Strawberry Rhubarb Basque Cheesecake

Posted on by Amanda Leave a comment

The sourdough has been tucked away for the summer but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any baking happening. I love a cheesecake for a summer dessert, especially a minimal fuss basque-style cheesecake. The oven can go on in advance of an event, the basque cheesecake can sit in the fridge for a couple days, and it can be taken out to get to room temperature before serving (and to make fridge space if hosting). Basque cheesecakes are lighter and fluffier than their New York style sister, don’t have any graham cracker crusting, and end up with a caramelized exterior.

Ingredients:

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam – from Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, feel free to substitute with other jams you may have

Eggs – These give the cheesecake the fluffy texture and rise in the oven.

cream cheese + sugar
add jam
don’t forget to scrape
add cream
pour into springform

Strawberry Rhubarb Basque Cheesecake

Print Recipe
A summery cheesecake that mixes together easily in one bowl.
Course Dessert
Keyword cheesecake, rhubarb, strawberry
Cook Time 1 hour

Equipment

  • 1 12" springform pan
  • parchment paper

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lbs cream cheese room temp
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup strawberry rhubarb jam
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions

  • Add cream cheese and sugar to a stand mixer and beat with the whisk or paddle attachment until smooth. Stop and wipe down the bowl and beaters as necessary.
  • While this is mixing together, line the springform pan with parchment paper to cover the entirety of the bottom and the sides. Some may protrude over the top of the pan, but that's ok! If you don't like the look, trim the top. The folds in the parchment will give the cheesecake extra texture on its caramelized sides.
  • Add jam to mixer and continue mixing. Stop and wipe down the bowl and beaters as necessary.
  • While mixer is still on, add eggs one at a time. Wait until each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Stop and wipe down the bowl and beaters as necessary.
  • Mix salt into heavy cream and pour into the mixer. Stop and wipe down the bowl and beaters as necessary.
  • Add flour and only mix about 10 seconds.
  • Turn off mixing, and gently mix about 5-10 additional stirs until flour is completely mixed.
  • Pour batter into parchment lined springform pan, tent with foil, and bake at 400F for ~40 minutes. Bake uncovered additional ~20 minutes until browned on top.
  • Remove from oven after 60 minutes. Cheesecake will have risen and look very jiggly. It will set as it cools, deflating in the center.
  • Allow to come to room temp before removing from springform pan and serving.

Try another cheesecake: Pumpkin Basque Burnt Cheesecake or another jam: Blueberry Rhubarb Jam

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Posted on by Amanda Leave a comment

Spring is rhubarb season! My usual rhubarb plug unfortunately dug up all their rhubarb so now I have to go to the grocery store for rhubarb. Last year featured a Blueberry Rhubarb Jam, but this year I’m really into the strawberries. It doesn’t feel like strawberries should quite yet be in season yet, but it seems every grocery store has them on sale.

One of my favorite uses for strawberry rhubarb jam is to swirl it into my breakfast bowl of yogurt and granola for a perfect start to the day.

Ingredients:

Rhubarb – I know there are a lot of people that don’t like rhubarb, but honestly I don’t think you can “taste” rhubarb here. It’s really just adds color and tartness to the jam.

Strawberry – I used an entire pound of strawberries for this, but feel free to reduce the recipe down for a smaller quantity. I kept the strawberries large (I only quartered them) to leave more fruit texture in the final jam.

strawberries
strawbs & rhubarb
jammy

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Print Recipe
Vibrant sweet, yet tart jam full of yummy rhubarb and strawberry.
Course Dessert, Side Dish, Snack
Keyword jam, rhubarb, strawberry

Equipment

  • heavy bottom pot

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rhubarb diced
  • 16 ounces strawberries quartered
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

  • In a heavy bottom pot, add all ingredients on medium heat and gently stir.
  • Rhubarb and strawberries will begin to cook and sugar and salt will dissolve.
  • When mixture begins to simmer and all fruits have wilted, continue simmering for 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
  • Allow mixture to reduce about half-way.
  • Allow to cool completely and transfer to storage container.

Looking for more rhubarb? Try Cinnamon Apple Rhubarb Loaf or Blackberry Rhubarb Muffins.

