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 Cream Cheese Spread Pumpkin 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 Maple Cheesecake—Prototype 1:   Vermont was on my mind for this one. Shopping for maple sugar, unlike maple syrup, wasn't exactly an easy task, but I wanted a high enough concentration of maple flavor for this recipe, without using too much liquid (hence my preference for maple sugar over maple syrup). I was able to pick up some of this sugar at what seemed like a specialty store in the Green Mountain State.   Crust: 4 oz. whipped lowfat cottage cheese (such as Hood, no salt added) 1/4 cup maple sugar 1/4 cup skim milk Thoroughly blend these above 3 ingredients together. Afterward, quickly and vigorously mix in: 2.2 oz. finely ground Bran Buds Grease a springform pan, 9". For best results take the bath approach—wrap this pan up to the sides with foil, in order to suppress water leaks (heavy-duty aluminum is a good choice). Mix thoroughly together: 2 tablespoons butter, softened or melted 1/2 cup maple sugar Then blend in: 1 teaspoon lemon juice Then mix in: 2 cups (such as a 16-ounce container) of lowfat cottage cheese (such as Hood, no salt added)—whip this in a blender just until the curds no longer show, before adding to the above ingredients. Next add: 1/2 cup skim milk Follow up gradually with a dry combination of: 1/4 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt Completely mix all of the above ingredients used so far, then finally add: 2 eggs (last ingredient here)—aim to get these at least fully mixed in (yet without overbeating, if possible). Make sure that the oven is preheated to 300 degrees. If using the bath approach, have enough boiling hot water available, and fill a large "tub" with it and place this in the oven, close to halfway up. Pour the batter into the springform pan. Next, put this pan into the oven. If using the bath approach, place the springform pan immediately above the "tub" (not into it!). Bake for about 90 minutes. Afterward, take the springform pan out of the oven, and let the cheesecake cool off. After it has cooled down to about room temperature, carefully remove it from the pan, and refrigerate.   Nice presence of maple flavor for a first prototype, at least for the batter, although I felt that the crust could use more sweetness and flavor.   Baked Maple Cheesecake—Prototype 2: Repeat Prototype 1, but boost the crust's maple sugar by 1/4 cup, to 1/2 cup.   The crust had a decent, maple taste this time.   Baked Maple Cheesecake—Prototype 3:   A lot of time elapsed between this maple prototype and the one before it. So I decided to bring some things up to date. One of them was for more batter—but not more crust. Therefore the cottage cheese, maple sugar, lemon juice and flour would get boosted here. Another feature involved pre-baking the crust, due to it being very wet at the start. This is also the first maple prototype to be baked in the Frieling pan (nearly 9 1/2" big) that I received as a gift.   Crust: 1/2 cup (4 oz.) whipped lowfat cottage cheese 1/2 cup maple sugar 1/4 cup skim milk 2.2 oz. finely ground Bran Buds Pour this into pan and pre-bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then allow to cool to touch. Batter: 2 tablespoons butter, softened or melted 2/3 cup maple sugar 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice 2 1/4 cups (20 oz.) whipped lowfat cottage cheese 1/2 cup skim milk 1/3 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 eggs Pour batter on top of crust in pan, and bake in hot tub at 300 degrees for about 100 minutes (if using a pan almost 9 1/2 inches big). Cool off in pan afterward, then remove from pan, and refrigerate.   Still delicious—the taste reminded me of pancakes with maple syrup—and another terrific hit at Living Hope Church in Beverly.   Baked Maple Cheesecake—Prototype 4:   This one's a Fall 2012 update, yogurt cheese, arrowroot and all.   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: 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 8 ounces (1 cup) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Crust: 1 oz. melted, white chocolate 4 oz. (1/2 cup) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1/4 cup maple sugar 1/4 teaspoon maple flavoring 1.1 oz. Bran Buds, ground up Pour this crust mixture into pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 5 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 5/8 cup maple sugar 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 1/3 tablespoons arrowroot 1/4 teaspoon salt 20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1 teaspoon maple flavoring 2 eggs Pour on top of crust. Then bake in tub at 300 degrees for 60 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan), cool (outside of oven and tub) for an hour, remove from pan and refrigerate.   This one had a great balance of maple flavor and "cheesey" taste with (at least what I have felt to be) the right amount of tartness! And it fared nicely at Living Hope. I also brought some of this cheesecake to Lesa and her dart team at Beverly's Italian Community Center, where it was well-received. Rick, from another ICC-based team, seemed to especially enjoy this dessert.   