- The Old Town sections of the capital cities (Tallinn, Estonia; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Riga, Latvia–have you heard of ANY of these cities?? I hadn’t!! I get an F for geography guys). Anyway, ALL these cities had narrow cobblestone streets, red roofs, and buildings established in the 1300s around every corner. Like seriously, if feels like every random shop or restaurant has walls made of stone that were laid in 1478. It was WILD. Eric says that the streets and buildings are so quintessential that they seem fake. But they are not, they are real, and they are 600 years old. (I keep looking around the suburb I live in, knocking on the walls of my house, thinking, will ANY of this be standing in 600 years? 300? 100?? NOPE!) Anyway, we were in Lithuania, and I asked the ice cream guy what the purple swirled ice cream was, and he said “Cheese and Black Currant,” and I was like OH HECK NO, no thank you, I don’t want chunks of cheddar in my ice cream. But then I tried it and realized the flavor was black currant CHEESECAKE. I got a double scoop and died and went to heaven, it was so good. (Why is black currant not a thing here?) But before we get into it, I want to tell you a few things I learned from our trip to the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.) We spent 2 weeks there with my parents (the kids stayed home with Eric’s parents, bless their ever loving hearts!!) This was such a dreamy vacation, I already want to go back. I’m thinking about writing an entire post about the Baltics, where we stayed, what we did, and especially the food, would you be interested in hearing those details and seeing more photos? Please let me know in the comments! Remember when people used to comment on blogs, just to say hi? Those were the good ol days :) I’m a real person over here, I promise. I read every comment that comes through. Seriously, let me know if you want a Baltics post. I would have so much fun writing it for you.
- Every public bathroom I visited was clean and stocked.
- It was very enlightening and hard to learn about the painful reality of Russian occupation that has dotted their history. Russia occupied these 3 countries until 1918, they had a brief “interwar period” of independence that lasted until 1940 when the Soviets invaded, then the Germans invaded, then the Soviets were back in control until they declared their independence in 1991. Now we all have to wait to see what happens in Ukraine, to see if history repeats itself again in these Baltic states. I feel grateful I had the chance to visit in what feels like (perhaps?) yet another brief interwar period. Like if you want to go…maybe you should go now?
- One of our hotels in Estonia had a delicious breakfast buffet. I came downstairs in the morning to find my mother eating a giant bowl of chocolate ice cream with sprinkles (no cheese chunks in sight) GUYS, CLEARLY WE ARE MISSING SOMETHING. I’m about to write a letter to every hotel. Waffle machines aren’t gonna cut it anymore. Come on America. You guys, I’ve been obsessed with browned butter from the beginning. These Nutella Stuffed Browned Butter Blondies were one of my first viral recipes, the one that put my blog on the map, so to speak (the other one was this Cilantro Lime Cucumber Salad…balance, right? 😂) You’ll sometimes hear no bake cheesecakes referred to as a Philadelphia cheesecake. It has nothing to do with the city, and everything to do with the cream cheese brand and the easy cheesecake they popularized years ago. There are many different versions nowadays, but almost all no bake cheesecakes have no eggs, no gelatin, and of course, no baking required for the filling itself. This is not a sponsored post, but I will make a plug for the Philadelphia brand, they really do make the best cream cheese on the market, hands down. Browned butter just has this magical ability to bring out other flavors, kind of like salt. This cheesecake is not a butter-flavored cheesecake, I promise. It just tastes like the cheesecake-iest of cheesecakes, in the best way! When you brown butter, the milk in the butter solidifies to create little “browned bits.” So at the end, you have smooth golden melted butterfat, and little brown bits at the bottom that look like sand. ALL the flavor in browned butter is contained in these little browned bits; the golden liquid is tasty fat, but doesn’t hold the flavor. Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram There is one tiny drawback to browning the butter with extra milk, if you are a texture person: the browned butter bits are large and in charge when made this way, and your cheesecake will have flecks in it that mess with the perfectly smooth texture. It doesn’t bother me at all, and I prefer having the extra flavor, but I just want you going in with eyes wide open. I love a good thick crust for my no bake cheesecake, so we are using 2 full packages of graham crackers for the crust, 18 full sheets. This is about 9.7 ounces, or 2 and 1/2 cups when crushed. Plus a lil sugar and salt. If you don’t have a food processor, you can add your grahams to a ziplock and smash them with a rolling pin. Weighing your graham cracker crumbs (or Biscoff or Nilla wafer crumbs) is the best way to see how much you have. Crumbs tend to settle, just like flour, so if you do need to measure in cups, make sure you spoon and level. Add butter and stir. You can add the melted butter right into the food processor if you like. Are you going to get mad at me when I tell you that this no bake cheesecake has a baked crust? Honestly I wish there was another name for no bake cheesecakes. I don’t like unbaked graham cracker crusts. Ever, in any situation. They are mushy from the start. Who wants that? I mean, I get that it’s summer and you don’t want to turn your oven on, but dang, if you’re going to the trouble of making a whole cheesecake, take the 10 minutes to bake the crust and get it done right. But that’s just me. If you are anti-oven in the summer, by all means, press