1. Mix crushed pecans with a little butter & sugar
2. Line 9″ spring form pan
3. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes.

• 3/4 cup unsalted, raw macadamia nuts
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg yolk, cold

1. Combine the nuts and the sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Use quick pulses to whir the mixture until the nuts are finely ground. Don’t overprocess, or the nuts will make nut butter! Add the flour and pulse once or twice just to blend. Add the cold butter pieces and pulse for 10 to 20 seconds, or until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of fat peas. Add the egg yolk and pulse for 5 to 7 seconds, until the mixture just begins to come together. Turn the crumbly dough out into a clean bowl and use your fingertips to knead it lightly, rubbing the ingredients together until the dough is uniformly moist. It should be moist, sticky and crumbly, with no dry floury patches or streaks of egg yolk. Don’t overwork the dough, and it will be tender and flaky.
2. Press the crumble evenly into the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Cover the shell with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 375°. Prick the bottom of the chilled shell all over with a fork and line the bottom with a piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper slightly bigger than the shell itself. Fill the liner with pie weights or a conveniently-sized pot and place the shell on a baking sheet. Set the sheet in the centre of the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until the edges of the pastry are dry and just beginning to colour. Remove the liner and weights and return the shell to the oven for another 7 to 13 minutes, until the floor of the pastry is dry and tinged with gold. Cool completely before filling and baking.

Chocolate Filling

• 2 ½ blocks cream cheese
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp Kahlua
• 2 eggs

Orange Filling

• 2 ½ blocks cream cheese
• ½ cup sugar
• Grated rind of 3 clementines
• 3 tbsp orange juice concentrate
• 2 tbsp Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
• 2 eggs

Roasted Clementine Topping:

• 8-10 medium-sized clementine or mandarin oranges, washed and dried, but not peeled
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
• 3 tablespoons plus ½ cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed

1. Preheat the oven to 325°. With a sharp knife, slice the clementines crosswise into very thin rounds, discarding the stem and flower ends. Lay the slices overlapping in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish. Pour the orange juice and Grand Marnier, if using, over the clementines and sprinkle them with 3 tablespoons brown sugar. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and roast in the centre of the oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the peels are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.
2. Increase the temperature to 375°. Uncover the dish and sprinkle the clementines with the remaining ½ cup brown sugar. Return to the oven for another 30 minutes, or until the liquid has become syrupy and the oranges have begun to caramelize. Lightly cover the baking dish and allow the clementines to cool to room temperature. (They may be prepared up to 3 days in advance and stored, well covered, at room temperature until needed.)

Assembly:

1. For each type of filling: Mix sugar and cheese with mixer. Add flavourings until homogeneous. Mix in eggs with mixer on low until it attains a creamy texture.
2. Pour each filling into the side of the baked and cooled crust and swirl together gently to produce a nice marbling. Bake at 350° until centre is no longer liquid, about 40 minutes. Cool before topping as follows.
3. Lay the clementine slices over the filling in an overlapping circular pattern, using a pair of kitchen tongs or your fingers or a fork. Scrape the syrup from the bottom of the baking dish with a rubber spatula and spoon this liquid over the clementines.

You need a serrated knife to slice this, or you’ll just drag the orange slices around unattractively. It makes a very large cake, which is all to the good.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 cup cold butter

Filling:

• 3 pkg (750g total) cream cheese
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs

Topping:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1. Combine crust ingredients in food processor until clumpy. Take out. Mush together with hands. Pat into a 10-inch springform pan, covering bottom and sides fairly evenly. Stick in fridge for an hour. Take out, prick with fork, bake in preheated oven at 350F for 20min or so. Take out to cool while making step 2….
2. In bowl (or counter-top mixer, if you have one), beat cream cheese with sugar until fluffy. Add in sour cream and vanilla. Beat well. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat well. Beat really well. Pour into cooled crust. Bake at 300F for about an hour. Sides should be set, centre still jiggly, but not liquid. Take out. Put on rack to cool. Leave oven on!
3. Mix together all topping ingredients but for apples and 1.5 tbsp butter. Crumble it up well! Set aside.
4. Melt butter in a large skillet. Cook apples until soft and lightly browned.
5. Arrange apples on top of cake. Drizzle juices on too. Cover with crumbly stuff. Bake again at 350F for 10-15 min, until golden.
6. Let cool to room temperature before refridgerating. Refridgerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Recipe courtesy of Canadian Living

Turtle Cheesecake

• 2 cups cottage cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 375g cream cheese (1.5 pkg)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder (or more. or less. to taste)
• 1/2 cup Skor bar pieces

Topping #1:

• 10oz/300g soft caramels
• 2 tbsp whipping cream

Topping #2:

• 6 oz/175g semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 c whipping cream
• 12 pecan halves

1. Dump crust ingredients into food processor. Pulse to combine until dough forms lumps. Take out. Knead briefly. Pat into bottom of springform pan. Bake at 350F for 10min. Set aside to cool.
2. Mix (in mixer) cottage cheese and sugar until smooth-ish. Add cream cheese. Beat well. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well. Add sour cream, vanilla and corn starch.
3. Dump half of batter into another bowl. Add skor bar bits to that portion. Add cocoa powder to the stuff still in the mixer. Blend until blended.
4. Dump half of skor bar mixture into pan with crust. Dump half of cocoa mixture on top of this. Use a knife tip to make swirls. Dump remaining white batter on top of swirled mixture. Dump remaining cocoa batter in. Repeat swirling.
5. Bake at 325F for an hour or more, until sides are set and centre is jiggly, but not squishy. Set aside cool at room temperature. Leave in pan!
6. In double boiler or bowl over a pot of water, melt caramels. Add 2tbsp whipping cream. Mix well. Pour over cake. Refridgerate for 30, or until caramel sets.
7. In double boiler or bowl over pot of water, melt chocolate with cream. Don’t stir frequently. Remove from heat for a few minutes. Pour over caramel. Garnish with nuts. Leave ring on springform pan. Refridgerate for at least six hours, preferrably more like twelve.
8. To serve, score chocolate shell with knife repeatedly before slicing. Keep refridgerated and in springform pan until ready to serve – can get gooey.