Baked Maple Cheesecake—Prototype 5:   With this one, maple finally gets the double-size treatment for the first time—and also a few updates (reflecting what was recently done with other flavors such as pumpkin) for Fall 2013.   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: Prepare ahead of time 2 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers 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 16 ounces (1 pint) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 8 oz. (1 cup) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1/2 cup maple sugar 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up Pour this crust mixture into pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Batter: 4 tablespoons melted or softened butter 1 1/4 cups maple sugar 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons arrowroot 40 oz. (5 cups) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 teaspoons maple flavoring 4 eggs Pour the batter over the crust and bake this cheesecake in a tub at 300 degrees for 100 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then cool the cheesecake down while still in oven (with this oven shut off) and in tub with door slightly ajar for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down at room temperature for another 100 minutes, then remove from pan and refrigerate. I initially made this one with the intention of serving it at my church, Living Hope. But, due to the death and funeral of one of my relatives, I had to cancel my church plans. However, I got the idea of serving this cheesecake at a post-funeral meal which took place at my cousin Joanne's home. So I brought the cheesecake there, and my relatives and others ended up enjoying this cheesecake much more than I anticipated. A little more than 3/4 of it was gone by the time I left—that was even better than my "loaded" chocolate cheesecake (Prototype 17), which I brought to our annual cousins' summer reunion (at my cousin Robin's house) a few months ago, in the summer of 2013. I brought some of the leftover to darts. However, Steve (Lesa's friend) commented that this cheesecake was "too heavy" on the maple flavor. I personally felt that the taste had just the right balance. Maybe Steve had a far better ability than me to pick up the maple's presence. But perhaps this could also reflect individual preferences. I personally like a very generous amount of maple syrup on my pancakes, because I really want to pick up that maple flavor. However, others like Steve may prefer a very light amount. Anyway, I felt no real urge for the future to "tone down" the maple, which I tended to regard as a relatively mellow flavor. About a year later (October 2014 to be more specific), I made this prototype again and this time served it at Living Hope. The cheesecake was gone in about half an hour, among a somewhat small selection of snacks (but also with many women away on a church-related retreat).   Baked Maple Cheesecake—Prototype 6:   Another flavor gets updated in the fall of 2015! This latest maple prototype is based upon my major cheesecake batter overhaul earlier that year.   3-Cheese Blend (1CT-1NC-4YG): 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 8 ounces of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese and 8 ounces of softened Neufchatel cheese ("light cream cheese"). Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 8 oz. (1 cup) 3-cheese blend (see above) 1/2 cup maple sugar 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up Place the resulting mixture in a greased 9 1/2" (or 9") 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. Batter: 40 oz. (5 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above) 1 1/4 cups maple sugar 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (5 tablespoons altogether) arrowroot 2 teaspoons maple flavoring 5 eggs Pour the batter over the crust and bake this cheesecake in a tub at 300 degrees for 110 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then cool the cheesecake down while still in oven (with this oven shut off) and in tub with door slightly ajar for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down at room temperature for another 110 minutes, then remove from pan and refrigerate. This one had a nice maple-and-cheese taste to it. Well over 3/4 of it was gone within about an hour at Living Hope Church (the cheesecake was served among a modest selection of other snacks).   Baked Maple Cheesecake—Prototype 7:   This one gets a 2017 update, featuring xanthan gum as a replacement for arrowroot. However, I also thought that I would try a little experiment involving another ingredient for this particular prototype. I added a sixth egg to the batter. One reason was to find out how this would affect the cheesecake's firmness and texture. Another reason was that, if 6 eggs worked out better than 5, this would be helpful in my buying eggs, which have been available for sale primarily in multiples of 6.   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") springform pan, but do not wrap foil around it yet (see below). Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 8 oz. (1 cup) 3-cheese blend (see above) 1/4 cup maple sugar (see comments below) 1/4 cup brown sugar 3/4 teaspoon maple flavoring 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up 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. Batter: 1 1/4 cups maple sugar 40 oz. (5 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above) 2 teaspoons maple flavoring 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum 6 eggs Wrap the pan in foil just before adding the batter (to minimize the foil's disturbance and therefore its leakage risk, do not put it on any earlier). Next, carefully pour the batter over the crust and bake this cheesecake in a hot water tub at 300 degrees for 90 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then shut off oven and cool cheesecake down while still in it (and in tub), with door slightly ajar, for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down at room temperature for another two hours, then remove from pan and refrigerate. I was originally planning to use 1/2 cup of maple sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of maple flavoring—and no brown sugar—for the crust. But I ended up not having enough maple sugar on hand. What I had available barely amounted to 1 1/2 cups. And maple sugar was, as far as I knew, tough to come by in my area. I had typically bought it while traveling in Vermont (in recent years, I have been getting it in my cousin Rachel's hometown of Jericho, at End-O-Road Maple, whose owners I had more recently become friendly with, particularly Jennifer, whose daughter has been attending the same school with Rachel's son). So I settled for a little compromise with the crust, which included using an additional 1/4 teaspoon of maple flavoring to help compensate for the maple sugar reduction. Fortunately, no compromises were carried out on the batter, which would get a full 1 1/4 cups of maple sugar as I originally intended. This cheesecake was served in early October of 2017 (on the Sunday just before Columbus Day) at Living Hope Church, among a modest selection of snacks...and was wiped out in nearly 5 minutes! I could not remember an earlier treat from me being devoured this quickly. As for increasing the amount of eggs from five to six, the results were encouraging. This addition seemed to hardly affect the taste at all (which itself was great), but I felt that the texture and firmness have indeed improved. So I decided that my basic cheesecake batter plans would include the sixth egg from this point on. Not only would this make it easier for me when buying eggs, but I would not have to deal with splitting the contents of one egg when trying to evenly distribute an odd number of eggs between batters in cases of 2-flavor cheesecakes (such as Prototype 7 of my chocolate peanut butter cheesecakes). Furthermore, another idea has been on my mind lately, although I have never done this yet—but I have been contemplating it: 3-flavor cheesecakes!!! I would be able to easily split 6 eggs into 2 whole ones for each batter flavor, should I exercise this option in the future.   Baked Maple Cheesecake—Prototype 8:   It seems like it has been a very long time since I last baked a maple cheesecake. That would be about 7 years if I made the last one in 2017. So many changes have happened to my cheesecakes in general since then, and the latest updates for mid-2024 are reflected here (especially from Prototype 24 of my plain cheesecakes, which I made late last year; for my latest maple, however, I decided to give a try to cutting the baking time from 90 minutes to 85).   3-Cheese Blend (1CT-1NC-1YG): 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 16 ounces of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese and 16 ounces (two 8-ounce packages) of softened Neufchatel cheese ("light cream cheese"). Grease a 9 1/2" (or 9") springform pan, but do not wrap foil around it yet (see below). Crust: 4 oz. melted, white chocolate 8 oz. (1 cup) 3-cheese blend (see above) 1/2 cup maple sugar 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up Place the resulting mixture in the greased pan and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Batter: 1 1/4 cups maple sugar 40 oz. (5 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above) 2 teaspoons maple flavoring 1 teaspoon xanthan gum 6 eggs Wrap the pan in foil just before adding the batter (to minimize the foil's disturbance and therefore its leakage risk, do not put it on any earlier). Or as an alternative to using foil, place this pan in an Easy Bath Cheesecake Wrap—and don't bother waiting for the pan to get comfortably cool to do so. Next, pour the batter over the crust and bake this cheesecake in a hot water tub at 300 degrees for 85 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then cool the cheesecake down while still in oven (with this oven shut off) and in tub with door slightly ajar for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down at room temperature for another 120 minutes, then remove from pan and refrigerate. I served this one at a special event ("Koffee with Kenny", featuring our District Superintendent) in July 2024 at my church, Living Hope, where the cheesecake was nicely received. I also was content with how this cheesecake came out, in light of my baking it for only 85 minutes.