Baileys & Cherry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust 

• Oreo - 3 Cups 
• Butter (melted) - 1/4 cup plus one tbsp

Filling

• Cream Cheese (room temperature) - 4 cups
• Eggs (room temperature) - 4 large eggs
• Granulated Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Icing Sugar - 1/4 cup 
• Corn Starch or All Purpose Flour - 1 tbsp
• Bailey's or any Irish Cream - 1/3 cup 
• Mixed or Vanilla Extract

Cherry Topping

• Cherries - 3 cups (pits removed) you can do this with fruit
• Sugar - 1/2 cup (feel free to add less or more depending on tartness of fruit)
• Lemon Zest - 1 tsp
• Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
• Salt - pinch
• Water - 1/2 cup

Method:

Topping

1. Add cherries, sugar, water, salt, lemon zest and juice into a sauce pan.
2. Cook until liquid has been reduced and cherry topping is a thick consistency.
3. Allow to cool down and keep in mind it will thicken up a little more as it cools down.
4. Place into a bowl and refrigerate until you are ready to top off your cake.

Crust and Cake

1. Preheat oven to 325 F
2. Crush oreos until they look like crumbs. I used a food processor for this. You may also put into a large ziploc and use a rolling pin to crush them.
3. Add melted butter into a bowl with crushed oreo, mix and press into the entire bottom of your 9 inch spring form pan
4. Bake in oven for 8 to 10 mins then allow to cool completely
5. You can choose to do this in a food processor, stand mixer or hand held mixer.
   Begin with the room temperature cream cheese and beat until fluffy (approx 3 mins)
6. Add sugar and mix until it is combined. Add eggs one at a time and add cornstarch or flour, and Baileys with the last egg mix until fully incorporated
7. At this point your crust should be completely cooled. Begin to boil a kettle of  water for your water bath.
8. Tightly wrap your spring form pan with aluminum foil to prevent leakage. Not all pans require this but I like to be safe than sorry
9. Strain your cheesecake batter into your cool baked crust to remove any lumps
10. Take a spoon and knock the side of your cheesecake pan a dozen times (this helps remove any air bubbles.
11. Place your filled cake pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan
12. Bake for 1 hour, edges should appear set and center will have a slight jiggle. Turn oven off and leave the oven door slightly cracked open so cheesecake can rest in the oven for an additional hour
13. Remove cheesecake from the oven and take out of water bath to continue cooling down for another hour or two
14. Once Cheesecake is completely cooled, place into the refrigerator overnight
15. Top with cherries, slice, serve and enjoy!

DIY Coconut Bowls

Ingredients:

• Coconut

Tools:

• Saw (wood or hacksaw)
• Knife or peeler
• Sandpaper
• Vegetable or Canola oil
• Work gloves
• Marker (eg Sharpie)
• Paper towel

Method:

1. Scrape off the husk as much as possible with a knife or vegetable peeler. The latter is a safer option, but always remember to use these tools safely.
2. When most of the husk is removed, switch to sandpaper to smooth out the exterior of the shell.
3. Draw a line around the coconut where you would like to cut. One way to get this line even is to spin the coconut on its end while holding the marker steady.
4. At this point, get your saw and start cutting, take as many safety measures as needed to feel safe. The shell is very hard and get started by sawing the saw towards yourself until a groove is established. Once the flesh is reached, rotate the coconut to continue the cut without further cutting the flesh of the coconut.
5. Once the cut is complete around the circumference, separate the two halves. If you want to capture the water inside, do this over a bowl.
6. Use a small knife or spoon to pry the flesh from the interior of shell. Then scrape out excess inner coconut skin with a spoon
7. Leave to dry for 10 minutes, then sand them inside and out.
8. Some of our research showed that if you sand the outer ends of the shell it will sometimes stand on it's own. It takes a long time to sand down the point at the top of the coconut but the bottom halves stood with only a little bit of sanding. We opted to stabilize the top bowls with ramekins and finish them later. The bottoms shells stood on their own perfectly.
9. Use a paper towel to apply oil to the interior and exterior of the shell. Repeat this process 5 times.
10. Add some delicious looking food and take amazing pictures.

Trinidad Sweet Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking Powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups shredded coconut (not dried- use fresh or frozen)
• 2/3 cup raisins or dried cranberries
• 2/3 cup mixed/glazed fruit
• 1/2 cup halved maraschino cherries (red, green or both)
• 1 tbsp vanilla Extract
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter (melted)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Glaze:

• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp sugar

Method:

• Preheat oven to 325 F
• Grease two loaf pans
• Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt
• In a separate bowl mix together shredded coconut, raisins, mixed fruit and cherries
• To the melted butter, add, milk, sugar, beaten egg and vanilla
• Combine milk mixture and fruits
• Add sifted dry ingredients into the fruit combination and mix until all of the flour is fully incorporated
• Pour into two greased loaf pans and garnish top with a little extra cherries and mixed fruit
• Bake for 55 to 60 mins or until tester comes out clean
• Mix up glaze and pour half of each mixture over each loaf
• Return bread to oven for 3 to 4 mins and turn oven off
• Remove bread from oven and sprinkle a little granulated sugar over top to give a frosted appearance
• Allow to cool in pan for at least 40 mins
• Turn over and allow to cool on a wire rack

If you are using salted butter please omit the salt from the recipe.

Sweetbread is one of those things I grew up with in Trinidad. Funny story, one time I was watching Iron Chef on cable, I was probably around 15 years old. I remember the host revealing the secret ingredient as "sweetbread" then uncovered a table full of what the rest of the world know as this sweetbread. My goodness I remember feeling so confused, I thought to myself I would never eat that stuff and in typical trini/caribbean form thinking to myself they need to come here to see what real sweetbread is. Fast forward to my second culinary school in Niagara and we had a class where we had to cook these sweetbread. Definitely not for me. I learned to make sweetbread mostly because my late father loved it but I was tired of seeing him eat some from a couple bakeries that I found to be quite dry. This recipe is quite moist and delicious. I hope you are all well. Enjoy!

Batter in pans and ready for the oven

Sweetbread after baking and adding sugar

Sweetbread on cooling rack