My Recipe Box - Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

If I don't put a new recipe that we liked into My Recipe Box I end up forgetting about it. That is what happened with this one. I first found this at Chez Us.
These were super easy to make, the only thing I didn't do quite right was to keep only 1/3 of the plain cream cheese batter, resulting in less than a colourful top. I had too much white to mix through the pumpkin layer.

Recipe:  Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Crust

1 10 ounce package ginger snaps  283 grams gluten free graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons butter, melted 85 grams

Filling

2 8 ounce packages cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

14 ounce can solid-pack pumpkin  414 ml

3 large eggs

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cardamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons pure dark maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a slight overhang on two sides.  In a food processor pulse the gingersnaps with sugar until you have a fine crumb.  Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and pulse to combine.  Pat the crumb mixture gently into the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly firm.  Set aside to cool.

Wipe out the food processor with a paper towel.  Blend the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs, flour and salt.  Blend until combined.  Remove 1/3 cup of the mixture and set aside.  Add the pumpkin and cardamon and blend until combined. Pour over the cookie crust.

Mix the maple syrup in the 1/3 cup mixture of plain cheesecake batter.  You can add a little more or a little less depending on how much of a maple flavoring you like.   Place spoonfuls, that are slightly spaced apart, on top of the pumpkin mixture.  Take the end of a sharp knife and gently swirl the two batters together to form a pretty pattern.

Bake until the cheesecake is set, about 45 minutes.  It will jiggle slightly when gently shaken.  Cool in the pan, then chill in the refridgerator until firm, at least 2 hours.  With a sharp knife, cut into squares.  Serve.  Eat.

May 11 - Regensburg Bavaria

This was the planned itinerary for today.

Friday May 11- Full Day in Regensburg
Enjoy a walking tour of Regensburg, built in 179 BC by the Romans, today it stands as one of the largest and most well preserved cities in Bavaria. The tour includes such sights as the Old Town Hall, the Dom St. Peter, the Roman Gates at Porta Pretoria, and one of the oldest stone bridges over the Danube. Enjoy an afternoon at leisure and depart for Nuremberg just after dinner.
Overnight: Cruise
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Instead of joining the escorted walking tour of town, we stayed on board and had pedicures done in the spa.
We relaxed and caught up on email and I had a bloody Mary while John was having his pedicure.

Most people came back to the boat for lunch, but we chose to go out and sample some good sausages on our own for a change.

Regensburg is a prosperous city of about 150,000 inhabitants, 3 universities and many landmarks, most dated to the Middle Ages (e.g. the Cathedral of St. Peter, Old City Hall and Imperial Diet, and the Stone Bridge). Since July 2006 the old city of Regensburg has been a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The terrace is the photo is the "Wurstkuchl" just at the Steinerne Brücke (Stone Bridge), founded over 500 years ago and presumably the oldest fast food restaurant in the world.  It was too crowded so we crossed the stone bridge to find somewhere else.

First order of business is lunch!

A glass of cool beer is ideal with the sausages: the traditional brands of beer in Regensburg are made by the Bischofshof, Spital, Kneitinger and Thurn & Taxis breweries.

These are white sausages, you order by the number you want "6 and kraut". I loved the semi-sweet mustard they served with the sausages.

Waitress is local dress at an outdoor café.

Benedictine Monastery of St. Emmeram, which is both a parish church and the chapel of the Thurn and Taxis family. The sanctuary is a riot of Baroque plaster and gilding layered onto a pre-Romansque building.

Regensburg escaped damage from Allied bombs in World War II, its architectural heritage consists of original buildings instead of postwar replicas.



Dom St. Peter, a.k.a. St. Peter's Cathedral, which was built on the site of an earlier Romanesque church (portions of which are integrated into the current Gothic structure). Its façade is a patchwork of two materials: limestone and a greenish sandstone.

It was a beautiful day to stroll and window shop.

We sauntered back to the boat.
Dinner was on board and then we set sail for Nuremburg.

The crew put on their talent show.

Chicago

Cloud Gate, also known as The Bean is in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago.

 Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States.
The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect Chicago’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.

 You can just see us in the middle - I'm wearing green

We spotted this wedding party coming to get their photos taken of their rather unusual outfits, well maybe not so unusual for Chicago.

Floral Friday Fotos

I'm posting over here today!

My Recipe Box - Rosemary-Yogurt Bicuits

Image - Source

This is another Betty Crocker Bisquick recipe for biscuits.

