Copycat Cheesecake Factory Honey Wheat Bread

I have a confession to make.

Every time I go to a restaurant that has complimentary bread (of any kind), I totally fill up on bread.

So much so, that I usually only eat a couple of bites of my entrée. It's bad. Bad, but so, so good.

We've all been to The Cheesecake Factory, right?

They serve complimentary bread baskets for you to munch on while you wait. The white bread is delicious, but have you tried the brown bread??? 

It's life-changing. Apparently it's called "honey wheat black (or black) bread," but I just call it the brown bread. I've wanted to try a recipe for this bread for a long time, but I could never find a good one that seemed reliable.

So I looked through different recipes to create my own. I gathered ideas from various recipes.

Friends, this bread is a home run. It tastes EXACTLY like the bread from the restaurant. EXACTLY LIKE IT!! Get out your mixers, because you're going to want to make this right now.

Copycat Cheesecake Factory Honey Wheat Bread

Yields: 5-6 small loaves

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp instant dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter, softened
3 tbsp molasses
1/4 cup honey
oats for decoration

1. In a medium bowl, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Stir until combined and let it sit for 5 minutes to activate.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 2 cups bread flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir to combine.

3. Pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and add the butter, molasses, and honey. Stir to roughly combine, then attach the dough hook. Add more flour if needed (the dough should not stick to the sides or bottom of the bowl). Knead on medium-low speed for 8-10 minutes, or until it passes the fingerprint test (meaning, when you poke it with your finger, it should bounce back slowly.)

4. Let dough rise in a covered greased bowl in a warm place until doubled. Mine took about 30 minutes because I put it in a 100 degree oven.

5. Divide the dough and form it into the desired shapes. Spray the tops with water and sprinkle oats, if desired. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover the loaves with it, then let them rise until doubled.

6. Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes, depending on the shape. Loaves are done when they sound hollow when you tap on them.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bread

Yup. That's right. Pumpkin. Cheesecake. Bread. It has the best of all worlds.

I mixed this recipe up a little bit. This is my favorite pumpkin bread recipe. I love it! I found this recipe years ago. It's called "Pumpkin Pie Bread." This bread tastes like pumpkin pie, people. Pumpkin pie. In bread form.

Also, I'm kind of obsessed with cheesecake swirls, so I added one of those. Delish.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bread

Yields: 2 loaves (either 8x4 or 9x5-- I did one of each!)

Pumpkin Bread Batter

3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup veggie oil (or canola oil)
4 eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin purée
1/2 cup water

Cheesecake Swirl

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Grease two loaf pans (8x4 or 9x5 will work perfectly).

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

3. Beat together in a large bowl (a stand mixer works well) the sugar with the veggie oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each egg. Add the pumpkin.

4. Add the dry ingredients slowly alternating with the water. Mix until combined.

5. Beat together the cheesecake swirl ingredients until smooth.

6. Pour a little more than half the batter between the two pans. Spread all of the cheesecake swirl batter in the two pans. Try to spread it out evenly, extending almost to the edges. Pour the remaining pumpkin batter on top and completely cover up the cheesecake swirl.

7. Bake for 55-70 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

8. Let the bread cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then remove them and let them finish cooling on a cooling rack. Store in plastic wrap.

Happy autumn! 

Interested in more pumpkin recipes? Click the pictures!

 

Brownie Cheesecake

Austin loves brownies. I love cheesecake. We had to marry the two. 

(NOTE: Austin also likes cheesecake, and I also like brownies. Don't worry.) 

Brownie Cheesecake

Yields: 1 9" cheesecake

1 (18.4 oz) package brownie mix (I used Pillsbury Family Size Fudge Brownie Mix)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
5 eggs (divided use)
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Note: The oil, water, and 2 of the eggs are for the brownie mix. If you're using a different brownie mix, you may need different amounts or ingredients to make your brownie mix.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Spray the bottom of a 9" springform pan with cooking spray.

2. Prepare brownie mix with veggie oil, water, and 2 eggs. Pour the batter into the springform pan and bake for 35 minutes or until set.

3. Beat cream cheese with a mixer until fluffy. Add three eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each egg. Beat in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan on top of the brownie.

4. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees fahrenheit. Bake the cheesecake for 50 minutes or until set (to check doneness-- tap the side of the springform pan with a wooden spoon. If the entire thing jiggles a lot, it needs a little more time. The center should jiggle when the cheesecake it done, but it shouldn't seem "liquidy.")