Cinnamon Apple Rhubarb Loaf

Posted on by Amanda Leave a comment

Goodbye summer. :’-) Apples are in season and that means fall is coming. As much as I love summer, fall might have be my favorite season. There’s a mix of sunny and cloudy days and the weather starts cooling down. I can break out my fun sweaters and fluffy coats and I can start baking whenever I want, not having to worry about how hot the kitchen will get. At dinners with friends, more red wine and darker beers come out, and desserts get a lot spicier (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, etc). This loaf is a little cakey, the tiniest bit tart, and full of cinnamon to transition you into fall.

Ingredients

Apples/Rhubarb – When baked, I think apples and rhubarb end up having a similar texture (tender but mushy), so you can only tell the difference in the loaf if you were to pick each piece out and eat them separately. The apples are a sweeter mush while the rhubarb is a more sour mush. If you don’t like rhubarb, just do all apple!

diced & sliced
wet ingredients
dry ingredients
apples, rhubarb & stray blackberries
mixed
apples, fanned

Cinnamon Apple Rhubarb Loaf

Print Recipe
The transition baking loaf to get you into fall.
Makes 2 regular 9×5 loaves or 4 mini 6×3.5 loaves
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword apple, bread, cinnamon, rhubarb

Equipment

  • loaf pans 2 regular 9×5 loaves or 4 mini 6×3.5 loaves

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 cups flour all-purpose
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 2 cups apples diced, +extra sliced to top
  • 2 cups rhubarb diced

Instructions

  • Mix oil, eggs, vanilla, cream, water, sugar, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.
  • Add flour and baking powder. Mix until streaky.
  • Add apples and rhubarb until fully mixed.
  • Grease baking pans.
  • Divide batter among baking pans.
  • Fan apple slices over the top of each loaf and dust with cinnamon.
  • Bake at 350F for 75 minutes until golden brown. Test with a toothpick.

Interested in a different kind of loaf? Try Zucchini Bread, Banana Bread, or Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread.

Blackberry Rhubarb Muffins

Posted on by Amanda Leave a comment

Have I mentioned how much I love summer? Fruits are so abundant and vegetables just go absolutely wild. Rhubarb grows like a weed and some varieties of blackberries in Washington are actually a weed. They’re spiny and apparently very difficult to get rid of if you have an overgrowth in your yard, but they certainly produce lovely fruit. If you have any summer fruits that just can’t be consumed fast enough, add them to this muffin recipe or a sweet treat.

These fruity muffins have a sweet, crunchy topping and their fluffy base is filled with tart rhubarb chunks and juicy blackberries. If you don’t like rhubarb, you might even like them in this application. I gave them to some friends and they thought that they were apples! This recipe could also be adapted to a large baking dish as a coffee cake-esque dessert with a crunchy topping.

Ingredients:

Fruit – The blackberries and rhubarb could really be substituted for any fruit that you might like! If swapping the fruit filling, keep the total volume of fruit the same (3 cups). If using no fruit, increase the quantity of milk to 1 full cup. Some other fruits that might be lovely in this would be raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, apples, and peaches.

Topping – The crunchy topping is entirely optional. If you just want a fluffy fruity baked muffin, skip the topping. If you’re keeping the topping but want this muffin to be a little bit more of a balanced meal, adding a few tablespoons of hemp hearts would be a great additional source of protein and fiber in these muffins.

liquid ingredients
add flour & fruit
scoop
crunchy topping
bake!

Blackberry Rhubarb Muffins

Print Recipe
Have it for breakfast, have it for dessert, I don't judge.
Keyword blackberry, breakfast, dessert, muffins, rhubarb
Servings 2 dozen muffins

Equipment

  • 1 muffin pan

Ingredients

Muffins

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 cups flour all-purpose
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 cup blackberries
  • 2 cups rhubarb 1-inch cubes

Topping

  • 1/2 cup flour all-purpose
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup walnuts chopped
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Instructions

  • Make the muffins first. Mix oil, eggs, vanilla, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.
  • Add in flour and baking powder. Mix until almost completely combined. If flour is still a little streaky, that’s totally ok.
  • Add in blackberries and rhubarb and finish mixing. Mix until just combined.
  • Using a quarter cup measure, scoop batter into greased and/or lined muffin tins.
  • After scooping all the muffin batter, the topping can be made in the same bowl, or can be made separately to your preference.
  • For the topping, mix all ingredients together and scoop about 1 tbsp of topping onto each muffin. Muffins will look very full but you’ll get some really lovely muffin tops!
  • Bake at 350F for a total of 60 minutes. Bake covered for the first 40 minutes and uncover for the last 20 minutes. Verify done-ness using a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it's done!

