Easy Cinnamon Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts, and it only takes about 10 minutes to prep for baking! It’s a comfort food from my mother’s kitchen, and I’m sure you’ll find it delicious. Happy baking! Continue reading
celebrate
Lavender Chamomile Tea Cookies
Perfect with brunch or afternoon tea, these little cookies offer lovely and surprising flavors. Because they are crisp (perfect for dunking), they will keep well in a sealed storage container on your counter or in the freezer. Let’s get started! Continue reading
Vintage Post: King Crab Rolls
Happy Holidays, Everyone!
King Crab Rolls just might be my very favorite special occasion food. While King Crab is expensive, it is spectacularly delicious. Alaskan King Crab is a wild caught (never farmed) product, and is sustainably harvested. I feel much better about splurging on a pricey ingredient if I know my purchase is not harming the environment.
Everything about this recipe, from the decadent seafood to the homemade rolls toasted with real butter, shouts “Special Day!” Whatever you happen to be celebrating, King Crab Rolls will make your mealtime grand!
Ingredients (makes 4 large rolls)
1 1/2 pounds shell-on King Crab legs
1/2 pound bay scallops (optional)
1 teaspoon seafood seasoning blend
1/4 cup real mayonnaise
1/4 cup finely chopped celery, including leaves
1 loaf of fresh Simple Bread
1/4 cup butter
Directions
Step 1) Drop crab legs into a large pot of boiling water seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon of seafood seasoning blend. Leave crab legs in boiling water for 3 minutes if they were fresh, or 10 minutes if they were frozen (typical).
Step 2) Drain crab legs and crack with a hand held nutcracker or clean 
pliers. Extract meat using a small fork (a fondue fork works well, if you have one). King Crab legs are spiny – hold them with a potholder to avoid hurting yourself! Be patient with this step. It may take 30 minutes or so to extract all of the meat. Your effort will be worthwhile!
Step 3) If using bay scallops, sauté them in a saucepan for 3 – 5 minutes until they are a milky white color. Drain.
Step 4) Gently combine crab meat, scallops, mayonnaise, celery, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon seafood seasoning blend. Try not to break up the crab meat. Refrigerate.
Step 5) Cut four generous, 2 inch thick slices from your loaf of Simple Bread. Then, cut through the middle of each slice from the top, stopping 1 inch from the bottom crust. Your slices should open in narrow “V” shapes, as shown above.
Step 6) Place 1/4 cup of butter on a baking pan with low sides, and melt by placing in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes. Watch carefully, and remove pan when butter is just melted!
Step 7) Place each of your four “V” shaped bread rolls down on the melted butter, then flip over so that each of the two outsides are buttered. Return pan to oven to toast your bread rolls for five minutes.
Step 8) Remove your toasted bread rolls, and carefully fill with equal quantities of your seafood mixture. Serve right away, while the rolls are warm and the seafood is cold.
Enjoy your special occasion!
Have a delicious Cinco de Mayo!
Sneaky Leprechaun Milkshake
This vintage post was popular the first time around, and Crowded Earth Kitchen has several hundred new readers (Welcome!) since last St. Patrick’s Day, so I’m sharing this again. Enjoy!
“Mom? Can we just stop at the drive-thru and get a (green) shake?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“Still No.”
“Pleeaassee? I’ll do laundry.”
I’ll admit, this is where the devil on my shoulder told me that I would be a fool not to cave in just this once, and so what if the child glows in the dark for the next two weeks. The fact is, the children in my house generate approximately 817 loads of laundry every week, and the offer of complaint-free laundry labor was enticing (that they will end up helping anyway, albeit under duress, is beside the point). Then I had an idea…
“Still no. But if you help with laundry cheerfully, I’ll make you a (green) shake.”
“Deal.”
Here’s what I came up with. The kids LOVED it! Peppermint extract is strong… a little bit can make, well, just about anything taste like peppermint. 
Each serving (approximately 10 ounces) contains 113 calories, 4 grams of fat, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, and 5 grams of protein. Each serving also packs an impressive 60% of the Recommended Daily Allowance for Vitamin A, and 20% of the RDA for calcium. Compare that to the drive-thru green shake… I dare you.
Ingredients (makes 4 servings)
1 cup frozen chopped spinach (Ha! Ha ha ha!)
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 cup “real” vanilla ice cream, without any weird ingredients (I found a supermarket brand that was made from milk, cream, sugar, egg yolk, natural vanilla extract, and nothing else)
1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract (Very strong! You may even want to try a bit less than 1 teaspoon.)
Dark chocolate shavings (Optional)
Directions
Step 1) Add spinach and about half of the skim milk to a blender. Pulse for a few seconds to thoroughly chop spinach into tiny “peppermint” size pieces.
