A little Kitchen Chemistry

....Been studying like crazy for my Chemistry test on Friday. We are never assigned any homework or problems to do, so it has been hard to assess if I really understand anything  in such a manner that I can apply it to a test situation.

Decided to take it into my own hands (always good). Did all the odd problems at the end of the chapters (because I can check my answers in the back of the book). The good part? Actually, I made a lot of errors. But I kept redoing each one until I got the answer in the back.
And I didn't erase my original mistaken one, I circled the point at which I made an error and went wrong. This way I can also review my common mistakes. One big mistake I found was transcribing numbers incorrectly from one step to the next. So I will be extra careful about that on the test. Picked up Reid after Drumline and we had Johnny's New York Pizza. This is my favorite down here in the ATL, by far. Just not a fan of Chicago style, sorry. Too thick and gooey.

I cannot eat dairy products, (I get my pizza cheeseless), but a few weeks ago, Kroger had cream cheese on sale, AND buy one get one free. Well who could pass that up? I see so many good looking recipes that call for cream cheese, and Reid and Guy both love cheesecake. So I got two blocks of cream cheese for like $1.99. I know, right??

Sure enough a recipe came along...on my facebook sidebar no less!! Clicked on it, saved it, made it!

Mini Cheesecakes
2 8oz blocks cream cheese, softened
1cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
about 16 vanilla wafers, or other plain type cookie that is small and round
     (I bought a new box of vanilla wafers for this and it was a waste of money)

Beat cream cheese and sugar till fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla, stir by hand. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with mixer till fluffy and to me it just looked pretty. That's not scientific is it?

Put a vanilla wafer inside each cup of the muffin tin. I used the paper liners, I think you kinda need to, but you could test it and see if they were fine if you didn't use paper liners. Fill each cup almost all the way to the top. They don't puff over. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Take them out. The centers will fall and de-puff rapidly. Don't worry, that makes the well for the topping. Cool, then add topping in the well, like cherry or strawberry pie filling. Pop in refrig until nice and cool and firm like cheesecake.

I decided to test and see if cocoa could be added to make chocolate ones. Sometimes chocolate, being acidic, will ruin a recipe if it wasn't intended to be added. That's why we add baking soda, not powder to choc chip cookies! So I added about 1/4c cocoa to about a fourth of the batter. It got stiffer because of the added dry ingredient, but they baked just the same. Oh! I added about two tablespoons more sugar to the batter fourth to counteract the lack of sugar in the cocoa powder. You could totally layer these and make black and white ones, maybe using an Oreo on the bottom. I used an oatmeal cookie on the bottom of my chocolate ones. Don't worry if the cookie doesn't cover the whole bottom. I added chocolate chips to the top of mine instead of the strawberries.

Reid declared that he...um, never mind...it was a sexual food comment. LOL gotta love teenage boys.
But that is high marks for these. So darn simple. Will definitely add to my most used file, especially whenever I see cream cheese on sale!