub of yogurt and gently tip out the whey that has gathered in the well. If you continue to use the tub of yogurt throughout the week, just be sure to only spoon out yogurt from one side. Remember to drain the whey everyday, sometimes even a couple of times a day. Eventually what remains is a delicious thick, sour, Greek-like consistency yogurt that can be used in many recipes or even used as a replacement for sour cream. My favorite is to eat the thick yogurt is to use it as a dip with some Fritos Scoops.

This is one container I've been working on. Looks gross with all that whey huh? And this is about 5 days into the draining process! Ya, there is a lot of whey in yogurt.

After the whey is poured out.

I'll keep the part in between my fingers in tact for a few more days, while I continue to drain the whey everyday. The final result will be so thick and creamy you'll be surprised you ever mixed the yogurt and whey.

Traveling by way of Food

I love food, and I love traveling. In a perfect world, I would be traveling the world, immersing myself into each culture, and enjoying all the different local flavors. Unfortunately, I don’t have the resources to travel for the rest of my life… at least not yet. So until that day, I can at least enjoy one of the most basic foundations of every culture: food.

Tired of cooking the same foods over and over again, one day I purchased a Persian cookbook to try and get in touch with my own roots through traditional Persian cuisines. I was able to experience a part of Iranian culture with each new recipe I tried. My hunger grew from there. Now I search for foods and ingredients from all over the world and bring them to you here to try out for yourself. If you’re an adventurous eater and want to experience cultures like you’ve never experienced them before, then let your palate do the traveling!!