More rhubarb? Make Blueberry Rhubarb Jam or Blueberry Rhubarb Pound Cake.

Like the crispy topping? Put it on top of a Banana Bread or Zucchini Bread.

Blueberry Rhubarb Jam

Posted on by Amanda Leave a comment

With rhubarb in season, I’m getting rhubarb left and right from friends and neighbors! With all this excess, jam is the perfect way to preserve all the extra rhubarb. This sweet and sour jam is lovely for a cake filling, swirled into a loaf, or on a slice of bread.

Ingredients

Rhubarb – Be careful! The leaves of rhubarb are poisonous when consumed. Use only the stalks. When eaten raw or cooked, rhubarb stems add a lovely tartness to your jam. No additional acid like lemon juice needed to balance your jam.

Blueberries – Blueberries give some sweetness to your jam and are a beautiful color! I had blueberries on hand, but you can swap for any other berry or fruit you might fancy. Swap with the most popular rhubarb combination, strawberry, or try others like raspberries or marionberries.

trim & chop rhubarb
in the pot!
add blubs and sugar
simmer
jar

Blueberry Rhubarb Jam

Print Recipe
This sweet and sour jam is lovely for a cake filling, swirled into a loaf, or on a slice of bread.
Course Dessert
Keyword blueberry, jam, rhubarb

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rhubarb
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

  • Wash, trim, and cut your rhubarb. I cut mine into various shapes and sizes so that there would be various textures in the jam after it cooked down. Feel free to cut into any size you desire as long as you can fit it in your mouth!
  • Add rhubarb, blueberries, sugar, and salt to a heavy bottom pot and stir together.
  • Put on medium heat until mixture starts to simmer.
  • Reduce heat, cover pot, and allow to continue simmering for another 30 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes or so.
  • Jam should be thick and not too sweet! Allow to cool slightly before jarring or freezing.

Use this jam to make Blueberry Rhubarb Pound Cake or use swap it as the filling in the Peach Galette.

Try another dessert like Kitchen Sink Cookies.

Blueberry Rhubarb Pound Cake

Posted on by Amanda Leave a comment

Don’t come for me! This is not a traditional pound cake in any sense. No pounds used in measurements for any ingredient. I’d like to think this pound cake is slightly more health-full with some simple swaps. The cake is still very moist and rich with a dense crumb. I like adding some fillings to my pound cake to diversify the texture.

Ingredients

Jam – I used a homemade rhubarb and blueberry jam. Rhubarb is in season now so it seems all my friends and neighbors’s gardens are overflowing with rhubarb and they don’t know what to do with it. If you decide to make a rhubarb jam, be careful! The leaves of rhubarb are poisonous. Use only the stalks. When eaten raw or cooked, rhubarb stems are tart and the blueberries are bright and sweet. Rhubarb and blueberry isn’t a common jam combination, so feel free to use any jam that you like. A marionberry jam would be delicious!

Blueberries – Fresh blueberries give a pop to the bread when sliced and are nice little surprises to bite into. I used blueberries that were extra from making the jam. If you’re using a different fruit jam in the recipe, consider using the fresh version of that fruit in the bread. If you use a marionberry jam, use marionberries or blackberries.

Yogurt – This adds moisture and tang to the bread. You can substitute with sour cream.

jam
dollop
swirl!

Blueberry Rhubarb Pound Cake

Print Recipe
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword blueberry, pound cake, rhubarb
Cook Time 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 1/4 cup blueberry-rhubarb jam + extra for swirling
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 3/4 cup flour all-purpose
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup blueberries

Instructions

  • Mix together the sugar, yogurt, jam, salt, eggs, and oil.
  • In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
  • Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
  • Grease a loaf pan and pour in half the mixture.
  • Optional: Add a few tablespoons of jam and swirl into the mix. Sprinkle in half of the blueberries.
  • Pour the remaining half of cake mixture.
  • Optional: Swirl some additional jam.
  • Sprinkle in the remainder of the blueberries.
  • Bake at 350F for approximately 1 hour until a toothpick comes out clean. If the top of the loaf is getting too brown, cover with foil.