Babes, What’s for Dessert: Gluten Free Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Sauce in Mason Jars

There are few things in the world that I enjoy more than the Golden Girls.  The Husfriend can attest to (and is befuddled) as to how I can never tire of watching my favorite foursome.  They were having senior sex in the city long before there was Sex in the City.

As an homage to my favorite ladies, we’re making cheesecake.  Our first foray into cheesecake-making turned out pretty good.  We used a gluten free almond tart crust that was decent.

However, the crust wasn’t crusty or graham crackery enough so we gave it another go.

All of the ingredient quantities will yield 20 half pint cheesecake jars.

This recipe was tweaked for a gluten free graham cracker crust.

• 1 2/3 cups gluten free bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/3 teaspoons freshly ground cinnamon (it makes a diff)
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 5 ¼ tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
• 2 ¼ tablespoons cold water
• 2 ¼ tablespoons honey
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325°.

Whisk together the cold water, honey and vanilla.  Set aside.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixer.

Then mix in the butter until it’s fully incorporated.

Then add the honey mixture until all is doughy.  If the dough is too dry, add a little more cold water, a teaspoon at a time.

Next, press the dough onto the bottom of each jar for the crust.  To get the same amount of crust into each jar, I used my 1/4 cup measuring cup as a mold then cut each piece in half.

Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool.

I begrudgingly omitted the mascarpone from this recipe for the filling as I already had a gigantic 3-lb brick of cream cheese to use up:

• 3 lbs cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs, room temperature

In a large stand mixer, cream everything together except for the eggs which are to be added one by one at the end until all is combined.

Then pour the filling into each cooled jar, leaving some room for sauce.  I did just under ½ cup of filling for each jar.

Place all of the jars on a large heavy duty baking sheet. Place baking sheet in oven then fill the baking sheet to the brim with water. Bake for half an hour.

Transfer the jars to a baking rack.

Time for the salted caramel sauce…

I’ve used this recipe twice now and it has yielded gorgeous lusciousness each time.

• 1 ½ cups of granulated white sugar
• ½ cup of water
• 1 cup of whipping cream
• 1 ½ tablespoons of salted butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Swish and swirl often until it reaches a medium amber color.

Remove from heat, and pour in the cream. Be forewarned – it will scarily bubble.

Give it a whisk, then add in everything else.

Whisk again ’til smooth.  Let cool.

Top each cheesecake jar with the caramel sauce and let cool completely before closing with the lid and band.

Refrigerate until time to devour.  It was even tastier the next day.

This is the lone ranger that remained.  We gave the rest away to our friends.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Yesterday, Pepsi exchanged our change for some handy household items.

We opted for $59.50 in Amazon credit instead of paying the nearly 10% fee.  These Coin Stars are very smart.  It’s either take 10% of my money up front or entice me to eventually spend 100% of it.  Not bad.

With our shiny new Amazon credit, we got some cedar balls, a set of washer hoses, a hose mender to attach said hoses to an adapter that’ll convert our full-size washer/dryer to a portable unit that’ll attach to the kitchen sink, some cloth strainer bags to make homemade almond milk and a wireless switch outlet.  I would say that’s a pretty good haul for “free” money.

I’m very much looking forward to receiving our new stuff.  It’ll mean some minor and major fixes to the abode to make life a little bit easier.

I’m excited to make some homemade almond milk.  Husfriend wants to try walnut milk too.  Looks pretty easy and I’m sure it’ll be tasty so we’ll see…

The wireless switch outlet is basically a remote control for anything that you plug into it.

I like that it looks like a traditional switch that’s missing its wall.  :)

I had one for the living room lamp but it finally crapped out.  I tried replacing the battery, which was dated 2007, but it still didn’t work.  I’ve had it for over 10 years.  I’d say that’s a pretty good run for a <$20 device.

Speaking of changes, Walter the Washer had his name changed to Stan.  My friend Sara suggested it and I think it’s very fitting considering he’s moved in with Dorothy.  Hehe.  :)

When the hoses and the mender arrive, we’ll finally be able to use our washer/dryer.  We’ve been through so many incarnations as to how to connect it to a water source.  My sister‘s man, Nathan, is a general contractor and he explored some water line options for us.  The original idea was to have the washer/dryer in the dressing room opposite the bathroom where it’d share a permanent water connection with the bathroom sink.  However, it turns out that the plumping is so old that he wouldn’t have been able to connect a new water line to the current plumping without it basically crumbling to pieces.

So, the washer/dryer has now been moved into the front hallway closet.  It was a surprisingly painless move considering the doorway is 27″ wide and the washer/dryer is 27″ wide.  I removed the entire door, set it aside and summoned the Husfriend to help slide the washer/dryer into place.  The magical furniture sliders from Home Depot really helped with sliding that puppy across the carpet with ease.

At one point in time, before our time, our kitchen had a window between the refrigerator and counter.  Apparently, seismic retrofitting meant having to sacrifice the window.  To allow more light into the kitchen, they cut a hole in the opposite wall for what we now call the service window.

When you walk in the front door, the “laundry room” closet is to your right and the service window into the kitchen is to your left.  This will be the conduit for which water will travel to and fro the kitchen sink.

Note the old fashioned icebox that we believe used to drain directly into the sink.  I think it’s pretty nifty.  We now use it to house our pots and pans.

Although our kitchen is small, I think it’s laid out very well with neatly-packed-to-the-gills cabinets that extend all the way to the ceiling and numerous drawers.

I did a little of my own retrofitting and turned an old built-in ironing board cabinet in the kitchen into a spice cabinet.

I imagine it was from the days of yore when the women folk were required to live in the kitchen with one hand cooking, the other ironing and one hip supporting a tot.  :/