Instant pot Samoa Cheesecake

My boyfriends absolute favorite cookie is the Girl Scout Samoa.  So when I found this recipe I just had to try it.  It’s amazing and not to difficult.  I did have to purchase a 7” spring form pan to fit my instant pot.

INGREDIENTS:

CRUST

• 1/2 cup crushed chocolate graham cracker cookies
• 2 tablespoons butter melted

FILLING

• 12-ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, room temperature

TOPPING

• 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 12 chewy caramels, unwrapped (I prefer Kraft)
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chopped semisweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare a 7 inch springform pan by coating it with a non-stick spray.

In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter. Spread evenly in the bottom and up the side of the pan. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

In a mixing bowl mix cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth, blend in heavy cream, sour cream, vanilla, and flour. Mix in eggs one at a time just until blended; don’t over mix. Pour batter into the springform pan on top of the crust. Cover top of springform pan with aluminum foil.

Pour 1 cup of water into the pressure cooking pot.   Carefully center the filled pan onto the trivet with handles and lower it into the pressure cooking pot. Fold the handles down so that it doesn’t interfere with closing the lid.

Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and set the timer for 35 minutes. When beep sounds, turn off pressure cooker. use a natural pressure release for 10 minutes, and then do a quick pressure release to release any remaining pressure. When valve drops carefully remove lid. Remove cheesecake and check the cheesecake to see if the middle is set. If not, cook the cheesecake an additional 5 minutes.

Remove the springform pan to a wire rack to cool. Remove aluminum foil. When cheesecake is cooled, refrigerate covered with plastic wrap for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When cheesecake is chilled, prepare topping:

Preheat oven to 300°. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet and toast 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet.

When the coconut is cool, place caramels and cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds. When smooth, stir in toasted coconut. Carefully spread the topping evenly over the top of the cheesecake.

Melt chocolate in microwave safe bowl on 50% power, stirring often. When melted, put in a small Ziploc bag, snip off a little bit of the corner of the bag. Drizzle over the top of the caramel topping.

Instant Pot Korean Short Ribs

I decided to jump on the band wagon and join the Instant Pot crazE a few weeks ago. since I have made several recipes and each one has been a giant success. I will slowly be adding them as time permits. I’m a huge Chinese fan, so when I found this recipe I was hoping it was as good as it sounded! I hope you enjoy it too.

Servings 6-8
Prep Time 10 minutes

4-4.5 pounds beef short ribs cut in 4"- 6" lengths (usually this is already done by the butcher)
1 cup bone broth
1/3 cup real fermented soy sauce
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup toasted sesame oil
 1/4 cup fresh ginger, freshly grated or minced
10 cloves garlic minced
 2 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder
2 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp corn starch
Steamed rice

Add all ingredients to liner pot. Put on and lock lid into place. Press “Stew/Meat” option has n your instant pot. The IP will automatically set itself for 35 minutes on high pressure. Make sure steam valve is closed. The Instant Pot will automatically switch over to warm when the cooking time has elapsed. Let it rest and allow it to release the pressure on its own slowly. (Natural release) After 20 minutes release the remaining pressure and open your instant pot. Remove ribs skin most of the fat off.  Turn you IP to sauté.  Add cornstarch and water together and mix thoroughly.  Add to IP to thicken sauce. Once thickened turn off IP and fill bowls with rice.  Top with ribs ( I removed bones and fat) and pour sauce over top.

 

Summer sausage

There is no exact recipe here, but here are some basic guidelines we learned in class with a bit of a recipe. My boyfriend and I love summer sausage and after taking the bratwurst making class we naturally decided we can do this! So we took the summer sausage making class and we came straight home and made summer sausage!
For each stick of sausage you will need the following...
 2 lbs of meat- options 50/50 venison and pork butt (this is what we use), 50/50 beef chick roast and pork butt, or any other combination of meat you would like. Just make sure it’s not to fatty.

 About 1/3 cup of some type of liquid- options are beer, wine, water, apple juice, whiskey etc.

Summer sausage seasoning packet, you can mix up your own we didn’t this time.

Now here you can stop adding things in and just make the sausage or you can add in more stuff such as...high temp cheeses, dried fruits or jalapeños etc.

