Recipe Scrapbook Home Bran Buddy / HiFi Buddy Bars Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Chocolate Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Bars Prototype 1 Chocolate Cherry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Banana Prototype 1 Fluffernutter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Lemon Prototypes 1 & 2 Orange Prototype 1 Pumpkin Prototype 1 (plus Balls variation) HiFi Buddy Balls Orange Prototype 1 Chocolate Prototype 1 (plus Orange-Chocolate variation) Prototype 2 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototypes 1 & 2 Maple Prototype 1 Eggnog Prototype 1 Pancakes Eggnog Pancake Batter Notes Trader Joe's Mix Latkes Spicy Latkes Matzah Pizza Stack Basic Crust Bran Buds Pie Crust Pies Chilled Eggnog Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chilled Pumpkin Eggnog Prototype 1 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Eggnog Notes Additional Eggnog Notes Cheesecakes Chocolate Prototype 10.1 Prototype 10.2 Prototype 10.3 Prototype 10.4 Prototype 10.5 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Prototype 25 Eggnog Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Prototype 25 Prototype 26 Prototype 27 Prototype 28 Prototype 29 Prototype 30 Prototype 31 Prototype 32 Prototype 33 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Maple Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Lemon Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Orange Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Banana Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Pumpkin Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Plain Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Eggnog Pumpkin Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Cookies+Creme Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Chocolate Eggnog Prototype 1 Vanilla Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Orange Vanilla Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Banana Prototype 1 Prototype 2 S'mores Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Pumpkin Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Whoopie Pie Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Marshmallow Prototype 1 Cherry Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Fluffernutter Prototype 1 Dulce De Leche Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Cherry Prototype 3 Strawberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Almond Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Chocolate Strawberry Prototype 1 Chocolate Almond Prototype 1 Neapolitan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Triple-Plus Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Blueberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Patriotic Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Cheesecake Tips Pecan Pie Filling Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Additional Notes Name Change: Bran to HiFi Birthday Gift Replacement of Bran Buds with Regular All-Bran Batter Composition Changes (Mid-2015) Batter Composition Changes (Mid-2017) Update Since COVID-19 (Late-2021) All Recipes & Notes Red Velvet Research Project Preliminary Secondary My 1980's Cheesecake Prototypes Pitfalls to avoid: Unsuccessful recipes

Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake—Prototype 3 (introduction):   Okay, it was time to look around on the Internet for some helpful advice in preparing multi-layered cheesecakes! I also took a good look at what I did back in the 1980's. This has led to my giving another try at baking both batter flavors together. I also felt that my taste buds had gotten rather "moody" over (in the sense of being too sensitive to) the chocolate sweetness in the previous prototype. But I also felt that more tartness was needed (which I felt would eliminate a need for sugar reduction). So I decided to increase the lemon juice in both batters. I slightly increased the flour with the hope that this now thickly-baked cheesecake would still come out firm enough. Finally, I raised the peanut butter back up a little bit. Up to this point (from what I best recall), I had always been baking my cheesecake prototypes at 300 degrees. This latest prototype would get off to a 325-degree start, then revert to 300.   Repeat Prototype 2, but... Make these changes for each of the two batters: Boost lemon juice by 2 teaspoons, to 1 tablespoon. Boost flour by 2 teaspoons, to 3/8 cup. And make this change for the peanut butter batter only: Boost peanut butter by 1 oz., to 4 oz. And carefully follow these steps below, many of which are new: Pour/press the crust mixture into the bottom of a lightly buttered 9" cheesecake pan. Next, add the chocolate (not peanut butter!) batter on top of this crust. Then carefully wrap foil around this pan. Next, place this pan into a tub of boiling hot water, and put this into an oven, preheated to 325 degrees (not 300 at this point). Bake this only for about 30 minutes. Now comes the tricky part! WARNING: Use plenty of caution at this point, due to the pan being very hot! Carefully place the peanut butter batter on top of the chocolate one. How?? Instead of dumping the whole thing all at once on the chocolate, try this delicate approach. Start off by scooping small amounts of the peanut butter batter out of its bowl (or whatever container is being used). A small measuring cup (1/2-cup size is good) or ladle is useful here. Pour these small amounts around the edge of the pan, not the middle (but rather allow the batter to flow there on its own, if possible). This should reduce the likelihood of the peanut butter batter breaching the chocolate one. When the bowl of the peanut butter batter is almost empty, it is probably safe to more directly dump the rest of this right onto what just got poured, which itself should be deep enough by then. Still, it is a good idea to do this gently enough to avoid the chocolate breach. Next, reduce the temperature to 300 degrees, and return the pan to the oven. Resume baking for about 80 minutes (or until cake tester comes out clean). The usage of the oven isn't done yet! Now, turn off the oven, but keep the cheesecake in it (along with its tub), with the oven's door slightly ajar. Allow one hour for this gradual cooldown. Afterwards, take the cheesecake out of the oven and out of the tub, but keep the cheesecake in its 9" pan. Next, cool the cheesecake off, at room temperature, for another two hours. Finally, remove it from its pan and refrigerate.   