Step 2) Add remaining milk to blender and blend for a minute or a longer until the mixture is very creamy (almost butter-like) and increases in volume. The photo, left, shows only spinach and milk – it really does get creamy!
Step 3) Add peppermint extract and ice cream to blender. For best results, add ice cream in several tiny scoops rather than one large scoop. Blend until all ingredients are combined.
Step 4) Mixture will be tasty now, but thin. For best results, pour shake mixture into a shallow container and place in the back of your freezer for one hour. After an hour, scoop shake mixture into serving glasses (I used half pint jelly jars). Sprinkle with chocolate shavings, if desired.
Step 5) Try not to laugh as your loved ones unwittingly eat their spinach. 
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Irish Cream Icebox Cake
I don’t recall exactly how the topic came up, but recently my mother and I got to talking about something called “Icebox Cake.” I was completely unfamiliar, but she knew exactly what this was. To me, it sounded like an interesting concept… layers of chocolate chip cookies and creamy filling, refrigerated overnight until the whole thing took on a cake-like texture. I filed the idea away for a future rainy day.
Mom did better than that, and actually created an icebox cake for us to try. It was fantastic! This cool, creamy indulgence has definitely earned a spot in the dessert rotation here at Crowded Earth Kitchen. I hope you enjoy Irish Cream Icebox Cake as much as we did!
Ingredients (Serves 12 – 16)
24 ounces of “Chips Ahoy” cookies (packages vary in size; check the weight)
3/4 cup (about 12 ounces) Marscarpone cheese
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Irish cream liqueur
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon almond extract
Garnishes such as powdered sugar, whipped cream, and/or miniature chocolates
Directions
Step 1) Combine Marscarpone cheese, heavy cream, Irish cream liqueur, sugar, cocoa powder, and almond extract. Blend with an electric mixer for one minute, then beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
Step 2) Cover the bottom of a large Springform pan (or other round pan, approximately 12″ in diameter) with Chips Ahoy cookies. Do not overlap the cookies. Instead, break a few cookies to fill in the spaces.
Step 3) Top the cookies with a thin layer of cream (about 1/4 of your total filling mixture).
Step 4) Repeat layers of cookies and cream filling until the cream filling is used up. The top layer should be cream.
Step 5) Cover your Irish Cream Icebox Cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Don’t rush this – the cake really does need to rest in the fridge for about 12 hours!
Step 6) If using a Springform pan, run a butter knife around the edge before removing the side of the pan. Immediately before slicing and serving, garnish as desired.
YUM!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
Here’s a new spin on an old favorite, a truffle that tastes like a peanut butter cup! While some truffle recipes are a bit fussy, these Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles are super easy. You can use either creamy or chunky peanut butter, depending upon the texture you prefer. You could even substitute the peanut butter for something a little fancier, like almond butter or crème de marron. Be creative and have fun!
Ingredients (Makes about 36 truffles)
4 ounces semi sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup peanut butter Continue reading
Chocolate Orange Cremes
Candy making doesn’t need to be complicated. Today’s recipe is super easy! You don’t need any special equipment – no candy thermometers, tempering surfaces, molds, tubes, brushes… none of that. If you have a pot and a mini muffin tin, you have all of the equipment you need to get started.
If you want – but this is entirely optional – you could use an inexpensive plastic candy mold instead of (or in addition to) a mini muffin tin. The molds shown here were purchased for about $2 each at a local craft store. I purchased them simply to test them alongside a mini muffin tin, and I can confirm – the mini muffin tin works just as well. If anything, the muffin tin is a bit easier to work with, because the larger size is easier to coat evenly with chocolate.
I spent about an hour making the plate of Chocolate Orange Cremes shown above. They are delicious – it was time well spent!
Ingredients (Makes about 30 candies)
1/2 pound of bulk chocolate coating (milk or dark, such as Ambrosia brand) -AND/OR- Wilton brand Candy Melts (any color)
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Directions
Step 1) Melt chocolate. You can microwave chocolate coating to melt, just make sure to stop the microwave every 30 seconds to stir. I melted my milk chocolate coating in a double boiler, and melted a small quantity of orange-colored Wilton Candy Melts (to drizzle over candies) in the microwave. It really doesn’t matter how you melt your chocolate, just stir frequently and don’t burn it.
Step 2) Fill mini muffin tins or candy molds about 1/3 full with melted chocolate, and use a small spoon (a baby spoon works well) to push the chocolate up the sides of the tin/mold to coat the surfaces. Don’t worry, this is easy.
Step 3) Place coated tins/molds in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes.
Step 4) While tins are cooling, beat together cream cheese and orange juice concentrate with an electric mixer. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and beat until smooth.
Step 5) Remove tins from the refrigerator. Use a small spoon to fill each chocolate lined tin about 3/4 full with orange creme filling. Important – do not spread the orange creme filling right up to the top of the mold, especially along the edges! Just fill the molds 3/4 full. Return the tin/mold to the refrigerator for another 5 – 10 minutes.