 Here are the combos we decided to try this go around:
 Red wine and cheddar
Cranberry cheddar jalapeño
Cheddar and Swiss
 Bleu cheese onion and hazelnut stout beer
Beer and cheddar.
 Key points- do not add fresh fruit! It must be dried. You can add fresh jalapeño if you remove seeds but no jar jalapeños. The vinegar will eat through the casing as they cure. If you make your own seasoning make sure to use a cure, we buy premade seasoning and it has it inside of the mix. Grind your meats unless you have had the butcher grind them for you. Mix meat and all other ingredients until very sticky!!! This is important. If you have ever unrolled a package of jimmy dean sausage you know what I mean by sticky meat! This is what you are looking for. Then stuff your casing. I bought the grinder/stuffer kit for my kirchenade mixer. Now hang in your basement for 3-5 days. Now you have a choice hot smoked or cold. Hot smoke you place sausage into your smoker at 225 until it gets to 252 degrees and mahagony in color. cold smoke you place in your smoker at 110 degrees until it turns managing in color. We prefer cold smoking to hot. Better texture. After cold smoking you hang in your basement in a humid dark cool place. We actually use our basement shower and every few days run super hot water to produce the humidity. After 30 days slice and eat. Never needs refrigeration. We have not smoked these yet! I’ll update when we do.
 

Instant pot beef stew

This was probably one of the Best beef stew recipes I have ever come across.  As always I made a few changes and it’s a little work heavy in the beginning but it is completely and totally worth it.

INGREDIENTS

• ~ 2 pounds chuck steak
• 3 medium garlic cloves or 3 tsp jar mined garlic
• 12 white mushrooms (150g), thinly sliced
• 2 small onions (214g), thinly sliced
• 2 celery stalks (150g), cut in 1 ½ inch (4cm) chunks
• 2 medium carrots (200g), cut in 1 ½ inch (4cm) chunks
• 1 small bag of b sized new potatoes 
• ¼ cup (63ml) of sherry wine
• 2 bay leaves
• ¼ teaspoon (0.35g) dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon flour
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Chicken Stock Mixture

• 1 ½ cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon  light soy sauce (not low sodium soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste ( I used pizza sauce it’s what I had)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare the Pressure Cooker: Heat up your pressure cooker (Instant Pot: press Sauté button and click the adjust button to go to Sauté More function) over medium high heat. Make sure your pot is as hot as it can be (Instant Pot: wait until the indicator says HOT).
2. Brown Chuck Steak: Season one side of the chuck steak generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add 1 tablespoon (15ml) olive oil in pressure cooker. Ensure to coat the oil over whole bottom of the pot. Carefully place the seasoned side of chuck steak in pressure cooker. Generously season the other side with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Brown for 6 - 8 minutes on each side without constantly flipping the steak. Remove and set aside in a large mixing bowl.Make Chicken Stock 
3. Mixture: While the chuck steak is browning in pressure cooker, mix 1 tablespoon (15ml) Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon (15ml) light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon (15ml) fish sauce, 3 tablespoons (50ml) tomato paste with 1 ½ cup (375ml) unsalted chicken stock.
4. Sauté the Mushrooms: Add sliced mushrooms in pressure cooker. Sauté until all moisture from the mushrooms have evaporated and the edges are slightly crisped & browned. Roughly 6 minutes. Taste and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary. Remove and set aside.
5. Sauté the Vegetables: Add 1 tablespoon (15ml) of olive oil in pressure cooker if necessary. Add thinly sliced small onions and sauté until soften and slightly browned. Add minced garlic cloves and stir for roughly 30 seconds until fragrant. Add all celery chunks, carrots chunks and sauté until slightly browned. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary.
6. Deglaze: Pour in ¼ cup (63 ml) sherry wine and completely deglaze bottom of the pot by scrubbing the flavorful brown bits with a wooden spoon. Let the sherry wine reduce to allow some of the alcohol to evaporate.
7. Pressure Cook the Vegetables: Add 2 bay leaves, ¼ tsp (0.35g) dried thyme, quartered potatoes, and chicken stock mixture in the pot. Mix well. Close lid and pressure cook at High Pressure for 4 minutes and Quick Release. Open the lid.
8. Cut the Chuck Steak: While the vegetables are pressure cooking. Cut the chuck steak into 1.5 inch – 2 inches stew cubes on a large chopping board. Place all chuck stew meat and the flavorful meat juice back in the large mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon (8g) flour in mixing bowl and mix well with the stew meat. Don’t worry, your pressure cooker can get up to pressure with a small amount of flour.
9. Pressure Cook the Beef Stew: Remove half of the carrots, celery, potatoes from pressure cooker and set aside. Place beef stew meat and all its juice in the pressure cooker. Partially submerge the beef stew meat in the liquid without stirring, as you don’t want too much flour in the liquid at this point. Close lid and pressure cook at High Pressure for 32 minutes + 10 minutes Natural Release. Turn off the heat. Release the remaining pressure. Open the lid.
10. Thicken Beef Stew and Add Vegetables:On medium heat (Instant Pot: press Sauté button), breakdown the mushy potatoes and carrots with a wooden spoon. Stir to thicken the stew. Add frozen peas, sautéed mushrooms, and the set aside carrots, celery and potatoes in the pot. Taste and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary. We added 2 pinches of kosher salt.
11. Serve: Serve with mashed potatoes, pasta or your favorite starch.

I found the original recipe at 

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-beef-stew/