5. To prevent cracking: When the cheesecake is done, crack the oven open for 5-10 minutes with the oven turned off before taking the cheesecake out.

6. Refrigerate the cheesecake until set and cooled (at least 4 hours).

Lemon Cheesecake with White Chocolate Ganache

Saturdays are beautiful days. I love waking up and feeling absolutely free for a whole day. Now that it's finally spring here in Provo, we can actually do fun outside-y stuff. Yesterday I woke up and went for a hike up rock canyon. It's an amazing view of most of the valley (did I mention I got a horrible sunburn?)

After one of the busiest weeks of my life, I finally had the Saturday that I needed. This week I planned the Relief Society birthday party, for which I baked 216 cupcakes and made enough buttercream frosting for all of those.

But it was so fun to plan!

Balloons are the happiest things on earth. 

Anyway, when I got home after getting all sunburned at Rock Canyon, I was really craving more lemon. I had a bunch of cream cheese to use, so...

Lemon Cheesecake 

1 9-inch cheesecake

1 1/2 cups gingersnaps, smashed to smithereens

3 tbsp sugar

5 tbsp butter, melted

4-5 8 oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

1. Mix the crushed gingersnaps, sugar, and butter together until all the gingersnaps are moistened (I used my pastry cutter). Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan and bake at 325 for 10 minutes. 

2. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat between each. Add the sour cream and beat. Add the vanilla, lemon juice, and zest. Beat. 

3. Pour it into the crust and bake for approximately 1 hour at 325 degrees fahrenheit. Bake with a pan of water on a rack below the cheesecake. 

4. When it's done, it will be jiggly all over and more jiggly in the middle. Don't remove it from the oven-- crack the oven and turn it off. Keep it open for about 10 minutes, then close for about 30. Do this twice. 

5. Refrigerate for about 4 hours. 

Doesn't it look so pretty?

White Chocolate Ganache

1 cup white chocolate 

1/2 cup heavy cream

Microwave heavy cream until it's really hot and pour it on top of the white chocolate. Whisk it until all the chocolate is melted. Pour it on top of the lemon cheesecake. 

Top with whipped cream and lemon wedges!

Oreo Cheesecake Bites and The Bachelor

I've never watched The Bachelor before this season. When I saw that this season's bachelor, Sean, is from Arlington, Texas, I couldn't resist watching. That's about twenty minutes from my house!

That is one fine man. 

So my apartment floor was having a Bachelor party tonight because it was Monday night and we all share a guilty pleasure for watching The Bachelor. 

I figured I should bring something sweet for us to eat while we watch. 

I bought Oreos a few weeks ago, but instead of the normal Double Stuff ones, I bought chocolate-filled Oreos, which are not nearly as good as the Double Stuff ones. I decided to use them in a recipe since they weren't that great on their own. 

I found a recipe for Oreo Cheesecake Bites. I sort of used the recipe on the link provided, but I definitely made some modifications. They were AMAZING. They were even tasty enough to get me through all the stupidity Tierra put us through tonight. 

Oreo Cheesecake Bites

Yields: about 50 cheesecake bites (It makes one 9x13 pan, so you can cut them however small or large you want to. I wanted them to go a long way)

Ingredients:

20 Oreos

4 tbsp butter, melted

3 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

16 Oreos

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper, leaving the parchment large enough to go up two of the sides  to allow for easier removal.

3. Smash 20 Oreos to smithereens in a gallon ziplock. Add the melted butter and squish it all around. Make sure all of the Oreos have some of the butter on them so they stick together. Press the mixture into the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

4. Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until it's light and fluffy. Add the sugar and make sure it's completely incorporated. Add the sour cream, vanilla, and salt. 

5. Add the eggs and scrape down the bowl. Make sure everything is completely mixed with no chunks. 

6. Crush the remaining 16 Oreos (not completely smashed, just broken up into pieces). Gently stir them into the cream cheese mixture.

7. Pour this onto the Oreo crust. Bake for 40 minutes, or until it's slightly jiggly in the center. 

8. Put it in the fridge for at least two hours. Run a knife around the edge and use the parchment paper to remove it from the pan. Cut into desired size (I did about 1.5x1.5). Make sure to wipe the knife on a paper towel between each cut. 

9. Melt the white chocolate and add a little bit of vegetable oil to smooth it out. Put it into a sandwich baggie and cut the very teeny tip off of the corner. Drizzle the chocolate on each square in a decorative pattern. Let the chocolate harden in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

I'm still rooting for Sarah. Here's to Tierra being kicked off next week!