that mushy wet graham cracker crust into your pan and pop it in the freezer for a few minutes. Voila, a soggy bottom for your beautiful cheesecake. (I’m sorry, I just can’t stop judging you.) While you are here in crust land, do yourself a favor and crush an entire 3rd package of graham crackers, and add a little sugar salt and butter. Bake it on a cookie sheet right next to your actual crust. Then break it up into chunks and save it for sprinkling on the top of your final cheesecake. I LOVE graham cracker crust, and feel like there is never enough, so I just add more on top. (I started doing this years ago for my Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake and haven’t been able to quit since.) I just love the ultra crunchy touch this adds. Ok ok now on to the actual cheesecake filling making. It’s so easy guys. If you want to be a little extra, make this extra-browns butter I’m about to show you; if not, you really can skip the butter and milk step entirely. I wish I had taken a picture of the cold butter in the pan with the milk, so you could see it better. But this is a photo of adding milk to melted butter in a pan. We are going to heat it over medium heat, whisking almost constantly, until it bubbles, then foams over completely, then browns. You will know it has turned brown when you see this golden swirl of browned bits lifting up through the foam as you stir. The mixture will smell nutty and very fragrant. It is the exact same process as browning butter, but with the extra milk added, more brown bits are formed, and they tend to form in bigger crystals, hence the constant whisking. We want lots of browned bits, but we want to keep them small so they don’t overwhelm the smooth texture of the cheesecake. You can see in this photo how dark I let the browned bits get. Maybe a little too dark to be honest, but it is not burned at all. It tasted phenomenal. Let this browned butter sit out at room temperature while you mix up the cheesecake filling. Start by whipping your cream. Beat heavy whipping cream for about 2-4 minutes, depending on how powerful your beater is, until it is pretty stiff. We don’t need this cream to be super smooth, you can beat until it starts to look a little shaggy. We want STIFF whipped cream, as this is the main stabilizer for our cheesecake, the element that keeps it from being runny. Scrape the whipped cream into another bowl and put it directly in the refrigerator to keep it chilled. In the same bowl, no need to clean it out, beat your SOFTENED cream cheese with the whisk attachment, if you have one. Scrape the sides and keep going a few minutes until it is smooth and fluffy. Once the cream cheese is whipped, you can add the rest of the ingredients: sugar, sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Beat it all together. Once your browned butter is COMPLETELY ROOM TEMPERATURE, you can add it to the cream cheese mixture. Every time I made this I got impatient and stuck my browned butter in the fridge, but you have to be careful, because you don’t want it to start to solidify. If it does, you need to stir or even melt it again in the microwave until it is completely liquid again. We don’t want any butter chunks in our cheesecake. After you’ve mixed in the browned butter, use a rubber spatula to fold in the chilled whipped cream. Don’t over mix, you don’t want to deflate the cream. Pour the mixture into your completely cooled graham cracker crust and smooth out the top. Are we just loving these flecks of brown butter?? So much flavor. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours, 6 hours is better, 12 hours overnight is the best. The longer you chill it, the more stable the cheesecake will be. It will be easier to slice and will have a better texture. Honestly, lukewarm cheesecake is what they serve in hell, I think. Once your cheesecake is chilled, make the Fresh Strawberry Topping. This is my favorite strawberry topping, the same one I use for my Strawberry Shortcake. Instead of just macerating strawberries with sugar, we are cooking jam in a little cornstarch to thicken it, then combining with the fresh berries. It makes the BEST syrupy sauce. And don’t forget to top with that extra graham crumble you made! It’s seriously the best! No bake cheesecake is a GREAT make ahead dessert because it can last for so long. Make it a day or two in advance, then refrigerate til you’re ready to serve (just be sure not to add any topping or whipped cream garnish until you serve, and DON’T sneak a slice; once you cut into it, the crust starts to sog.) Don’t leave your no bake cheesecake out on the counter too long, hopefully no more than an hour or two. It will start to get soft and the dairy can begin to spoil if left out too long, and not only that, it’s my opinion that cheesecake should only be eaten when ice cold. Remember, warm cheesecake is what they eat in hell ;) To thaw, transfer the sealed pan to the refrigerator and let it chill overnight or for several hours. Do not let it thaw at room temperature. It could make the cheesecake runny and mess with the smooth texture.
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Pig Pickin Cake (Sunshine Cake) » mandarin orange cake with pineapple whipped cream! Homemade Vanilla Pudding Recipe » smooth, creamy, and incredible vanilla flavor The Best Tres Leches Cake » fluffy white sheet cake poked with holes and soaked in a mix of three milks, it’s irresistibly moist! How to make Strawberry Shortcake » just like my Grandma Georgia made, and despite the baked shortbread, this will always be a spring and summer dessert in my mind!! Lemon Lush Dessert » cream cheese layer, lemon pudding layer, whipped cream layer – what more could you ask for? Peppermint Ice Cream (Nana’s Famous Homemade Recipe) » a tradition for our family every 4th of July and Christmas! No Bake Frozen Peanut Butter Pie with Hot Fudge » the classic combo of PB & chocolate in a smooth, creamy, and COLD pie Dreamy Creamy Orange Milkshake from The Slow Roasted Italian
