Mocha Cheesecake Brownie Bars

Brownies, cheesecake, coffee.. all are pretty great on their own, but together? Amazing. Treats that come in bar form are always fun, especially to bring to a pool party. These cute little handheld treats are great for parties because they are effortless to make and easy to eat.

 This is great recipe for those picky dessert eaters- they can get 3 delicious flavors in one bite. Brownie crusts definitely beats out graham cracker ones any day. It's also a great make-ahead dessert, as it needs to set and get chilly in the fridge overnight.

It was a nice change to bake dessert since the past few weeks of my life have consisted of bountiful quantities of breads. Don't get me wrong,  I am really enjoying scratch-made artisan breads but sweets still win.

S'mores Cheesecake + Katsuya Review

My best friend Roxy's birthday was on Friday and she is beyond obsessed with cheesecake. I'd say a cheesecake-aholic, she just LOVES it. So why not make her a cheesecake for her birthday? Not just any cheesecake however, this is a s'mores cheesecake. I am proud to say I came up with this creation on my own. I have seen other recipes for "s'mores" cheesecakes, but putting some marshmallows on top of a chocolate cheesecake just doesn't cut it and really doesn't capture the essence of what s'mores are! The best s'mores are the ones with the charred gooey marshmallows on top. I thought the best way to recreate that was to top my chocolate nutella cheesecake with a piped italian meringue and then brulée it.
 This felt like a good representation of a s'mores to me; graham cracker on the bottom, chocolate in the middle, and slightly burnt marshmallows on top.

As I said, it was her birthday and a group of us went to Katsuya in Hollywood for dinner. It was my first time there so I thought I would review it and give my opinion of the meal.

Mango-Lime Cheesecake Bars

I have wanted to make this cheesecake for a while now. I am proud to say this is my own recipe. I did use guidelines from another fruit cheesecake(which I've made and it is delish) just for measurements, but the concept was completely my own. My inspiration for this mango lime cheesecake came from an episode of the cooking show "Mexican Made Easy", where Marcela Valladolid was making galaxy fruit pops and talking about how in Mexico, there are street carts that sold fresh mangoes with chili and lime to squeeze on top. I remembered after that when I was in high school I would go to this local Hispanic supermarket with my grandpa sometimes and they sold these fruit lollipops covered in chili and lime.

So I got to thinking and came up with this cheesecake. Cheesecake is an amazing blank canvas for many different flavor combinations, and because the flavors of mango, lime and chili pair so nicely together I might as well give it a try. Also, it has been excessively hot in Southern California (where I live) the past few days, a cold fresh fruit cheesecake sounded very refreshing. So here it is, my mango-lime cheesecake bars with a graham cracker chili crust.