Irish Cream Pie

In my last post, S'mores Cheesecake, I told you that for a family get-together, I made two desserts. Well, S'mores Cheesecake was one of them. The other is today's topic:  Irish Cream Pie, courtesy of good ol' Betty Crocker.

The ingredients say you can use pecans or walnuts. I used pecans, because they're my husband's favorite. Regarding the Irish liqueur, I used Bailey's.

Usually, when I prepare a recipe, I deviate from the recipe at least once. I pretty much stuck with Betty on this one the whole way through, until the very end. In the recipe, it says to top the pie with grated chocolate. I did this, but I also sprinkled pecan bits on top. Trust me, it didn't take anything away from the recipe.

I don't know why so many of my pictures turn out yellow.

Personally, I didn't care for the pie. It wasn't that I did anything wrong making it, I just didn't like the flavor of the Irish liqueur. My husband's opinion was that I had put too much liqueur in, and that it was just a little too strong. But everyone else at the party said it was perfect. So it would be up to you, if you choose to try this one, whether to put less or the same amount of Irish liqueur in.

It turned out lovely, regardless.

In conclusion, I suppose this goes down as a Success. Just because I didn't like it personally doesn't mean it didn't go over well collectively. If I decide to make this recipe again, I'll probably put less Bailey's in.

S'mores Cheesecake

My family decided to have a chili dinner, all the relatives on my dad's side getting together. I was pronounced the Dessert Maker. I decided to make two things, but I will only talk about one in this post. We'll save the other for next time. :D

The dessert I will discuss today is Pillsbury's delectable S'mores Cheesecake. How could it not be good? S'mores are everything delicious. Made into a cheesecake, it becomes pretty much the epitome of perfection.

Now, the reason I chose to make this and the other dessert I made for the family get-together is because my dad told me I needed to make things that used up the giant bag of marshmallows in the pantry. I chose this one because it has marshmallow creme in it. Lo and behold...marshmallow creme does NOT contain marshmallows! I did find ONE recipe for marshmallow creme that you could make with marshmallows but it was on a site I'd never been to before and had no reviews, so since I was making the dessert for a party, I wanted to be sure it would be good. So I was forced to use store-bought. Of course, I used Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme, in its new shatterproof jar! (Still seven ounces.)

If you've read any of my blogs, then you know that it's impossible for me to get through a recipe without messing up at least one thing. With this one, I decided to go ahead and get it out of the way in the beginning. The recipe calls for the crust to be pressed into the bottom of the pan, but I guess I didn't read that, because I pressed it into the bottom, but also around the edge of the pan. Then I was wondering why the crust was so thin. Once I realized what I had done, which was - of course - after it had begun to bake, and was too late, I felt very stupid. It didn't end up affecting the taste at all, but I still felt stupid.

Despite the recipe saying that the cheesecake needed 55 minutes in the oven, I found that it was done after only twenty or so minutes. Actually, it was a little over-done...

Yikes.

It wasn't drastic, but it was enough to make me say, "Damn." I know the picture makes it look like hell but it wasn't really burnt at all. Everything was fine because even though the cheesecake looked ugly, it got covered by a delicious chocolatey coating!

In my post entitled Cheesecake Brownies, I lamented my inability to properly melt chocolate. Well, I finally succeeded! I didn't use a double boiler; I used a plain old saucepan. I put in the chocolate chips and the whipping cream, and I stirred constantly. I don't know if it was the constant stirring or the whipping cream that did the trick, but my chocolate melted nice and evenly, rather than turning into the chunky, carmelized nastiness that it had been in the past.

Voila!

In the recipe picture, you'll note that the chocolate coating had a perfect, flat surface. Mine definitely looks homemade, but let me tell you this:  it was good as hell!

Not as beautiful as Pillsbury's, but just as tasty.

The cheesecake tasted great. In my opinion, it didn't have much of a distinct "s'mores" flavor, but it was delicious nonetheless. Maybe in the future I would put a little more marshmallow creme in? Just an idea.

In conclusion, this definitely goes on the list of Successes. A make-again? You bet.