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 Prototype 26 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 Prototype 8 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 Prototype 5 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 Prototype 5 Triple-Plus Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Blueberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Patriotic Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 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 Banana Cheesecake—Prototype 1:   This flavor combination was hardly on my radar, so how did I come up with this one? The MacKays, a couple that I had been friendly with at Living Hope Church, were relocating, and this church decided to have a send-off cookout in their honor. In keeping with this, I asked these two, Jim and Jennie, to choose a cheesecake flavor. What I had in mind was for them to select one of the flavors that I had already done in the past. Jim ultimately left this choice to Jennie. At first she immediately opted for chocolate. So I mentioned other flavors to broaden her considerations, including, of course, a handful of 2-flavor combinations that I had accomplished, as well as single-flavored cheesecakes such as banana—but I never paired up this fruit with another flavor. I had put out quite a few chocolate combos—but not together with banana. So, per her idea and request, the chocolate-banana pairing would make its debut here. To put it humorously...Yes, we have new bananas—I mixed these bananas today! This has resulted in a number of updates for the banana batter (its last prototype was #3—well over a year ago—and that one was also by request, per my niece Rebecca). The chocolate only needed minor tweaking at this point.   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: Prepare ahead of time 32 ounces of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers (that's 64 ounces altogether) of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine one 16-ounce container of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Grease a 9 1/2" (or 9") pan, but do not wrap any foil around it yet—see below for that step (spreading the crust in an already wrapped pan can result in greater disturbance to the foil, thus increasing leakage risks). Chocolate Crust: 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 8 oz. (1 cup) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 3/8 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up Place the resulting mixture into the greased pan. Allow this mixture to get firm (if needed, chill it for this purpose, perhaps about 30 minutes minimum). Chocolate Batter: 2 tablespoons melted/softened butter 7/8 cup granulated sugar 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot 20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs Wrap the pan in foil, and carefully pour the chocolate batter on top of the crust. Then place all this in a tub—filled only about halfway, or about half an inch, with boiling water. Bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, take the whole pan-and-tub setup out of the oven, and carefully get it to a comfortable place. Promptly add the banana batter as indicated below. Banana Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 5/8 cups granulated sugar 8 ounces of banana puree 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons arrowroot 20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs Carefully scoop this on top of the chocolate batter. Here is a decorative option for the upper layer at this point. Add some chocolate syrup (Trader Joe's Organic Midnight Moo is recommended) on the top surface. Squirt thick, parallel stripes of this syrup, about a couple of tablespoons altogether (close to 1 1/3 ounces by weight if using TJ's), throughout the pan (the TJ's syrup, as of this writing, comes in a squeezable bottle with a squirt nozzle). Then pull a knife in perpendicular directions through these stripes in the batter (just deeply enough for the upper layer's surface) in order to produce a wavy, swirl pattern (see photo below for an example). Do all this as neatly as possible (avoid cutting into the chocolate layer underneath). Next, return the pan-and-tub setup to the oven, this time at only 300 degrees, and add more hot water to the tub (at this point, go ahead and fill it all the way). Bake for about 80 more minutes. Turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake in it (still in its tub as well), with the door slightly ajar, for another 60 minutes. Then remove this cheesecake from the oven and tub. At this point, a border of chocolate chips can be added to the cheesecake's top surface around its outer edge, if desired (but use care in avoiding burns—the pan's sidewall may still be hot). Continue letting the cheesecake cool in its pan at room temperature for another 120 minutes. Afterwards, remove this cheesecake from its pan and refrigerate. This one had a great taste, with both the chocolate and banana flavors present, although I ended up suspecting that the banana was somehow overpowering. But many at Living Hope enjoyed this cheesecake. This included, of course, Jennie and Jim themselves. The dessert selection was not all that large. There were only about four kinds of sweet recipes, including my cheesecake. There was about one fourth of it left before it got taken back into the kitchen.   Baked Chocolate Banana Cheesecake—Prototype 2:   My cheesecakes have come a very long way over the years, including the last four. Here is a November 2017 update for this flavor combination (after my making an earlier one likely in the summer of 2013).   3-Cheese Blend (3CT-1NC-2YG): Prepare ahead of time 16 ounces of yogurt cheese, derived from one 32-ounce container of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 16 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 24 ounces of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese and 8 ounces of softened Neufchatel cheese ("light cream cheese"). Grease a 9 1/2" (or 9") pan, but do not wrap foil around it until just before the batter is added (spreading the crust in an already wrapped pan can result in greater disturbance to the foil, thus increasing leakage risks). Chocolate Crust: 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted 8 oz. (1 cup) 3-cheese blend (see above) 3/8 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 oz. finely ground All-Bran Place the resulting mixture in the greased pan and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 5-10 minutes, depending on the mixture's thickness (closer to 10 minutes if thin enough to be fully distributed across the pan's bottom by gentle shaking, closer to 5 minutes if thick enough to require spreading out this mixture by pressing on it with a utensil and/or fingers), then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Banana Batter: 20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above) 1 teaspoon vanilla 5/8 cup granulated sugar 6 ounces of banana puree (tip: about 9 ounces of whole bananas, i.e., with the outer peels included—hopefully one large banana—should yield a sufficient amount of the inner fruit) 1 1/4 teaspoons xanthan gum 3 eggs Wrap the pan in foil at this point. Carefully pour the banana batter on top of the crust and bake all this in a hot water tub at 325 degrees for about 50 minutes. Afterwards, take the tub-and-pan assembly out of the oven and promptly add the chocolate batter indicated below. Chocolate Batter: 20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above) 1 teaspoon vanilla 7/8 cup granulated sugar 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum 3 eggs Carefully scoop this on top of the banana batter (it is best to do this around the edge of the pan and let the chocolate batter flow towards the middle) and return the tub-and-pan assembly to the oven, this time at only 300 degrees. Bake for about 70 more minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then shut off the oven and cool the cheesecake down while still in it (and in tub), with door slightly ajar, for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and (at this point, add a border of chocolate chips if desired) continue to cool down at room temperature for another two hours, then remove from pan and refrigerate. Like the previous chocolate banana cheesecake nearly four years ago, this one was the result of a request. But this time it came from my cousin Rachel's daughter, Mya. So I brought this cheesecake to Rachel's house, where it ended up being well-received. The taste was delicious, with an undeniable banana presence, as well as with a decent chocolate one.