So what was this thick cheesecake like when I finally removed it from the pan? The peanut butter layer was easily firm, but the chocolate one was somewhat "jiggly". The cake tester at this point showed mixed results—some of them clean, others just slightly wet. But after more than 24 hours of refrigeration, I did not detect any jiggle in the chocolate layer. Then I cut the first slice, and the whole cheesecake was firm enough. Not only did I get a bunch of favorable comments at Living Hope Church on this one (including "not too tart, not too sweet"), but the cheesecake's side appearance in particular was awesome (the whole thing seemed to look, at least to me, "professionally done"—look out, Cheesecake Factory)! This prototype was so successful that I repeated it a second time, but I made a minor adjustment: Give the chocolate an additional 10 minutes for its baking head start. In other words, in the earlier phase of baking the chocolate batter and crust at 325 degrees, do so for 40 minutes, instead of just 30. I figured that this would give some more firmness to the chocolate batter. With the peanut-butter-related phase—at 300 degrees—unchanged, the total baking time would now amount to two solid hours. Combined with the one-hour cooling inside the oven and the two hours of cooldown outside of it, all this would amount to 5 hours altogether for the "pan heat" phases! Of course, scooping the peanut butter batter onto the chocolate one was going to add some time as well. But this time, the chocolate batter did not seem to jiggle as much as before. Although there was still some jiggle, the refrigeration that followed would sufficiently reduce it. Due to the aforementioned 10-minute adjustment being the only change, and this being but an extremely simple correction, I retained the prototype number, 3 (there were certainly no changes to the ingredients). I brought this masterpiece to my annual family reunion party in July of 2011. One of my relatives, Jodi, used the word "professional" (or some form of this word) in assessing my cheesecake. I'd have to agree on that one. This same word had been on my mind beforehand (probably because of the "tub"). This prototype was well-received at this event. Of all the culinary efforts that I have undertaken up to this point in my life, I consider this recipe to be one of my best ones yet (if not the best). It's also one of my most time-consuming ones. In light of all this, I felt that I would present this latest chocolate peanut butter cheesecake's recipe in full, below.   Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake—Prototype 3 (full recipe presentation): For the cottage cheese, no-salt-added is recommended. Chocolate Crust: 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted 1 1/3 tablespoons cocoa powder 1 cup (8 oz.) lowfat cottage cheese, whipped 3/8 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla (next to last ingredient here) 2.2 oz. finely ground Bran Buds Promptly pour/press this crust mixture into the bottom of a lightly buttered 9" cheesecake pan. Chocolate Batter: 1/2 cup skim milk 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 7/8 cup sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 3/8 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 cups (20 oz.) lowfat cottage cheese, whipped 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs Pour this chocolate batter on top of the crust. Carefully wrap foil around the pan afterwards. Remember to not put the foil on any earlier than this! The goal is to disturb it as little as possible, as a preventative measure against water leakage. Then place the wrapped pan into a tub of boiling hot water, and bake all this at 325 degrees (make sure oven is preheated) for about 40 minutes only. Peanut Butter Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 4 oz. unsalted peanut butter 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 cup skim milk 3/4 cup sugar 3/8 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 cups (20 oz.) lowfat cottage cheese, whipped 2 eggs After the initial baking is done with the chocolate crust and batter, carefully place the peanut butter batter on top by scooping small amounts of it around the edge of the pan (try to let this batter flow towards the middle on its own), in order to minimize the likelihood of breaching the chocolate batter below. Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees, and resume baking for about 80 minutes. Afterwards, turn the oven off, but keep the cheesecake in it (along with its tub), with the door slightly ajar. Allow one hour for this gradual cooldown. Next, take the cheesecake out of the oven and out of the tub, but keep the cheesecake in its 9" pan. Cool the cheesecake off, at room temperature, for another two hours. Finally, remove it from its pan and refrigerate.