Step 6) Remove tins from the refrigerator and spoon melted chocolate evenly over the top of the filling. It’s important to form a “chocolate seal” between the top and the side edges.
Step 7) Return filled molds to the refrigerator until chocolate is firm and looks a bit cloudy. To remove cooled Chocolate Orange Cremes from their molds/tins, simply turn the molds upside down and wiggle the candies a bit. They’ll pop right out!
Step 8) If desired, melt a small quantity (about 1/4 cup) of candy melts in an accent color (I used orange). Pour melted chocolate into a small zip-lock bag and cut a very small corner off of the bag. Use this homemade pastry bag to decorate your Chocolate Orange Cremes!
Enjoy!
Grandpa John’s Flourless Chocolate Cake
Grandpa John likes chocolate cake. No, Grandpa John loves chocolate cake… but Grandpa John is watching his carbs. No worries. Here at Crowded Earth Kitchen, we love a good baking challenge!
This cake was inspired by the Chocolate Heaven Cake posted at ditchthecarbs.com. Suspecting that Grandpa John’s sweet tooth was just a bit stronger, I used dark chocolate chips with a lower cacao content to cut the bitter undertones. I also added a bit of almond extract and peanut butter, because we love peanut butter around here!
Ingredients
10 oz bag of dark chocolate chips (53% cacao)
3/4 cup real butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
6 eggs
6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar or other sweetener (I used stevia crystals)
1/4 cup “real” creamy peanut butter (not hydrogenated)
Directions
Step 1) Melt chocolate chips and butter together in a large skillet over low heat (you’ll be glad you used a LARGE skillet later). Stir constantly to avoid burning the chocolate.
Step 2) Once chocolate is melted and mixture is completely smooth, remove skillet from heat and set aside.
Step 5) In a separate bowl, whip together eggs, whipping cream, and sweetener on high for 5 minutes. The mixture will fluff up very slightly and will turn a pretty lemon yellow color.
Step 5) After the egg mixture is beaten, your chocolate mixture will have cooled enough to proceed. Stir your extracts into the chocolate mixture.
Step 6) Take your time here… slowly fold the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture. Add about 1/4 of the egg mixture at a time, carefully whisking everything together before adding more egg mixture. Aren’t you glad you used your larger skillet now?
Step 7) Once your batter is thoroughly mixed (you shouldn’t see any streaks of egg), carefully pour your mixture into a well greased baking dish. I’m using a 9 inch Springform pan, but a pie pan ought to work just as well.
Step 8) Spoon peanut butter into a snack size bag and snip off one corner of the bag as shown above. Use this homemade pastry bag to draw a design with peanut butter onto your chocolate cake batter.
Step 9) Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until set.
This cake slices easiest when very cold. Enjoy!
No-Fuss Jambalaya
Jambalaya originated in the bayou region of the American South, a one-pot creation offered up by Cajun cooks with whatever ingredients they had on hand. Creole cooks in the New Orleans region add tomatoes to this dish, which add color and depth of flavor. This is peasant food, and like all peasant food, it’s as flexible as it is delicious. Don’t be precious about the ingredients… if you don’t have something handy, do as a good Cajun cook would, and substitute!
Whether you’re cooking up a pot of Jambalaya as part of a Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras celebration, or just looking for a way to use up some leftover meat on a random Tuesday night, you’re sure to love this dish!
Ingredients (Makes 1 big ol’ pot, plenty for friends!)
1 tablespoon butter
2 stalks of celery, sliced 1/3 inch thick
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced green pepper
2 cups diced tomatoes and juice (fresh or canned)
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups uncooked rice
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (more if desired)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried, crushed thyme
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon file powder (optional; also called sassafras “gumbo” powder)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (or red cayenne pepper)
2 cups cooked, sliced sausage (Andouille sausage or whatever you prefer)
2 cups cooked chicken (shredded, cubed, whatever you prefer)
2 cups cooked shrimp
Directions
Step 1) In a large pot, saute celery, garlic, and onion in butter until onion is soft.
Step 2) Add green pepper, tomatoes, chicken broth, rice, Tabasco, Worcestershire, and spices. Stir. Bring to a boil.
Step 3) Reduce heat and cover the pot. Gently simmer until liquid is almost all absorbed and rice is cooked, approximately 15 – 20 minutes. CHECK the rice after 10 minutes, and again after 20 minutes. If liquid is mostly absorbed before rice is cooked, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of additional broth or water. Jambalaya is “mostly dry” when finished – the rice should be a little bit saucy, but not drowning in liquid like soup.
Step 4) When rice is tender, gently fold in the sausage, chicken, and shrimp. Serve Jambalaya hot and enjoy with friends!