Mix 1 cup Bisquick baking mix, 1/2 cup plain yogurt and 2 teaspoons rosemary leaves until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough onto a cloth-covered surface well dusted with baking mix . Roll the dough in baking mix to coat, shape into a ball. Knead dough 5 times; roll or pat 1/2 in thick. Cut with 1 3/4 inch round cutter dipped into baking mix. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 450 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

May 9 - Melk Austria

This morning was spent in Durnstein.

After lunch, once the gaggle of geese have stuffed their faces and ensured they have the best (front) seats on the bus, did they not listen to the instructions that people should rotate their seats so that everyone gets an opportunity to sit in the front seats for the view??

  It is only a few minutes drive by bus to the abbey. Our first magnificent view looking down the staircase.
It has not hurt the reputation of the Melk Abbey that narrator in Umberto Ecco's fictional “The Name Of The Rose” was named Adso of Melk and portrayed as a member of the Benedictines from Melk Abbey. Note, that the Abbey was not used for filming the movie version of "The Name of the Rose" even though many sites claim it was.

 

Melk, a slavic word for "border," sits along the Danube River and has always been an important spiritual center for this part of Austria. The Abbey's monks base their beliefs on St. Benedictine's writings and each day begins with these teachings - pray and work and read. In 976 AD, Leopold I made this site his home. Then, in 1089, Leopold II gave the castle to the Benedictine Monks and ever since then Benedictine Monks have lived and worked there uninterrupted.
Due to its fame and academic stature, Melk managed to escape dissolution under Emperor Joseph II when many other Austrian abbeys were seized and dissolved between 1780 and 1790. The abbey managed to survive other threats to its existence during the Napoleonic Wars, and also in the period following the Nazi Anschluss that took control of Austria in 1938, when the school and a large part of the abbey were confiscated by the state.
The school was returned to the abbey after the Second World War and now caters for nearly 900 pupils of both sexes.

 We enter into a courtyard to await our guide. The other tour groups are taking group photos and our guide, Monika asks if we would like one. Nearly everyone just shrugs so she dropped the subject. we are waiting for a local tour guide and she takes a while to show up.

However, once she arrives, she is extremely knowledgeable about the Abbey and its history, if maybe a little too long-winded.

 Maria Theresa, whose home was Schonbrunn Palace which we visited yesterday.

 One of the furnaces used to heat the rooms, there is a door outside in the hall was the servants to stoke the fire without disturbing the guests.
The tour starts in the “Imperial Chambers”, where various Habsburg Monarch’s stayed while on formal visits. The "royal" chambers have been converted into an eleven room, non-traditional museum.

 

 Each room reflects a point in history depicted by a colour. The Abbey's site explains each room.

Oh and of course the gaggle MUST pose in front of every statue and make sure they walk right in front of you as you set up your shot!!

 Oh, wait, they're with us!

We next entered the The Marmorsaal (Marble Hall) which contains pilasters coated in red marble and an allegorical painted ceiling by Paul Troger.

The ceiling is painted to make the room appear higher than it is, an incredible optical illusion.

The ceiling painting shows Athena on a chariot drawn by lions as a symbol of wisdom and moderation. Hercules is to her left, symbolizing the force necessary to conquer the three-headed hound of hell, night, and sin.

The library rises two floors and also has a Troger ceiling, along with around 80,000 volumes of priceless works. The Kaisergang (Emperors' Gallery) stretches for 198m (650 ft.), decorated with portraits of Austrian royalty. No photos are allowed in the library.

 The spiral staircase with Roccoco grate leads to other rooms of the library, which are not open to the public.The ceiling fresco by Paul Troger shows an allegorical portrayal of Scientia (Science).

We then stepped out on the terrace and it the view was so stereo-typically Austrian with the Danube on the right that one wondered if it too was an optical illusion!

Across the terrace was the church, another stunning sight!

 We then walked around the gardens, as it was later than we had hoped. We'd been told that we would have time to walk into town, look around and then walk to the boat. Or stay and go back on one of the buses. We didn't have time to do the walk so we decided to sit and have a beer and enjoy the grounds and take the bus back.

 Back on board and we go up on deck for cocktail hour. We watch as we pass the abbey. This photo doesn't appear to be real.

 We sit on deck as we sail through another lock.

Then to dinner, our table "reserved" by our server Shirelly.