Halloween treat: caramel apple cheesecake

 A recipe for Caramel Apple Crisp cheesecake bars came across my FB feed and since I love cheesecake and Jeff loves anything he can put caramel sauce on, this seemed like a winner of an idea.  I printed out the recipe and successfully made some but the recipe didn't include eggs in the cream cheese mixture so I added one and I found the results tasty but bland.  The rest of the family came back for seconds so it was a success but since I only get dessert once every 2 weeks, I want something more.

So, here's my plan.  I'm going to take my favorite cheesecake recipe and use half the cheesecake filling amount since I'm doing an 8x8 pan not the 9x13 it calls for.  I liked the crust in the above trial which added rolled oats to the graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar that is traditional for the cheesecake crust.  (We used GF graham crackers, of course.)   To add the spicy apple part, in addition to the peeled & sliced apple, I'm going to sprinkle the cheesecake with fresh ground cinnamon before putting the apples on. And maybe a bit of ground ginger too. And then there's the crumbly topping from the above recipe which needed way more than the recipe called for: The original recipe called  for 1/4 C AP flour (GF), 1/4 C.  rolled oats, 1/4 C brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 TB coconut oil  (I subbed butter since Jeff doesn't like coconut oil).  I'm going to add some ground cloves.  If this doesn't cover well enough, I'll make more because I like the crumbly bits all over the top.  

Bake at 350F for 40 minutes, a bit longer if you want totally soft apples.  Cool for 15 minutes.  I'm not sure if the refrigerating overnight is actually required.  But add caramel sauce when serving.  We used Trader Joe's GF no-corn sauce and it was quite tasty.

 

Studio Sabbatical or reading instead of doing

 Thanks to my back having it's every 13 year super spasm, I am not doing much in the studio.  For the last 2 months.  *sigh*  Once I got over the worst of the pain, however, I was thankful the library sent me a book on alcohol inks.  It's a fairly popular book so I had a several month wait for it and had forgotten about it.  Having it pop to the top of my hold list gave me a lovely distraction.

Pigments of the Imagination is a guide to learning the medium with a series of explorations.  I sometimes think of this type of book as an art cookbook as I'm one of those people who actually reads cookbooks all the way through to find ideas & recipes.  I bought an inexpensive set of inks to try it out and will get the more expensive brand name inks if I decide to pursue it.

One of the things I do when browsing books like this is write the things I particularly want to try on a post it that goes on the inside cover.  (My cookbooks have the recipes & page number written on the book pages rather than a post it because I like annotating them.)

I filled 2 post its before deciding I should try things out first.

Part of the appeal here is that the inks are very concentrated, like the Derwent Inktense pencils/bars, and work on both paper and fabric.  So the experimenting will begin soon, once I'm over the flu/sinus infection that is adding to my wonderful medical life right now.  Hoping you are in much better health & also enjoying making art.

Annual prepping for power outages

 Our first windy storm that causes power outages has hit so fall/winter is officially here.  And while it's easy to find a list of things to do to prep (heat, light, amusements), my 2 most important things aren't usually on those lists.

First up, making a latte without my electric espresso machine.  Because if I don't have my morning latte, well, the whole day is not going to be pretty.  Thus my excitement this last week when a stovetop espresso pot came up on the local Buy Nothing list.  And I won!   

Of course, once you've got the espresso, there's frothing the milk which is the point of the battery powered whisk on the left.

The second essential thing for me is a battery big enough to run my cpap overnight so I can get some sleep.  Because I am a truly cranky bear if I have no sleep and no latte.  After the last power outage, I went online and shopped for battery packs and picked the one below because it can be charged from a car (and our Prius is great for being a huge battery backup) and can also have a solar panel added.  Just in case you want to go camping.  And it has plugs for charging phones & tablets which makes it an excellent multipurpose battery.

We have the heat covered by having a coleman heater with a catalytic converter so we can use it indoors altho they do say not to use it while sleeping in case the fire goes out.  And we have lots of flashlights and candles, so light is covered.  Our stove and water heater are gas so the basic cooking and showering are covered.  We have a bookcase full of board games and lots of reading materials at all times so we are now  ready for the 2020 winter.